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Ongoing project

Education: The State of the Discipline

This project aims to provide a clear, comprehensive account of the state of education as an academic discipline in universities; as a field of practice; and as a significant and central element of social and political policy in the four nations of the UK.

BERA launched the Education: The State of the Discipline initiative in 2019 to offer a comprehensive account of the state of education, as an academic discipline, as a field of practice, and as a pivotal element of social and political policy across the four nations of the UK. By providing stakeholders with research evidence, it aims to empower them in advocacy for education research and education researchers.

Two principles have underpinned the initiative:

  • That education as an academic discipline shares characteristics with many other disciplines, including those that have been established for much longer in universities worldwide;
  • The importance of the intersections between educational research and practice including in teacher education and training, which in recent work has been articulated as ‘close-to-practice-research’.

Our reports from each stage of the initiative aim to equip stakeholders in every part of the sector with the most objective and powerful information on which to base their advocacy for, and their efforts to grow the size, influence and impact of, education. We hope the outcomes of the project will also be key to informing decision-making processes within BERA.

The five projects that form part of the state of the discipline initiative were:

  1. A Systematic scoping review of the literature
  2. A survey of education researchers’ work, experiences and identities
  3. An exploration of existing statistical data relating to staff equality in UK higher education
  4. An analysis of Research Excellence Framework (REF) impact case studies
  5. A quantitative assessment of the progress of education as an academic discipline in UK universities through analysis of REF data

Drawing on the conclusions of these five research projects, BERA has published a statement on the position of education as an academic discipline. Celebrating its outstanding impact and outputs and that the “quality of much education research is world leading”, BERA also acknowledges the challenges it faces, from “significant structural inequalities to a deterioration in working conditions for the majority of education researchers over time”.

Solutions to these challenges require collaboration and collective effort from governments, funders, university leadership, educational researchers, and organisations such as BERA. This statement and evidence upon which it is based are designed to stimulate that collaboration.

Read the statement here

In June 2023 we held a high-level invitation-only event that brought together the outcomes of our commissioned research and analysis and allowed senior leaders from across the discipline to discuss the findings, the wider issues raised and debate how educational research should respond. We would now be grateful for your input as BERA contemplates the next steps. 

The link here contains some suggested next steps that emerged from the discussions in June. We would value input from the wider research community on which areas are the most urgent, and which should be prioritised by BERA.

 

Read the project reports below.

June 2023 Event

In June 2023 we held a high-level invitation-only event that brought together the outcomes of our commissioned research and analysis and allowed senior leaders from across the discipline to discuss the findings, the wider issues raised and debate how educational research should respond. 

We also discussed the outcomes of a quantitative assessment of the progress of education as an academic discipline in UK universities through the analysis of REF data, comparing the 2021 outcomes to both the 2014 REF and other disciplines.

The videos from this event are below

Research Intelligence issue 154: Education: The State of the Discipline

Guest-edited by Dominic Wyse, this issue of Research Intelligence features summaries of two of these major outputs: a study of staff equality data in education departments in UK universities (Belluigi et al., 2023) and findings from survey examining the characteristics, experiences and attitudes of education researchers working in UK higher education (Morris et al., in press). Further articles offer a range of perspectives relevant to the issues raised in these reports and the State of the Discipline initiative more widely.

Read the issue below

Content associated with this project

Expert Panel on Educational Research Funding

Expert Panel update BERA’s Expert Panel on educational research funding is continuing its work. Having had two meetings, the panel has revised its aims and also engaged a RA who is working with...

Ongoing project

Autumn 2023

Research Intelligence issue 156: Intersectionality: Teaching & learning in UK schools

RI 156 cover image

Research Intelligence4 Sep 2023

Education: The State of the Discipline

Since 2020, BERA has been running a large-scale initiative that aims to provide a clear, comprehensive account of the state of education as an academic discipline in universities; as a field of...

Past event26 Jun 2023In Person

Spring 2023

Research Intelligence issue 154: Education: The State of the Discipline

RI 154 front cover

Research Intelligence10 Mar 2023

Plenary Session – State of the Discipline

Chair: Dominic Wyse IN THIS SESSION Education is in a State: Exploration of In/Equalities Shown in Statistical Data of Academic Staffing in UK Higher Education Dr Dina Zoe Belluigi1, Prof...

Video7 Sep 2022

Plenary Session – Reading the REF

Prof David James Cardiff University, United Kingdom In the opening conference plenary David James presented an overview of education submissions in REF 2021 and highlighted key points about...

Video6 Sep 2022

HE Education Research Census 2022

The UK-wide census of all HE-based education researchers has just been launched. It is a nationwide census examining the characteristics, experiences and attitudes of education researchers...

BERA in the news25 May 2022

Winter 2021/22

Education: Mapping the discipline Research Intelligence issue 149 This issue presents a variety of perspectives on the present and future of education as a discipline, responding in part to a...

Research Intelligence2 Dec 2021