Between a hard place and a hard place: A study of ethical dilemmas experienced by student teachers while on practicum

Drawing attention to the types of ethical challenges faced by experienced teachers has been an internationally common teaching approach in pre-service teacher education when exploring the ethical...

The thinking school: Why we need teachers and children who can think

Context The thinking school is one in which staff learning is seen to be as significant as pupil learning. The simple premise for the development of this dynamic learning community is my belief...

Do trainee teachers harm pupil attainment?

A school considering involvement with initial teacher training is likely to ask whether hosting trainee teachers will bring benefits to, or disadvantage, their pupils. This is an empirical...

The Future of Educational Research in Wales

This report, published by BERA in partnership with the Welsh Government, presents the proceedings of and lessons from the Future of Educational Research in Wales conference. Held in Cardiff on 14...

Linking school teachers’ practice with research in educational technology: A call to action

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the British Journal of Educational Technology (BJET), Melissa Bond (University of Oldenburg), Dr Olaf Zawacki-Richter (University of Oldenburg) and Dr Mark...

Transformative pedagogy in teacher education: Lessons from PE teacher educators

Over the last few years and throughout my PhD I have focussed on teaching for equity and diversity to improve the social ills that plague our society through my subject matter: physical education....

The ambiguities of knowledge, expertise and purpose

In a recent BERA blog, ‘The neglect of practice’ (14 December 2018; see also Hordern 2018), Jim Hordern argued that we need to consider not just what teachers do when they teach, but what...

Invisible educators or connecting professionals? Post-compulsory teacher educators

Overall, teacher educators generally tend to be seen as ‘an ill-defined, under researched and sometimes beleaguered occupational group’ (Menter, Hulme, Elliott, & Lewin, 2010: 11). BERA and...

Faith-based education is (not) what we are talking about

Writings about faith and education tend to fall into particular longstanding debates about: the teaching of religious education in schools; the act (or not) of assembly; the use of religious texts...

Different schools, same problem: What value teacher research and inquiry?

Robust school leadership is seen as the most effective route by which schools and outcomes for students can be achieved (Greany, 2015). But how does a headteacher of a school graded...

Professional learning resources to contribute towards a more collaborative professional community of teacher educators

In England there are two distinct communities of teacher educators: institute-based teacher educators (IBTEs) employed by higher education institutions (HEIs), and school-based teacher educators...

BERA Blog highlights from 2018

BERA Blog end of year highlights

A seasonal welcome to all our BERA Blog readers in the UK and around the world in this, our third end-of-year-highlights special edition. And what a year this has turned out to be. (I really will...