IOE Insights

The ability for young people to access Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics learning opportunities can be quite limiting. Here’s how IOE researchers are collaborating with others to break down barriers and ramp up representation. The YESTEM (Youth Equity + STEM) project brings together researchers and practitioners in the UK and US to develop an integrated approach centred on “Justice...

Girls’ education is a key focus for the G7 this year. This event explores an innovative framework for measuring gender equality in education, as well as the politics of steering between the complex relationships described by social research on gender and girls’ education and the clarity on data needed for public policy. The Accountability for Gender Equality in Education (AGEE) framework provides...

Our ability to communicate through the sense of touch has never been more important, as groundbreaking work takes place to make touch a reality digitally. We also hear about how UCL researchers are reaching beyond their own fields of expertise to make this and other innovations possible. Professor Carey Jewitt leads the IN-TOUCH project exploring how the digital is reshaping touch as human communi...

Is the GCSE system intrinsically flawed, or simply a victim of the high-stakes accountability system in which it sits? If it really has no benefits to offer, what could its demise offer to young people’s education? Full event information: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/events/2021/apr/virtual-event-what-if-we-got-rid-gcses #IOEDebates In association with tes

We're delighted to be between your ears for the 10th season of the IOE's podcast about education and social science research and its impact on policy, practice and our everyday lives. This season focuses on how IOE researchers are finding opportunities to extend the impact of their work through collaboration with colleagues at UCL and beyond. Listen to a sneak preview of Dr Sam Sims' and Dr Keri W...

How people are regaining their voice after their voice boxes are removed, through the beatboxing project Shout at Cancer; how a group of LGBTQ + refugees in Brazil are using film to tell their stories; and how health students and advocates are sharing the impact of their work through poetry. This episode is reposted from the #MadeAtUCL podcast Season 2, Episode 2. It is presented by Cassidy Martin...

Dr Will Brehm considers his teaching and podcasting to be important parts of his academic life, and issued himself a challenge. “Why couldn’t I infuse my teaching practice with podcast pedagogies? Why couldn’t I utilise the medium of sound and audio to enrich the study of education and international development?” In an effort to democratise and empower others to get involved in knowledge productio...

Play can mean everything, and sometimes nothing at all – and that’s ok. Professor John Potter credits his early career as an East London primary school teacher as a key influence in his research interest in digital media and play. It’s in no way a surprise for RFTRW host Dr Keri Wong to hear that play connects to children’s lives in a way that the statutory curriculum doesn’t. We think about how T...

Coming from a part of the world where speaking multiple languages is part of life, multilingualism has always been an area of study that’s close to home for Dr Ruanni Tupas. Ruanni joins Dr Keri Wong to discuss how getting to know the lived realities of students and teachers shapes his research and help reconcile academic theorisation with the messiness of the classroom. We hear about how, in mult...

The gap in levels of attainment between pupils from disadvantaged and more advantaged backgrounds is a longstanding feature of England’s schools system. It’s been a focus for successive governments, from New Labour’s efforts to ‘narrow’ the gap, and subsequent Coalition and Conservative governments’ objective to ‘close’ it. According to DfE data, some (modest) progress had been made, but even befo...

Dr Zsófia Demjén and Dr Talia Isaacs join Dr Sam Sims to talk about their research examining key issues and concerns in healthcare communication. You may have noticed particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic the use of military-style words - the frontline, battlegrounds, arsenal - Dr Demjén and Dr Isaacs’ work on the way language is used by cancer patients and the community at large speaks loudly...

Professor Chloë Marshall drops into the Research for the Real World virtual studio to talk to Dr Sam Sims about her work focusing on language development in deaf children and in particular, sign language development. We hear about the challenges in diagnosing developmental delays among deaf children, the creation of a toolkit to aid awareness for teachers and education professionals, the relations...

In public health, we often refer to 'hard to reach' groups, but are we doing enough to listen to them? Hear from the co-founders of Five X More, and UCL academic Dr Carol Rivas, to explore the role of discrimination and structural disadvantage in the health inequalities experienced by different marginalised groups in the UK, and the incredible work they are doing to change this.  Black women in th...

This season we'll be hearing from IOE experts covering incredibly interesting and important areas of research that involve communication and linguistics. Dr Keri Wong and Dr Sam Sims will be chatting with: Dr Ruanni Tupas about discovering different audiences with different languages, Professor John Potter about digital communication and creativity, Professor Chloë Marshall about language, linguis...

Environmental degradation is the global challenge of our times. As demonstrated vividly by the climate strikes among school pupils, many young people feel passionate about ‘saving the planet’, but this cause is also a source of anxiety and even helplessness. Is the National Curriculum and the knowledge and skills it seeks to develop fit-for-purpose? Our IOE academics are joined by Laura Kravac (Ac...

Jamie Frost created and runs the hugely influential and ground-breaking website for maths tuition Dr Frost Maths, which provides an online learning platform, teaching resources, videos and a bank of exam questions to practise on, all for free. When the coronavirus pandemic shut down schools, Dr Frost Maths became a lifeline for students around the world. This talk between Dr Jamie Frost and the IO...

Answering your questions about how children learn to read and how to nurture their interest in reading in and out of school, in IOE Coffee Breaks. There is growing evidence to show the wide-ranging benefits of reading for young children’s learning and wellbeing. In particular, research suggests that the more time children (and adults) spend reading, especially fiction, the greater the advantage. B...

A data-driven discussion with Professor Alex Bryson about the ways women and ethnic minorities experience discrimination in the labour market and what can be done to mitigate this. Dr Sam Sims hears about Professor Bryson’s work, including investigations into discrimination in the workplace across characteristics such as gender, race and sexuality, as well as wage and employment dynamics across pr...

As children across the UK start heading back to the classroom, Vivienne Parry speaks to Dr Amelia Roberts (UCL Institute of Education), and Professor Monica Lakhanpaul (UCL Population Health Science), whose work focuses on children and education. With a focus on vulnerable children, our guests tell us more about the projects they're involved with to help mitigate the impact of the pandemic.  First...

Dr Keri Wong hears from Dr Antonina Tereshchenko about the study she led investigating issues facing Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) teachers’ employment. We find out whether there are differences in the pattern of employment between types of schools, the factors that affect retention, and recommendations for stakeholders such as school leaders, trade unions and policymakers. Full show not...

IOE Coffee Breaks reviews the contemporary debate on the school curriculum. The past decade has seen a strong push towards a ‘knowledge-led’ curriculum for schools in England, as reflected in reforms to the National Curriculum. Nevertheless, polarised discourse that pits ‘Gradgrind’ against child-centred learning continues, with each variously presented as the route to ‘twenty-first century skills...

How’s work going for you? Do you feel like you’re working harder than ever before and have little to show for it? We delve into the quality of a number of professions today. Dr Sam Sims is joined by Professor Francis Green to talk about his interest and academic journey covering labour economics, education economics and political economy. Full show notes and links: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2...

Hear from Professor Carey Jewitt and doctoral researcher Lili Golmohammadi (UCL Institute of Education) on digital touch technologies and touchy vocab, student Alessia Qiu (Natural Sciences BSc) who joined UCL Volunteering to help a vulnerable group during the pandemic, and Dr Helge Wurdemann’s (UCL Engineering Sciences) robotic limbs that make the feeling of touch possible. This episode is repost...

This season’s exploration of the world of work begins with a discussion about the transitions and trajectories available to teenagers. Dr Lynne Rogers is the Co-Director of the Centre for Post-14 Education and Work and has long-standing interests in teacher and lecturer training and learning in further and higher education and other professional settings. She joins Dr Keri Wong to share her own jo...

Wherever you find culture, you find Caroline Marcus. She creates innovative programmes in museums and heritage settings, from the Royal Opera House to UCL. While Caroline teaches MA students on the IOE’s Museums and Galleries in Education programme, she is also an advisor, producer, and programmer for many cultural organisations across the UK. The National Gallery London, The Jewish Museum and the...