Rhetoric in Vocationalism

The BERA SIG: Post-Compulsory Education and Lifelong Learning has held a number of runs of events in the last year or two and I’ve enjoyed being able to make a small number of the London ones....

Universities, schools and a system in flux – looking back on Carter and looking forward to the future of Initial Teacher Education in England

In 2014 I was part of the Carter Review of ITT – an experience that was rewarding, intense and often stressful. I met a student teachers, mentors, heads, university and school based tutors, NQTs...

Filling in the ‘Hole in the Wall’: The pedagogical implications of digital technology and learning with a SOLE

The World Wide Web has changed how we do everything forever. We can literally find out anything we want thanks to Google and numerous other search engines competing for our attention. You can buy...

Developing the role of the teaching assistant: Centralisation as a way forward?

Highlights from the first 1,000 BERA Blog posts

The teaching assistants (TAs) that I meet are enthusiastic, keen to improve their practice, and valued by the teachers and senior leaders that they work with. However, research on the national...

Socially mixed schools but limited social mixing? Children’s and Adults’ Friendships Across Social Class and Ethnic Difference

I had such a homogenous schooling [in a private school] and I think that gave me a terribly blinkered view of society which I’m hoping that I’ve shrugged off some of it, but I don't think you...

Framing the geographies of higher education participation: schools, place and national identity

How young people make choices about university, where and what to study has been a question asked by many social researchers, policy-makers and practitioners alike. Research has shown that when...

Fy Ardal/My Neighbourhood: Pupils’ perceptions of place — a pedagogy for living in Wales

For the past three years, the Wales Institute of Social & Economic Research Data & Methods (WISERD) has been conducting research with pupils, teachers and parents in 29 primary and secondary...

Prison Education in England: a wicked policy problem for Michael Gove

A disjuncture exists between the discourses and legislation surrounding the rights of all prisoners to education in Europe and what is happening on the ground in English prisons. Whilst there is a...

‘Do It Yourself’ Professional Development (DIY PD)

Before moving in to my current role in teacher education I worked as a primary school class teacher. I loved my job but nearly every Tuesday I would trudge in to the staffroom for a CPD session....