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.

This fifth and final report from the initiative is a quantitative assessment of the progress of education as an academic discipline in UK universities through analysis of data from the Research Excellence Framework (REF). The report explores the progress of education as an academic discipline between the 2014 and 2021 REF exercises. It also compares the progress of education with a selection of other academic disciplines, including sociology; psychology, psychiatry and neuroscience; clinical medicine; and English language and literature.

The results add to the evidence from the other four projects in the State of the Discipline initiative, which can be used to identify key features that can be acted on in future.

Summary

‘The progress of Education: An analysis of data from the Research Excellence Framework’ is the final project of BERA’s first Education: The State of the Discipline initiative. Mindful of the pivotal role that the Research Excellence Framework (REF) has played in shaping academic disciplines in UK universities over the past decade, an exploratory quantitative analysis of REF reports and publicly available data from the REF was conducted. The research questions guiding the report are:

1. What is the progress of Education as an academic discipline according to analysis of data comparing the 2014 and 2021 REF exercises? 
2. How does the progress of Education as an academic discipline compare with a selection of other academic disciplines according to analysis of data comparing the 2014 and 2021 REF exercises? 

Publicly available data from REF quality profiles available for 2014 and 2021 were analysed. First, the two separate datasets were combined and matched by higher education institution (HEI) in order to compare ‘like with like’ as far as possible. The analysis was restricted to merged samples formed by HEIs that submitted to the unit of assessment (UoA) 23 Education and four comparisons: UoA 1 Clinical Medicine; UoA 4 Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience; UoA 21 Sociology; and UoA 27 English Language and Literature in REF 2014 and REF 2021. 

The progress of each discipline was calculated by comparing the proportion of research activity judged to be from 4* to unclassified in the REFs. Hence, Education’s progress was determined by observing if on average the percentage meeting the standard 4*, 3*, 2*, 1* and unclassified improved, worsened or stayed the same from 2014 to 2021 by overall quality profile; outputs; impact; and environment sub-profiles. The findings show that Education improved its research quality as measured by REF results from 2014 to 2021 regarding its overall quality profile, as well as the outputs, impact and environment sub-profiles. Yet Education sub-profiles revealed a differential quality, as much clearer progress was identified in impact and outputs, but perhaps to an extent at the expense of its environment. Also Education appeared to improve its research quality to a lesser degree than the similar and different UoAs selected as comparators.

As an important part of HEIs’ funding is driven by REF quality indicators, the identified gaps have strong implications. Particularly, it appears that there is room for improvement in Education’s environment sub-profile, as well as in the rate of progress in its overall quality profile when compared with similar and different UoAs. Overall, the results can be considered in relation to the evidence from the other four State of the Discipline projects, which can be used to identify key features that can be acted on in future.