-
The impact of school closure during covid-19
Over the last few weeks I’ve been working with colleagues at the Centre for Education and Youth and the University of Exeter on some rapid response research exploring the effect of school closure during Covid-19 on students, parents and teachers. We’ve gathered thousands of personal reflections from the front line and are releasing full findings…
-
The challenges of home schooling
“How late did you stay up last night doing your lesson planning?” “How much instant coffee have you had?” “Handed out any detentions yet?” These are just some of the supportive queries I’ve had from my colleagues over the last week and a half, since my daughter stopped going to school along with millions of…
-
Latinx students in higher education
This report, co-authored with my colleagues Alix Robertson and Kate Bowen-Viner at the Centre for Education and Youth, explores the representation of Latin American or ‘Latinx’ young people in higher education in the UK. It is the fourth in a series of reports about the underrepresentation of certain groups in UK HE, the work that…
-
How to speak to young people about the future
Over the next year, The Centre for Education and Youth are writing a series of short research reviews for Schools Week, addressing school-related themes. I’ve kicked things off today by revisiting my old pet topic – aspirations. I’ve put together a short review of the latest research on ‘aspiration-raising’, and how we can have better…
-
Worthing museum podcast
I’ve really enjoyed hosting the CfEY podcast over the last couple of years, and wanted to put my own podcast together from scratch: something local, and outside my usual comfort zone of youth and education. So back in the summer of 2019 I asked my local museum in Worthing if I could make a podcast…
-
Lessons in school choice
I’ve spent years conducting research in schools: interviewing teachers; speaking to pupils; poring over performance tables, dodging footballs whilst scribbling notes in playgrounds. As a researcher I’ve often been in the thick of it, but it’s a role that always places you at arm’s length – an observer rather than a part of the action.…
-
School culture and practice: supporting disadvantaged pupils
In recent years considerable attention has been directed to how the attainment of disadvantaged pupils can be improved. There has been particular interest in the improved performance of disadvantaged pupils in London schools since the mid-1990s, which has resulted in a relatively small gap in attainment between disadvantaged pupils and their peers in the capital…
-
Partners in Progression: Engaging parents in university access
This report, commissioned by King’s College London and co-authored with Ellie Mulcahy at LKMco, sets out how parents’ engagement in their children’s education impacts on university progression, examines whether different parents have different attitudes and concerns about higher education, and illustrates how universities can best engage parents and carers in widening participation outreach. It provides…
-
Building multi-academy trusts
The increasing prominence of multi-academy trusts (MATs) within the UK education system has prompted growing scrutiny of the comparative performance of different MATs, the characteristics of the most effective MATs and the different routes to MAT growth. This research, which I co-authored with colleagues from LKMco, Ambition School Leadership and CJK Associates, builds on the…
-
The geography of social mobility
Yesterday’s DfE report Unlocking Talent, Fulfilling Potential: a plan for improving social mobility through education put a strong emphasis on ‘place’, recognising that how young people ‘get on’ in life cannot easily be separated from the areas in which they grow up. I’ve blogged before, here and here, on the strong links between young people’s…