IOE Insights

We know that it’s important to learn about the Holocaust, but why? Dr Humera Iqbal is joined by the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education’s Dr Alice Pettigrew, who has led research into national studies examining students’ knowledge and understanding of this complex historical event. Students and teachers are enthusiastic about engaging with the topic, however, many significant gaps, inaccuracies and...

The ongoing global debate over student loans and the cost of higher education has taken on new meaning of late. What effect will COVID-19 have on fairness and finances? Professor Lorraine Dearden takes Dr Rob Webster on a world tour focusing on the two main approaches to student loans - mortgage-style “time-based repayment loans” and “income-contingent loans”, based on future income. Why does one...

Lili Golmohammadi speaks to Tim Neumann, of the UCL Knowledge Lab about his experiences of auditory-tactile synaesthesia. The podcast was recorded (pre-social distancing) in one of the IOE music rooms so that Tim could talk us through the range of tactile effects produced for him by certain piano notes. Full show notes and links: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2020/aug/what-its-feel-sounds-we-hear...

As the coronavirus pandemic in the UK approaches its sixth month, we’re taking a look at the long-term impact of lockdown and subsequent school closures on our nation’s children and young people. For this episode, host Vivienne Parry is joined by the IOE's Dr Amelia Roberts, GOSH UCL Institute of Child Health's Dr Lee Hudson, and IOE alumna, psychology teacher and PhD student Shafina Vohra to disc...

Hello, hello! Dr Humera Iqbal and Dr Rob Webster are back in the IOE Podcast (virtual) studio to catch up on each other's plans for the summer as well as share a couple of notable moments from the series so far. They also talk about the upcoming season which will cover off topics such as inclusive education, knowledge exchange, higher education funding and finance, and the way children play. Find...

Our last episode of the series examines how BCS70 and our study members have been faring during the pandemic and looks to the future of longitudinal research. We find out more about the COVID-19 survey, sent to over 50,000 participants in five of Britain’s cohort studies, including BCS70, and we speak to study participants about their experiences of lockdown. We also find out more about the benefi...

A journey that begins in Nepal and takes us through some of the world’s most vulnerable areas affected not only by war, conflict and displacement, but also the coronavirus. “...when you come back home to your family, it is very difficult to be absolutely silent and not to share those stories…”  Dr Humera Iqbal talks to Dr Tejendra Pherali about his work, which focuses on the role of education in c...

In this episode, we move into the 2010s to find out how our study members were faring in their forties. We learn how BCS70 cast light on increasing rates of mental ill-health among men, and find out more about the most recent biomedical survey where participants were given a health MOT. We also chat to one of our in-house study detectives about the role they play tracing long lost study participan...

With widespread school closures taking place, COVID-19 has meant a lot of households taking on teaching responsibilities. Professor Dominic Wyse explores how it’s all going. We find out how the work of the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Pedagogy (HHCP), which aims to enable children to realise their full potential through optimal teaching and learning, has responded to the pandemic, particularly with loo...

In this fourth episode, we move into the new millennium, when the study enjoyed a golden decade. With BCS70 greatly valued by scientists and policymakers, the study was funded to meet participants on three occasions and was regularly cited by New Labour in government policy. With this new-found recognition, researchers across the globe started using BCS70 in conjunction with other birth cohort stu...

Now that the initial shock of lockdown has subsided, we can step back and ask: are we making the most effective use of the learning opportunities that digital technology, including social media, presents? Are we fully informed users of that technology when it comes to matters of data security and privacy? What benefits and risks does this brave new world of schooling online present us with? More i...

Dr Keri Wong shares the story of her global academic journey and how those experiences have shaped her research interests in wellbeing across cultures. Born in New Zealand, spending her childhood years in Hong Kong then going on to further study in the United States and the United Kingdom, Keri brings to the table extensive international perspective - including living through the SARS outbreak in...

Universities are set to be deeply impacted by the pandemic; the prospect of significant falls in international student numbers threatens to change the face of our universities dramatically, in the process weakening their financial viability. Perhaps the biggest immediate question facing the sector concerns online learning; its longer-term appeal and efficacy at scale remain to be tested. Can our u...

In this third episode, we move into the 1990s to find out how the study and its staff survived the lean years of the 80s and early 90s, and managed to get back in contact with study participants after a 10 year gap. We learn about the study’s stark findings on adults’ numeracy and literacy, which led to the Skills for Life adult learning programme. We also ask study participants what it was like t...

Season 3 kicks off with Dr Rob Webster joined by Dr Sam Sims for a discussion about issues affecting the supply and quality of teachers. We unpack Sam’s research which focuses on the challenges behind facing the supply of teachers, how they are recruited, how they are best retained. And what are the factors causing them to leave the profession - is it pay? Is it workload? And of course, COVID-19 h...

As the pandemic hit, our further education colleges faced all the difficulties of moving teaching, pastoral care and governance and administration online. Meanwhile, the employment and assessment of apprentices has been thrown into disarray for many, and there have been calls to delay the launch of the new flagship qualification, T Levels. For the longer-term, the pandemic could bring marked chang...

For weeks, schools have been closed to all but the children of key workers and the most vulnerable. Exams for the ‘class of 2020’ have been cancelled, to be replaced by teacher assessment. Since COVID-19 arrived, where has our schools system been able to rise to the challenge, and where has it struggled? As we seek a way out of the pandemic, how will our schools system need to change and how, idea...

Professor Martin Mills explores the meaning of ‘respect’ in the context of contemporary constructs of the ‘ideal teacher’. In interviews with teachers and students over many years and on many different topics, the word ‘respect’ comes up regularly. It will be argued that a lack of ‘respect’ is damaging to the teaching profession, and that such a lack is evident in the ways teachers are currently b...

In this second episode, we move into the 1980s to find out how Neville Butler kept the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) going during a decade of austerity. We learn about the benefits of reading for pleasure for children’s English and maths skills. We also ask study participants about their teenage years and find out what it was like sharing their 19th birthday with 4,000 other people at Alton To...

Dr Rob Webster and Dr Humera Iqbal are joined by a special guest to talk about the third season of our series, with a key focus on a future post-pandemic. We will be joined by: Dr Sam Sims on school closures and the impact on teacher supply. Dr Keri Wong on mental wellbeing and youth. Professor Dominic Wyse on parents playing the role of teachers. Dr Tejendra Pherali on the UN Sustainable Developm...

Dr Humera Iqbal hears from Professor Chris McManus about his research into students who pursue careers in medicine and how the COVID-19 pandemic may affect their futures. In the Season 2 finale, Chris takes us on a journey through his work on medical education, following medical students, junior doctors and specialists throughout their medical careers, ultimately trying to find the characteristics...

In the Centre for Longitudinal Studies' first episode of “50 Years of Life in Britain”, they explore the first decade of the 1970 British Cohort Study (1970) and the impact of its early years research on policy many years later. Guests include: Professor Jean Golding, BCS70 researcher during the 1970s/80s, and founder of the ALSPAC study, known as ‘Children of the Nineties’. Dr Leon Feinstein, aca...

Dr Humera Iqbal talks to Dr Guy Roberts-Holmes about research exploring the experiences of teachers implementing Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA) to measure the progress of children aged 4 to 5. To help set the scene, the RBA is designed to provide a ‘baseline’ of children’s progress through primary school, with results then compared to their attainment levels at age 11, to produce a ‘progress...

Join us on Thursday 25 June as we celebrate 50 years of the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70), which has been following the lives of 17,000 people born in Great Britain during a single week in 1970. Our new six-part podcast series will take listeners on a journey through British social and political history, and explore BCS70’s numerous contributions to British science and society. Find out more:...

As a society we want our children and young people to thrive and fulfil their potential. How then, can we best identify and respond to their needs in order to achieve this? In this lecture, Professor Claire Cameron takes the case of children in state care and the longer term impacts on those young people of having been in care. In particular, she examines the practice of social pedagogy, which des...