Education: The State of the Discipline is a major BERA initiative that 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. 

Launched today, our new report is the second publication from the initiative and contributes to a more detailed understanding of issues of equality, inequality, diversity and discrimination for academic staff working in universities in the discipline of education. The report shares the findings of a study that analysed existing statistical data relating to the composition and employment of these staff in the UK and in each of the devolved nations: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

With particular regard to protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010, the study explored where certain markers of sameness and difference – in terms of characteristics of sex, ethnicity, age, disability, religious belief and nationality – may have affected academic staff employment in education departments between 2015 and 2020.

Read the report below