BERA is a membership association and learned society committed to advancing research quality, building research capacity and fostering research engagement. BERA aims to inform the development of policy and practice by promoting the best quality evidence produced by educational research.
Since our inception in 1974, BERA has expanded into an internationally renowned association with UK and non-UK based members. We strive to be inclusive of the diversity of educational research and scholarship and welcomes members from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds, theoretical orientations, methodological approaches, sectoral interests and institutional affiliations. We encourage the development of productive relationships with other associations within and beyond the UK. Aspiring to be the home of all educational researchers in the UK, BERA provides opportunities for everyone active in this field to contribute through its portfolio of distinguished publications, its world-class conference and other events, and its active peer community, organised around 30 Special Interest Groups. We also recognise excellence in educational research through our range of awards. In addition to our member-focused activity, we aim to inform the development of policy and practice by promoting the best quality evidence produced by educational research. As an organisation we are committed to principles of openness, integrity and transparency and seek to uphold ethical values in all our activities and processes.
The UK Sustainability and Climate Change policy paper – An analysis
In April 2022, the UK Department for Education (DfE) published a policy paper laying out a strategy for the education and children's services systems on the topic of sustainability and climate change. Dr Athanasia Chatzifotiou, Senior Lecturer at the University of...
Procrastination, teachers, and posthuman theories – when social media and educational research collide
Social media offers accessible ways for teachers (and researchers) to swiftly operationalise digital doings that provide hopeful, bite-size and accessible storytelling.
Similar but Different: Small Rural Schools in Northern Ireland
As children returned to school after the summer break in 2021, five small rural schools in Northern Ireland didn’t reopen their doors. What that means for the former pupils and their communities has barely been given any attention. What is a 'Rural School'?Many small...
Managing Digital Learning during COVID-19 and Beyond
It is undisputed that Covid has had a massive impact on education and the way it is delivered, both in the UK and internationally. Whilst there have been a number of papers on the ways in which teachers have innovated during this time, and the impact this has had on...
Making Connections in Higher Education
Relational PedagogiesWhat does it mean to teach and learn in higher education today? And more importantly, what should, and could, it mean? These are fundamental questions that speak to the values that underpin our practice, and that shape the cultures we foster and...
Internationalising research on teaching assistants: A call for expressions of interest in creating a research network
Across the globe, the drive towards the inclusion of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream schools has become contingent on the creation and utilisation of a paraprofessional workforce, commonly known as teaching assistants or teacher aides (TAs)....
What can international data tell us about education paraprofessionals? Almost nothing
In many schools and classrooms across the globe, the drive towards the inclusion of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream schools has become contingent on the creation and utilisation of a relatively new paraprofessional workforce, known variously...
Education in a Post-COVID World: Creating more Resilient Education Systems
Schools across Europe have been at the forefront of dealing with the COVID crisis since it began in 2020, coping with different systems of attendance, new methods of learning, and changing government guidance on how to operate. Many education systems have found...
Turning a leaf: a new procedure for European Education Research Journal Special Issues
2020 has been a year like no other. On 31st of December 2019, the WHO China Country Office was informed of cases of ‘pneumonia of unknown etiology’. Less than a year later, the COVID-19 pandemic has shattered social life as we know it. The disease has taken tens of...
Education: An academic discipline or a field?
Education research has periodically been sharply criticised for being weak in comparison with research from other disciplines. Some of this criticism has implied, or suggested more directly, that one of the reasons for the perceived weakness in education research is that education is not a ‘proper’ academic discipline when compared to other disciplines.