Category: Education

Rent strikes and the continuing relevance of Paulo Freire at 100

Posted on by School of Education University of Bristol

Blog post by Dr Lucy Wenham, School of Education, University of Bristol; and Dr Helen Young, London South Bank University

Against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, student rent strikes took place in many universities in England. Lockdowns and moves to online learning meant that students were at times required to pay rent for accommodation they were unable to occupy, or which offered significantly reduced amenities. These students were largely first-year undergraduates, in accommodation owned, overseen or marketed by their universities. They often did not know other students even within their accommodation blocks, as the pandemic lowered occupancy levels and movement and mixing was frequently restricted. Nonetheless, these students joined together to resist, to act collectively and to refuse to pay their rent. Their action resulted in at least partial victory, in some places, for some moments. It also resulted in a growing critical consciousness among those involved. (more…)

Teacher motivation and student learning in India – which is the chicken, and which is the egg?

Posted on by School of Education University of Bristol

Blog post by Rhiannon Moore (PhD student, School of Education, University of Bristol) and Anustup Nayak, (Project Director for Classroom Instruction and Practice, Central Square Foundation)

What do we know? Teacher motivation and student learning

Teacher motivation is a commonly discussed topic within policy and research in LMICs. Such discussions tend to have two main points of focus: firstly, that teacher motivation is worryingly low; and secondly, that this is having an impact on student learning. In this blog, we are particularly interested in exploring the latter of these two points. We largely focus our discussion on teachers in India, where our experience and research suggests that it may be helpful to consider this relationship as a two-way cycle instead of an input-output process. Thinking about teacher motivation in this way can change the way we think about both teachers and students, asking that we challenge the often over-simplified picture of a poorly motivated teacher whose behaviour inhibits their students’ learning, and instead start to consider teachers as dynamic agents whose own needs may not be being met. (more…)

Voices from Small Island Developing States: priorities for COP26 and beyond

Posted on by School of Education University of Bristol

This blog is written by Dame Pearlette Louisy; Dr Merle St Clair-Auguste; Dr Aminath Muna; Dr Aminath Shiyama; Dr Rosiana Lagi; and the ESSRG Leadership Team, and first published on the Cabot Institute for the Environment blog

The School of Education’s Education in Small States Research Group (ESSRG) in collaboration with the Cabot Institute for the Environment and the Centre for Comparative and International Research in Education (CIRE), have produced a short (15 minute) video as a direct contribution to COP26 in Glasgow. This has been developed from the zoom recording of a joint online event titled ‘Voices from SIDS at the Sharp End of Environmental Uncertainty: Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Speak to COP26’ held on 5 October 2021. (more…)

From ‘hearing’ to listening – In conversation with policymakers on students’ lived experiences of access

Posted on by School of Education University of Bristol

Blog post by Dr Jennifer Jomafuvwe Agbaire , Research Associate at the School of Education, University of Bristol

“Those young students can just talk anyhow. If you really want to know about university admission in Nigeria, ask those in charge.”  Just before I set out to begin my doctoral research, I got strong forms of this proposition from colleagues.

It was not surprising that previous research on the topic scarcely included students.

Fast-forward to several years and a PhD award later, I was organising an ESRC-funded exploratory impact event to share my doctoral research findings from students with ‘those in charge’.  Yes indeed, I had defied the popular convention and gone ahead to explore Nigeria’s university access system through the lived experiences of students who are subjected to it.

(more…)

Black History Month 2021 | Celebrating Black History and Committing to Racial Justice at the School of Education

Posted on by School of Education University of Bristol

A collaborative blog post from the School of Education

As the School of Education welcomes many new and returning students to Berkeley Square, we also celebrate Black History Month and reflect on how addressing issues of racial justice continues to be central to both our research and teaching. Last year, we highlighted the importance of understanding Bristol’s Black History for new students at the School of Education, and looked forward to ways in which research and teaching at the School can promote racial justice. This year, we share some of our recent and ongoing activities, with an invitation to all to continue to participate and learn with us.  (more…)

A matter of inclusion: Schools continue to navigate government advice in support of students

Posted on by School of Education University of Bristol

National Inclusion Week 2021. Blog post by Lucy Wenham, University of Bristol  Helen Knowler, University of Exeter  Elizabeth J. Done, Institute of Education, University of Plymouth

As the school year in England begins once again against an evolving Covid-19 backdrop, we ask what this latest set of circumstances means for issues of inclusion, including which students will continue to be at greater risk of being sidelined, ‘off-rolled’ or marginalised (Wenham, 2021). Off-rolling or ‘grey exclusions’ refers to the removal of a student from the school roll when they are not subject to formal procedures such as permanent exclusion. Instead, parents are encouraged to deregister their child. (more…)

Introducing ‘Rehumanising Teacher Education’: a website for teachers and teacher educators

Posted on by School of Education University of Bristol

Blog post by Dr Janet Orchard, School of Education, and Nidia Aviles Nunez, School of Education

With a (contentious) market review of teacher education in England currently underway, we are reminded that in many parts of the world the place of critical reflection by teachers is increasingly called into question. Teacher ‘training’ is becoming increasingly pre-occupied with content and academic attainment as the sole purpose of schooling, with schools increasingly positioned as competitors within educational systems focused solely on assessing their performance through targets and measurable outcomes. As a result, education systems are undermining attention to those fundamentally human concerns that characterise teaching and through which teachers educate their students.

(more…)

Summer 2021 education document summaries: SEND, Covid-19, curriculum and more

Posted on by School of Education University of Bristol

Blog by Helen Aberdeen, School of Education, University of Bristol

As the academic year draws to a close and school colleagues look forward to a well-earned (and desperately needed!) break, time to take a look back over the last 6 months in education through the lens of the Document Summary Service (to be known from September as the Education Policy and Research Service).

So…here are the Top Ten of most downloaded summaries: (more…)

Tips for perfecting your undergraduate dissertation: SoE UG alumna, Ahanah Bhatnagar

Posted on by School of Education University of Bristol

School of Education recent UG alumna Ahanah BhatnagarSchool of Education alumna Ahanah Bhatnagar offers some top tips for writing your undergraduate dissertation – from a student who’s completed theirs

I submitted my final assignment for my undergraduate degree two months ago. It is safe to say that my focus this year was the dissertation unit. My dissertation focused on racial inequalities in education, specifically exploring the experiences of ethnic minority educators in Bristol. During the nine-month writing process, I came across several obstacles and challenges. However, I also learnt a lot of tips which I’m hoping to share with students both in the early stages of their degree, and those entering their final year, so their dissertation journey can be a smoother process. (more…)

Going Global! Education research at the University of Bristol

Posted on by School of Education University of Bristol

Blog post by Nidia Aviles Nunez, PG, Education, School of Education, University of Bristol and Dr Janet Orchard, School of Education, University of Bristol

There have been so many low points to life in a pandemic over the past year, we were keen to share one positive opportunity we have enjoyed from engaging in online video conversations with people on the other side of the world. We have been involved in a dialogue between teachers and teacher educators based in Bristol and in Hong Kong called ‘Going Global’, building on an earlier round of dialogues pre-pandemic also including pre-service teachers from Stellenbosch, South Africa. (more…)