British Educational Research Association Research Articles

Tasks, Texts and Contexts: A study of reading and metacognition in English and Irish primary classrooms

This paper is an adaptation of a paper presented at the British Educational Research Association Conference in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in August 1998. It reports on a study on reading pedagogy and metacognition in six classrooms in Leeds and six classrooms in Dublin. The evidence is based on 12 teacher interviews, 43 separate lesson observations and school/class, policy/lesson documents. The paper analyses the teachers' thinking and their classroom practices with reference to inter-related themes, tasks, texts and contexts, and it draws out the implications for the development of metacognitive awareness among the 9-year-old children that these teachers teach. It attempts to explain practice with reference to teachers' conceptions of teaching, the learner and reading.

Standardising Teachers: Attitudes Towards National Standards for Those Working with Children with Learning Difficultie*

In 1998 the Teacher Training Agency sought responses on a set of National Standards for SEN Specialist Teachers. Their principal aim was improving the achievement of pupils and the quality of their education. In this paper the views of a group of teachers are reported on four aspects of such a ‘standardised’ approach: their participation in the ‘Standards’ consultation, the relevance and appropriateness of a set of nationally applicable standards for those working in designated areas of SEN, the content matter of the proposed standards and their likely impact on practice in schools. The data, obtained by a series of interviews with 20 teachers from mainstream and special schools, suggest that, whilst controversial in terms both of a perception that creativity and flair in teaching might be a casualty, a set of national standards for SEN specialist teachers may prove to be an effective means of teacher and pupil development. *Paper to the Annual Conference of the British Educational Research Association. University of Sussex, September, 1999.

Six 1995 Evaluations of Statutory Assessment in England at Key Stage 2: methods and findings

ABSTRACT The national evaluation of Key Stage 2 assessment in England and Wales was undertaken in 1995 and 1996 by the University of Bath, together with the University of Aberystwyth, for the School Curriculum and Assessment Authority and the Curriculum and Assessment Authority for Wales. During the same time span, other investigations of varying scope and size were conducted on issues associated with the statutory testing of 11‐year‐old children and its impact on schools. The similarities and differences in methodologies and the findings of six such projects, carried out by agencies differing in size and purpose, are explored, revealing a great similarity of results despite a diversity of methods. These findings are reviewed in relation to other contemporary research, and some suggestions relating to future research methods are made. The article is based upon a paper given at the British Educational Research Association Conference at Lancaster in September 1996, as part of a symposium on research into national assessment across the key stages.

New era or old times: class, gender and education1

This paper argues that past debates concerning class influences on education in the UK were inadequate because they disregarded girls' and womens' values and life patterns. New analytic frameworks involving a synthesis of gender, class and other social formations are needed to develop an understanding about how changing patterns of wealth and poverty and/or recent British educational reforms have affected student learning and life‐chances; and therefore how inequalities may be challenged. The paper draws on a range of sources including a recent study of the impact of recent British education policy changes on gender relations in schools. 1. This is a revised version of a paper presented in the Social Justice Symposium at the annual conference of the British Educational Research Association, York University, September 1997.

Educational Researchers in Universities: the condition of the workforce*

AbstractThe British Educational Research Association (BERA) 1997 Presidential Address discusses some issues associated with that part of the workforce in educational research which is employed in universities, including the implications of recommendations in the Dearing Report. Problems are identified in recruiting staff who have appropriate experience and qualifications, at all levels from junior researcher to professor. The reverse side of the systemic problems are those of encouraging and enabling potential and existing staff to pursue successful careers in educational research, especially contract researchers who currently experience precarious careers. Some reference is made to the results of a recent BERA survey, and comparisons are made with the position in other disciplines. Proposals for remedial action, including putting pressure on the responsible agencies, are outlined.

Professional’ or ‘competent'? The roles of higher education and schools in initial teacher education

This paper is an adaptation of a paper presented at the British Educational Research Association Conference in Lancaster, England, in September 1996. It describes the third and fourth phases of an investigation into the contribution that initial teacher education [ITE] brings to teachers’ professionalism, undertaken in 50 schools in the South of England, and examines teachers’ opinions on mentoring in schools. The first two phases have been reported earlier. The research developed against the background of changes in the shape of ITE, which led to some key responsibilities for the training of beginning teachers being transferred to schools. The Government, through the Department for Education (now the Department for Education and Employment), has specified competences which newly qualified teachers (NQTs) should have acquired and it was felt that this could lead to a narrowing of the concept of professionalism underpinning ITE courses. If NQTs’ notions of professionalism are being constructed by competency statements, this raises questions about their conception of what professionalism is within the teaching profession, and about what kind of future professionalism will be passed on to NQTs by teachers whose main training has been undertaken within schools, and whose educational theory has been acquired from the teacher(s) who mentored them. Teachers have now taken on a major responsibility for training new teachers and some of the questions that this responsibility raises have been put to teachers themselves in this project. The results from our survey show that teachers still have a varied set of ideas as to what professionalism is, ranging from the competences needed for effective teaching and learning within the classroom, to a wider view which includes attitudes, behaviour and commitment usually attributed to the extended professional. Within these views there is an ambivalent attitude towards the new school‐based arrangements: whilst on the one hand teachers appear to accept the need for a more school‐based approach, believing it to be where most learning takes place, on the other hand they feel their schools are being asked to do too much without being sufficiently resourced, and this might be leading to deprofessionalization of teachers.

Like a Bridge over Troubled Water: realising the potential of educational research*

*Presidential Address to the British Educational Research Association given at the European Council for Educational Research Conference, University of Bath, 16 September 1995.

Enlarging the Democratic Promise of Education…*

*Presidential Address to the British Educational Research Association given at the University of Oxford, September 1994, to mark the twentieth anniversary of the Association

Creating Education through Research*

British Educational Research JournalVolume 18, Issue 1 p. 3-16 Creating Education through Research* Michael Bassey, Corresponding Author Michael Bassey Faculty of Education, Nottingham PolytechnicThe Cottage, The Moor, Kirklington, Nottinghamshire NG22 8NQ, United KingdomSearch for more papers by this author Michael Bassey, Corresponding Author Michael Bassey Faculty of Education, Nottingham PolytechnicThe Cottage, The Moor, Kirklington, Nottinghamshire NG22 8NQ, United KingdomSearch for more papers by this author First published: February 1992 https://doi.org/10.1080/0141192920180101Citations: 24 † Presidential Address to the British Educational Research Association, given on Thursday, 29 September 1991 in Nottingham. AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume18, Issue1February 1992Pages 3-16 RelatedInformation

National curriculum in the primary school of Norway1

1 This report is built upon a paper presented at the British Educational Research Association conference in Newcastle in August 1989. The main aim of the report is to give a non‐Norwegian audience some understanding of the revised national curriculum introduced in Norway in 1987.

Effective Contributions from Research to Educational Conversations: style and strategy*

Abstract * Presidential Address to the British Educational Research Association Annual Conference, held at the Roehampton Institute, London, 30 August to 2 September 1990.

Social justice and the National Curriculum

Abstract This paper, first presented at the British Educational Research Association Conference 1 1 This is a revised version of a paper presented to the annual conference of the British Educational Research Association, Newcastle Unversity, September 1989. 1. This is a revised version of a paper presented in the Social Justice Symposium at the annual conference of the British Educational Research Association, York University, September 1997. at Newcastle University in September, 1989, reports the results and analysis of documentary research that examined the first four National Curriculum documents to be made public: the TGAT Report and the Mathematics, Science and English Reports. It considers, in particular, the 1988 Education Reform Act's reconceptualization of schooling and the associated process of curriculum reformulation in relation to issues of social justice. First, it explores the historical background and current context of equal opportunities in education noting what has been achieved so far. Then it examines how social justice has been addressed in the 1988 legislation by providing a textual analysis of TGAT, and the Mathematics, Science and English documents. Third, it identifies the assumptions underlying current official thinking in order to explore, finally, the strategies needed to place social justice on the educational agenda of the 1990s. It focuses, in particular, on what have been seen as the two main debates about social justice in British education in the late 1980s ‐those concerning sexual and racial inequality.

Institutional Controls and Educational Research*

British Educational Research JournalVolume 16, Issue 3 p. 237-248 Institutional Controls and Educational Research* Roger Homan, Corresponding Author Roger Homan Principal Lecturer in Education, Brighton PolytechnicFaculty of Education, Brighton Polytechnic, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9PH, United KingdomSearch for more papers by this author Roger Homan, Corresponding Author Roger Homan Principal Lecturer in Education, Brighton PolytechnicFaculty of Education, Brighton Polytechnic, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9PH, United KingdomSearch for more papers by this author First published: June 1990 https://doi.org/10.1080/0141192900160302Citations: 1 † Paper presented to the Annual Meeting of the British Educational Research Association at the University of East Anglia as part of a symposium entitled ‘Sponsor Control of Educational Research’, 31 August 1988. AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume16, Issue3June 1990Pages 237-248 RelatedInformation

The Barriers to Achieving the Wider Goals of General Education and their Implications for the British Educational Research Association

(1990). The Barriers to Achieving the Wider Goals of General Education and their Implications for the British Educational Research Association. British Educational Research Journal: Vol. 16, No. 3, pp. 273-296.

Educational Research in Crisis: performance indicators and the decline in excellence

*This article is the text of the Presidential Address to the British Educational Research Association given at the University of Newcastle‐upon‐Tyne, 1989.

Education and Training: Provision and Experience∗

. ∗The research referred to here and in subsequent papers in this volume is supported by grants from the Economic and Social Research Council. All the papers except Nick Emler's were first presented at the American Educational Research Association meeting in San Francisco, March 1989, and subsequently in modified form (including Nick Emler's) at the British Educational Research Association meeting in Newcastle, August 1989.

Assessing teacher performance

1. This paper is a revised version of that presented to a symposium on teacher assessment, British Educational Research Association Annual Conference, Sheffield, August 1985.

Pupil profiling: some policy issues from school‐based practice∗

The article looks at the school‐based development of pupil profiling. It presents data from case studies of four secondary schools’ profiling projects. The research context is described; the progress of development work is outlined, and the views of teachers involved together with issues of concern to them are presented. Finally, the article raises issues for consideration by those in positions to formulate policy on assessment. It is argued that workable policies on educational assessment and recording can be formulated only when the conceivers are well informed about the conditions necessary for producing the desired changes. The article concludes by posing a question which is fundamental to the debate on new initiatives in assessment: do current changes in practice and policy embody changes in values?. ∗This article is based on a paper given at the 12th Annual British Educational Research Association Conference at Bristol University, 4‐7 September 1986. It derives from research funded through an ESRC l...

Research Communities, The White Paper Chase and a New Research Ecumenism

AbstractThe period when the British Educational Research Association (BERA) was founded was one in which there was an increasing recognition amongst the research community that a wind of change had stirred up the settled traditions of educational research. It was a time which celebrated the promise of alternative paradigms for research. Ten or so years on we are entering another era where the emphasis is not on the reconceptualisation of what research is but on how it is organised. I think one can discern at least two factors, not wholly separate from each other, that will increasingly influence how a substantial part of research will be organised. These two factors are the changes which have taken place in the composition of the research community and the direction of current Government policy concerning the school system. I aim to show how these are leading to a fruitful form of collaborative research at local level which should be encouraged and supported —not least by BERA.

The Development of the British Educational Research Association*

British Educational Research JournalVolume 11, Issue 2 p. 85-90 The Development of the British Educational Research Association* Edgar Stones, Corresponding Author Edgar Stones11 Serpentine Road, Selly Park, Birmingham B29 7HV, EnglandSearch for more papers by this author Edgar Stones, Corresponding Author Edgar Stones11 Serpentine Road, Selly Park, Birmingham B29 7HV, EnglandSearch for more papers by this author First published: June 1985 https://doi.org/10.1080/0141192850110201Citations: 4 † Previously published in Shipman, M. (1985) Educational Research: principles, policies and practice (Falmer). AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume11, Issue2June 1985Pages 85-90 RelatedInformation