Deanery Digests

Languages specialist Eowyn Crisfield talks about her involvement in a project with Coventry City Ethnic Minority Achievement Service to create a languages policy for the city’s schools School language policy - do you have one? In this episode Hamish Chalmers talks with language specialist Dr Eowyn Crisfield about why language policies are central to inclusion, and how the Coventry Language Policy...

Exploring the hopes and aspirations of British Pakistani and Bangladeshi families toward elite higher education. In this special edition of the Oxford Education Deanery podcast, Dr Stephanie Nowack is joined by Mitu Khan and Sadaf Yasir to explore how hope towards higher education is collective, intergenerational, and relational. The podcast draws on research from the Oxford Hope Project, led by D...

Teachers love using songs with foreign language learners. But do songs help with learning a new language? We explore the evidence. Singing songs with young learners is a classroom technique beloved by many teachers, especially languages teachers. Many teachers say that songs offer something special to the job of learning a new language, and that singing songs can improve foreign language learning...

Exploring how play-based pedagogies can deepen thinking, spark creativity, and help children construct meaning. In this special extended edition of the Oxford Education Deanery podcast, Professor Kathy Hirsh-Pasek joins Dr Faidra Faitaki and Jasen Booton to explore how playful pedagogies can transform education. Beginning with a light-hearted exchange about climbing trees and jumping in puddles, t...

In conversation with Dr Julia Badger and assistant headteacher Simon Fox about new research that explores definitions of bullying and coins a new, complimentary, term: counter connecting. About 40% of children and young people are exposed to bullying, but this rate has been reported to be as high as 69% for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Sadly, bullying involvemen...

Priya Tah from the Rees Centre discusses a study that focuses on the experiences of Black and Asian kinship carers. Priya explains the challenges that racially minoritised kinship carers face and the implications of the study for policy and practice. More than one in five of the 120,000 kinship children in England live with minority ethnic kinship carers. However, little is known about their exper...

David Schley from the charity Sense About Science discusses a series of guides to help teachers become confident questioners in the face of claims about new educational initiatives. Schools, teachers and parents are regularly introduced to new measures designed to improve education. However, education is a zero-sum game. The introduction of a new initiative inevitably comes at the expense of somet...

Professor Kathy Sylva OBE speaks to Engagement and Partnerships Lead Joe Bullough about research which she was co-investigator for, which points to the benefits of coaching as part of Early Years' Continuing Professional Development (CPD). The 'Expert and Mentors' programme, which was funded by the Department for Education's £180 million Early Years' Recovery initiative, provided on-site coaching...

Dr Nici Simms discusses her research exploring the different ways clinician-educators experience and understand assessment. Assessment in the field of health professions, such as medicine, is of critical importance because it has implications for the public; for example, certification of health professionals as equipped for patient care. However, within health professions, little attention is paid...

Dr Sandra Mathers discusses her research exploring how adults and children interact while using touchscreen apps. Millions of children around the world use mobile touchscreen devices – tablets or smartphones – every day. Although young children can learn from solo media use, research shows that they learn more when an adult joins them. In this episode, Dr Sandra Mathers discusses a survey of more...

Dr Mariela Neagu discusses her research exploring the experiences young people who grew up in care when it comes to making education and career choices. Young people who grow up in care constitute one of the most vulnerable groups in society. Many of them enter care during adolescence, a critical time for development, when they form their identities, set their future aspirations and make education...

In this episode, Professor Jenni Ingram and Dr Stuart Cadwallader discuss their analysis, undertaken with Pearson for the OECD, of England, Northern Ireland and Wales' performance in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022. In doing so, they discuss some of the key findings and headline takeaways of their analysis for parents, teachers, and for policy. The Programme for Inte...

Dr Nici Simms discusses her research on the assessment behaviours of clinician educators charged with assessing in undergraduate medical programmes. Assessment in medicine and the health professions includes theoretical and clinical (practical) assessments to determine student competency – their knowledge, skills and attitudes. Assessment is therefore of critical importance, because graduates are...

Dr Faidra Faitaki discusses her research on using a drama-based intervention to help develop oral language proficiency among primary school learners. Oral language refers to the linguistic skills needed to understand and produce spoken discourse. Children’s oral language and communication skills at the earliest stages of education are good predictors of their later success at school. In this episo...

Associate Professor of Educational Assessment, Michelle Meadows and local teacher, Jonny Tridgell discuss the A-level grading process and how grade boundaries are set for these important national exams. This podcast is released on the eve of A-level results day. We thought it would be an ideal moment to reflect on the grading process. Michelle Meadows, Associate Professor of Education Assessment,...

Hamish Chalmers discusses his study asking teachers what kinds of research they think should be prioritised to help inform policy and practice in teaching pupils for whom English is an additional language (EAL). People who do research are not usually the people who use research. Therefore, if research is to be meaningful, relevant and useful to research users (in this case, teachers and other educ...

Laura Molway discusses her research on students’ attitudes and experiences of learning French in secondary schools. She explores the value of teachers seeking direct feedback from their students and how this can help develop policy and practice. To develop their practice, languages teachers need detailed feedback about the quality of their classroom teaching. Students have extensive, first-hand ex...