IOE Insights

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...

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...