Author: School of Education University of Bristol

Power Education: Education in the community, for the community

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Power Education supports the learning of local secondary school children with weekend study sessions and has gone from strength to strength since its formation in September 2023. In this blog, they share how this remarkable educational resource came to be.

 

The origin story

All stories have a beginning, and this one starts with an idea. Our protagonists, Ilyass Amin and Habby Salaben, knew they belonged to a community in need; they saw it and felt it, but they also knew they could do something about it.

Ilyass already had a MSc in Water Treatment Engineering before moving to the UK, but he had dreams of becoming a teacher and educator. The first step was as a science technician, firstly at Bristol Grammar School and then at Cotham School.

Joining Cotham School was the catalyst for change. Here Ilyass met Simon Neville, and they began to have conversations about the Bristol education system, its inequalities and what could be done to improve it. They shared the concern that young people – from marginalised communities from areas such as East Bristol – were being left behind and needed extra support to fulfil their educational potential. Ilyass also became interested in training to be a science teacher via the PGCE programme at the University of Bristol.

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How listener non-verbal cues impact international students’ language anxiety

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By Dr Jasrael Stokes, University of Bristol

Despite passing language exams required to enter UK universities, many international students report experiencing high levels of anxiety when required to speak in English (Chen & Curdt-Christiansen, 2024). Foreign language anxiety is the nervousness people feel when they have to speak in a language that is not their mother tongue (Horwitz et al., 1986). This anxiety may refer to concerns regarding accurate language use or the speaker’s own ability to represent themselves in another language. As the use of English is essential for international students’ academic and daily life, foreign language anxiety can have significant impacts on their experience. (more…)

Using Play-Doh as a creative research method – a hands-on workshop

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By Dr Sarah McLaughlin, University of Bristol

Recently, I had the pleasure of facilitating a hands-on workshop titled “Using Play-Doh as a Creative Research Method” for an audience of doctoral students, educators, and researchers. This was organised by the Language, Literacies and Education Network (LLEN)  as part of the Bristol Conversations in Education series at the School of Education. The workshop introduced participants to the possibilities of using Play-Doh not just as a pedagogical strategy, but also as a legitimate method for qualitative research. (more…)

From academic publications to transforming dialogues: Professor Diane Reay in Bristol

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By Rodolfo Benites, School of Education, University of Bristol

On November 8th, 2024, the University of Bristol hosted two events to celebrate Professor Diane Reay, Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Cambridge, for her trajectory. This blog post shares insights about both spaces and why learning about her legacy might be essential to new education researchers. (more…)

Engaging with research – the magic bullet?

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Helen Aberdeen, Senior Lecturer in Education, PGCE Subject Lead, Modern Foreign Languages, School of Education

Background and context

Recent policy documents and reforms in teacher education have led to an ever stronger imperative for teachers and trainee teachers to engage with research. The most recent Ofsted inspection handbook (2020) for initial teacher education (ITE) describes a good curriculum as one which ‘is designed to ensure that trainees engage with up to date or pertinent research findings’.

This aspiration is reflected in the Core Content Framework (CCF) for ITE, published as part of the wide-ranging reforms to teacher education in 2020. The CCF lays out a minimum level of core knowledge and skills which all trainees should acquire during their training. It consists of a series of ‘know that’ and ‘know how to’ statements, aligned to the 8 Teachers’ Standards. The ‘know that’ statements purport to be based on the ‘best available evidence’, and the foreword to the CFF (2019) encourages trainee teachers and their mentors to engage more deeply with the detailed bibliography ‘to support their critical engagement with research.’ (more…)

Three key areas of research evidence that could help us address the public health crisis in children’s speech and language skills

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Why academic evidence is urgently needed if we are serious about supporting children’s language development

By Dr Ioanna Bakopoulou, University of Bristol and Professor Liz Washbrook, University of Bristol

In the UK, it is currently estimated that 1.9 million children are behind with their talking and understanding of words (Speech and Language UK, 2023). This is the highest number ever recorded and marks an unprecedented increase – particularly prevalent in areas of social deprivation. In fact, the increase in speech, language and communication needs is so great that now meets the criteria to be considered a public health problem (Law et al., 2017). (more…)

Reading for pleasure in German at A-level: an interview with Professor Katrin Kohl

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By Cathy Shail, PhD, School of Education

As part of the literature review research for my doctoral study, a phenomenology into reading for pleasure at A-level in German, I conducted an expert interview with Katrin Kohl, Professor for German literature at the University of Oxford.

Her book Modern Languages – why it matters was of great interest and there were some ideas she raised that I felt were relevant to my study. I was also eager to glean the perspective of a modern linguist on the topic of reading for pleasure and second or third language acquisition.

The questions I designed were aimed at exploring her views on the reading for pleasure process, its impact and role in language acquisition as well as meaning-making. The A-level literary curriculum and examples of accessible reading in German for young linguists were other aspects upon which I was equally keen to seek her opinion. (more…)

There’s a crisis in special educational needs provision: here’s the situation across the UK and Ireland

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Cathryn Knight, University of Bristol; Joanne Banks, Trinity College Dublin, and Noel Purdy, Queen’s University Belfast

In the UK and Ireland, children who have significant special educational needs and disabilities can receive their education outside mainstream school. This often takes place in “special schools” or “special classes”.

In the UK, as well as the Republic of Ireland, legislation sets out that children have the right to attend mainstream education. This right cannot be refused based on the complexity of the child’s needs. However, many children are educated in specialist schools, and the devolved governments of the UK, and Ireland, have taken differing approaches to this provision.

But there is a problem. Across the UK and Ireland, there are far fewer places available in specialist schools and classes for the number of children identified with needs significant enough to warrant a place. (more…)

New Open Source Resource from the School of Education

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The 1988 Education Reform Act shook the English education landscape, creating an urgent need for professionals to stay informed, quickly, and clearly. Enter the Document Summary Service (DSS). Launched in 1989, the DSS delivered ten concise, two-page summaries of key education reports every month (except August). Packaged in boxes, they were sent to subscriber’s addresses. These reports were pulled from heavyweights like the Department for Education, Ofsted, Sutton Trust, and Ofqual. Subscribers included universities, schools, governors, inspectors, and local authorities.

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South West Anti-Racist Education Forum

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On 28th June, UWE hosted the third annual South West Anti-racist Education Forum (SWAREF), an event organised in partnership between UWE and the University of Bristol.  The 2024 SWAREF aimed to build on the previous two events in 2023 and 2022 and provide informative and participatory sessions on issues which local practitioners have identified as priorities: student voice, racial literacy, safeguarding, refugee education and sharing current anti-racist projects and research. The takeaway from the day, described by an attendee, is that education practitioners should be ‘explicitly and actively anti-racist’. (more…)