IOE Insights

Dr Humera Iqbal hears from three UCL students about how the Black Lives Matter movement has contributed to their feelings and personal experiences of being young, Black and British. The death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis on 25 May 2020, described as “a 21st Century lynching” by historian David Olusoga, sparked a wave of protests across the United States, and very shortly a...

Dr Katherine Twamley talks to Dr Rob Webster about a multi-country research project to examine the impact of the coronavirus on everyday family life. What does the project aim to achieve? A specialist in gender, love and intimacy, feminism and families, Katherine is well-placed alongside her colleagues from the IOE’s Thomas Coram Research Unit to lead an international consortium to investigate the...

Professor Allison Littlejohn talks to Dr Rob Webster about how UCL has managed to move research and teaching online, and the impact it’s had on staff and students. The second season of Research for the Real World takes a look at how the IOE is responding to global challenges - and global challenges don’t come any greater than the Covid-19 pandemic. With her broad experience spanning across the hea...

With exams disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, this online discussion sizes up the task of securing robust and fair assessment for the class of 2020, and possibly future years. For some years, education policy has moved away from teacher assessment in judging pupils’ attainment, especially in relation to the main ‘school-leaving’ exams: GCSEs and A-levels. On the face of it, the Covid-19 outbreak...

We're back for more Research for the Real World with Dr Rob Webster and Dr Humera Iqbal! Premiering Monday 8 June, this upcoming season of the podcast has a focus on Covid-19 and its impacts across society. Academics play a fundamental role in ensuring students, key-workers, families, communities, schools, colleges, universities, policymakers and others can benefit from our research. Catch up on p...

It’s the season 1 finale, and it’s Rob’s turn to be grilled. Gently, of course. Dr Humera Iqbal finds out about the role of teaching assistants (TAs) and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Prior to his move into academic research, Rob’s educational journey began as a teaching assistant, so it is fair to say that he has “walked the walk” in order to be able to “talk the talk”. Rob e...

Dr Rob Webster is joined by Professor Louise Archer to explore how challenging dominant representations and educational practices can help make this possible. Research led by Louise has found that students are interested in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), but certain factors stop them from moving into a relevant career in the field. So what’s holding them back? We also lea...

In this episode, Dr Rob Webster is joined by Professor Alice Sullivan to explore how the act of reading for pleasure as a child has positive influences that extend to later in life. First of all, we find out what is reading for pleasure, and what makes it different from other kinds of reading styles? Is it teachable? Are there differences in the impacts between printed and digital material? Using...

With schools closed and parents and carers teaching their children at home, what will the long-term impact be on their learning? What can you do to make it work better for your child - and for you? And what will it mean for teachers and children when children eventually return to school? Host Vivienne Parry explores these issues with the IOE's Dr Zachary Walker, Professor Lindsey Macmillan and Dr...

Hello, is this thing on? Okay, great! Welcome to the very first episode of Research for the Real World. We thought that we’d start the series by painting a bit of a picture of what research looks like here at the IOE, and there’s no one better to help give us a sense of what’s going on than Alison Fuller, Professor of Vocational Education and Work and the IOE Pro-Director of Research and Developme...

We're delighted to announce a new series for the IOE Podcast - Research for the Real World. Join the IOE's Rob Webster and Humera Iqbal as they chat with researchers and academics about education and social science research and its impact on policy, practice and our everyday lives. Each episode promises to be highly informative, accessible, insightful and far from boring! More about this series, a...

Transforming lives through teaching: a fireside chat with teachers. What was their first classroom experience like? How can teachers help shape society? The best piece of advice they've ever received? What makes a successful teacher? UCL Institute of Education (IOE) alumni share their experiences and their lives as teachers. Recorded at the IOE Teacher Training Open Evening, 16 October 2019. Chair...

What causes so-called 'teenage behaviours'? Leading experts from a range of fields – from neuroscience to psychiatry and education – examine the evidence and how best that evidence can inform the design of our education system, as well as public understanding of the teenage years. To what extent are ‘teenage behaviours’ part of our biology and to what extent are our societal structures and practic...

The IOE has launched the Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities (CEPEO), focusing on equalising opportunities across the life course. CEPEO's work seeks ways to improve education policy and wider employment practices to achieve this goal. In the first episode of their podcast, Research Fellow Dr Sam Sims discusses his research on improving teacher effectiveness in science. Learn...

Since the 2016 EU Referendum, two narratives have been prominent in the public debate surrounding the outcome of the vote. The first narrative sees Brexit as a revolt of the ‘economically left-behinds’, while the second narrative attributes Brexit to the resurgence of an English nationalism. In this lecture, Tak Wing Chan uses data from a large scale and nationally representative survey to evaluat...

Peter Tabichi is a science teacher and Franciscan Brother who gives away 80% of his monthly income to help the poor. Thanks to Peter's dedication, hard work and passionate belief in his students, his poorly-resourced school in remote rural Kenya is now winning national and international science competitions. Peter was awarded the 2019 Global Teacher Prize, a $US1 million award from the Varkey Foun...

For a long time, the ‘grand narrative’ in education and social policy has been the pursuit of social mobility – breaking the link between an individual’s background and where they get to in life. Over the past year, the political rhetoric has changed, with the emergence of the cause of social justice as the new proposed guiding principle for public policy choices. But there’s been a certain ‘fuzzi...

Professor Becky Francis, Dr Becky Taylor and Dr Antonina Tereshchenko examine research from the Best practice in grouping students project. Their book, ‘Reassessing 'Ability' Grouping: Improving Practice for Equity and Attainment’ looks at wider political debates on pupils' social backgrounds and educational attainment. Its chapters discuss the practicalities of classroom practice, and recommend i...

The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a major international study of the reading, mathematics and science skills of 15-year-olds across the world. The results are closely watched by journalists, educationalists and policymakers across the globe. Yet there have been recent criticisms of the methodology used by PISA, and debate about whether the results can really be trus...

A lecture by Nobel Prize Winner, Professor Carl Wieman, Stanford University that took place on Wednesday 25 September 2019 at UCL Institute of Education (IOE). About the lecture: Guided by experimental tests of theory and practice, science and engineering has advanced rapidly in the past 500 years. Guided primarily by tradition and dogma, science education meanwhile has remained largely medieval....

From the archives: in 2011 Vivian Hill spoke about the contemporary issues affecting educational psychology and disadvantaged and disabled children, focusing on her work and research with supporting inclusive learning environments in schools for children. Vivian also discusses research that finds conceptual differences in the way children on the autism spectrum view friendships compared to their p...

From the archives: in 2011, Professor Michael Reiss spoke to the IOE about his interest in science education research, sex education and bio-ethics. He's in conversation with Tamjid Mujtaba, who is now a Senior Research Associate and happens to work alongside Professor Reiss here at the IOE. The pair discuss why many students appear to lose interest in studying science after leaving school. #weare...

From the archives: in 2011, Dominic Wyse, Professor of Early Childhood and Primary Education, joined IOE alumna Melissa Beeko for a conversation about his research interests, which include the understanding of literacy and language in early years and primary. #weareioe #UCLminds

From the archives: Ann Phoenix, Professor of Psychosocial Studies spoke to the IOE about her research interests, which include motherhood, social identities, young people, radicalisation and gender. Professor Phoenix is joined by Catherine Walker, who at the time was a PhD candidate, and is now a Research Associate at the Sustainable Consumption Institute. The pair discuss inequalities, education...

From the archives: Elaine Unterhalter, Professor of Education and International Development spoke to the IOE about her research into gender, education and poverty. She's joined by Kate Greany, who is currently the Head of Economic Development in Kenya for the UK government's Department for International Development. #weareioe #UCLminds