This seminar explores the process of formal and informal exclusion from the macro, meso and micro level to understand some of the complex interactions between policy, school and individual factors. Government statistics indicate that children and young people with special educational needs are five times more likely to be excluded from secondary schools, and account for just under half of excluded pupils. This seminar will explore the process of formal and informal exclusion from the macro, meso...
Feb 25, 2020•53 min
Combining legal analysis, theory, and evidence from practice, Lucinda Ferguson argues that the law is ill-equipped to support children at risk of permanent exclusion from school, particularly children with disabilities or other additional needs. The House of Commons’ Education Committee (2019) criticised the education system’s treatment of children with disabilities on the following terms: “[C]hildren and parents are not ‘in the know’ and for some the law may not even appear to exist. Parents cu...
Feb 13, 2020•44 min
This talk discusses the latest understanding of mental health needs in adolescent populations in the UK and the potential role that mental health services in schools can play. This talk will discuss the latest understanding of mental health needs in adolescent populations in the UK and the potential role that mental health services in schools can play. An example of current research alongside clinical service development will be discussed. The opportunities and challenges of mental health servic...
Feb 13, 2020•42 min
This presentation will discuss the place of Alternative Provision (AP) in the process of exclusion in England, with a particular focus on issues related to social justice. This seminar is part of our public seminar series on ‘Exclusion from School and its Consequences’, led by the Department of Education and convened by Harry Daniels (Professor of Education) and Ian Thompson (Associate Professor of English Education & Director of PGCE). This presentation will discuss the place of Alternative...
Feb 04, 2020•48 min
This seminar reports on the ongoing work of the multi-disciplinary and multi-site Excluded Lives Group whose work has led to the ESRC funds project The Political Economies of School Exclusion and their Consequences. There are great differences in the rates of permanent school exclusion in different parts of the UK with numbers rising rapidly in England but remaining relatively low or falling in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. For example, in the last available figures there were 7,900 perm...
Jan 20, 2020•41 min
Released in May 2019, the Augar report was a result of a 6 person panel chaired by Philip Augar and was the first in England to have a remit for the whole of tertiary education. Parry argues whether its features are the nature of expert panels. The use of expert panels to advise governments is a favoured form of policy inquiry process. In higher education, especially in the UK, they have replaced committees of inquiry in the tradition of Robbins and Dearing. In further education, there were no s...
Nov 19, 2019•1 hr 26 min
Drawing upon three large studies in Australian higher education, this presentation sets out a case for the kinds of curriculum practices, as well as a range of pedagogic practices that can be enacted prior to, during and after students’ work placements. Increasingly, tertiary education institutions are providing workplace experiences for their students to achieve goals associated with occupational preparation and work readiness. However, without considering how best these experiences might be or...
Nov 12, 2019•47 min
This lecture explores the different types of artificial intelligence systems in common use in education, before relating this to the covert use of algorithms in influencing educational journeys. The introduction of artificial intelligence in schools is likely to have a profound impact on relationships between teachers and their students. This lecture explores the different types of artificial intelligence systems in common use in education, before relating this to the covert use of algorithms in...
Nov 12, 2019•49 min
With the rising interest in GCE, understanding the current research landscape could be useful for policy-makers, educators and scholars who seek to build upon the existing body of knowledge and develop it in new directions. The global increase of the incorporation of Global Citizenship Education (GCE) related contents in education systems in recent decades has generated a vast body of scholarship, both empirical and theoretical. An explanation for the rise in GCE internationally is often describ...
Nov 04, 2019•41 min
Naomi Eisenstadt presents evidence that low income itself reduces the chances of good outcomes for children and causes stress in families which exacerbates the risk. Much of the current discussion on children’s outcomes has focused on educational attainment, schools, and parental behaviours. This lecture will provide evidence that low income itself reduces the chances of good outcomes for children and that the stress caused in families by low income exacerbates the risk. While supportive and eng...
Oct 28, 2019•39 min
This 2019 Oxford University Centre for Educational Assessment lecture is delivered by Professor Nancy Perry. She is the Dorothy Lam Chair in Special Education and Professor of Educational and Counselling Psychology and Special Education at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada. The talk is followed by a discussion led by OUCEA Director Associate Professor Therese N. Hopfenbeck. Self-regulated Learning (SRL) describes proactive and productive approaches to learning that enable learners...
Jul 17, 2019•1 hr 4 min
This public seminar series considers teacher education reforms around the world in order to tease out future directions and possibilities for the relationships between teacher education policy, research and practice. The series marks 100 years since the passing of a statute creating what was known in 1919 as the University Department for the Training of Teachers. Join us this term as we mark the Oxford University Department of Education’s 100th anniversary through this series of public events th...
Jun 19, 2019•45 min
Seminar 8 of 8 on teacher education reforms. Alis unpacks the notion of 'capacity' through a historiography of initiatives and a review of attempts at conceptual development. Much has been written about the alleged lack of integration between research and practice in teacher education and also about the perceived fragmentation of teacher education research. The answer to the conundrum is often 'building research capacity': the UK has a decades-long history of publicly-funded initiatives to build...
Jun 19, 2019•1 hr 1 min
This seminar examines the alignments and tensions between teacher education research, policy and practice. This is the sixth seminar in a series of eight public seminars on 'Future directions in teacher education research, practice and policy'. The seminar series is organised by the Department of Education. Diane will analyse the ways in which teacher education has been conceptualised at various points in time during the past 50 years highlighting the related knowledge bases for teaching and the...
Jun 03, 2019•59 min
This lecture explores why efforts to improve teaching too often fail and outlines new research on pedagogy and teacher development, which has been achieving promising signs of real change.
May 29, 2019•1 hr 37 min
Seminar five of eight in series "Future directions in teacher education research, practice and policy". The significance of teacher education has increased globally over recent decades. From international reports through to political manifestoes in many countries, teacher education is seen as crucial in the development of successful education systems. Within a globalized world, therefore, teacher education has become a key plank of economic and social development. The character and worth of teac...
May 22, 2019•1 hr 2 min
This public seminar series considers teacher education reforms around the world in order to tease out future directions and possibilities for the relationships between teacher education policy, research and practice. In Wales there is a growing appetite for the country to set out a new and fundamentally different vision for what education is and should be; a vision that puts young people and their learning needs at the centre. What links many of the proposed changes is a fundamentally different ...
May 13, 2019•46 min
Seminar two of eight in series "Future directions in teacher education research, practice and policy". This seminar is based on a recent book, which aims to help researchers and practitioners understand how and why interventions can be successful or not. Seminar Abstract: This seminar is based on a recent book, titled ‘Classroom-based Interventions Across Subject Areas’, jointly authored by members of the department’s Subject Pedagogy Research Group and other affiliated researchers and practitio...
May 07, 2019•1 hr 9 min
Seminar led by a panel of heads of colleges and senior tutors to discuss Oxford's student selection process At the University of Oxford first degree student selection is not ultimately determined by central admissions but is handled by the colleges, though the process of application is standardised across the colleges and prospective students must meet the academic requirements for their intended courses. All Oxford colleges are closely committed to student learning and development but there are...
Mar 07, 2019•1 hr 8 min
The ethical case for reducing entry requirements for disadvantaged learners Vikki Boliver: UK universities are increasingly being called upon to reduce academic entry requirements for disadvantaged applicants as a vital means of promoting fairer access to higher education. This contextualised approach to university admission recognises that the school attainment of disadvantaged learners does not necessarily do justice to their academic potential, and that standard entry requirements typically e...
Mar 05, 2019•56 min
Professor Marilyn Cochran-Smith argues why we need to “reclaim” teacher education accountability for the profession and in support of the larger democratic project. During the past two decades in the U.S. and some other countries, there has been a growing consensus that university teacher preparation is failing and that holding teacher education accountable through vigilant public evaluation and monitoring will fix it. Treating the U.S. as a kind of cautionary tale, this presentation exposes “th...
Feb 26, 2019•1 hr 1 min
This seminar will review the evidence on access to postgraduate study, identify what this might mean for funders, universities and their communities, and outline outstanding gaps in our knowledge. Participation in postgraduate study has increased considerably over the last quarter century. Despite this expansion, access to postgraduate study has received relatively little attention from researchers and policymakers. There are concerns that gains in undergraduate participation may be nullified by...
Feb 13, 2019•1 hr 3 min
The seminar will identify how universities and government have sought to make progress in this area during the last two decades and the patterns of participation arising from this. Access to higher education is a major social issue in the UK as in most countries. Overall participation in the UK is moving towards 50 per cent of the school leaver age group but non-white students, state school students and students from disadvantaged regions of the UK are under-represented in academically elite uni...
Feb 11, 2019•57 min
If education policy-making is based strictly on rigorous evidence there is a risk of bias towards simple, discrete, measurable interventions. We present a framework for considering inconclusive evidence. If education policy-making is based strictly on rigorous evidence there is a risk of bias towards simple, discrete, measurable interventions. We present a framework for considering inconclusive evidence – through systematic consideration of the estimated costs, benefits and potential harm of a p...
Feb 01, 2019•49 min
This seminar will focus on the teacher education aspect of the project. It will outline the approaches being implemented to develop the teachers' knowledge and understanding to implement strategies to teach and assess practical science. Project Calibrate addresses a systematic approach to improving practical science at GCSE level. It is a joint project with researchers from Oxford University, AQA and Key Stage 4 teachers and students. This project is striving for curriculum innovation that coupl...
Jan 28, 2019•41 min
This seminar is the first of a five-part seminar series on 'Student Access to University'. This seminar discusses the relationships between student characteristics and test performances with Oxford University admissions tests data. Selection to higher education typically includes the use of information about students' attainment, or predicted attainment, in school-leaving examinations such as A-levels. For selective universities and competitive undergraduate degree courses this information provi...
Jan 15, 2019•43 min
An exploration of equity and quality of education in Hong Kong and Singapore. The highest performing education systems across OECD countries exhibit both high quality and equity. Among them are Hong Kong and Singapore. Yet both systems report huge income disparities between rich and poor. How can educational equity and quality co-exist within a highly unequal society? Employing Bourdieu’s logic of practice, I argue that cultural habitus and structural contexts account for this phenomenon. Parado...
Dec 03, 2018•54 min
This seminar explores some myths about L2 attainment in instructional contexts, drawing on evidence from a five-year longitudinal study conducted in Switzerland and carried out by the speakers themselves. Despite contrary research findings, many lay people still claim that starting second language (L2) instruction early yields linguistic advantages. This assertion is again undermined by a five-year longitudinal study conducted in Switzerland testing English language skills of 636 secondary-schoo...
Nov 20, 2018•1 hr 2 min
In studies in psychology and education it is essential to think clearly about causal mechanisms. In this seminar Professor Hulme will outline the use of path diagrams as tools for representing, reasoning about, and testing causal models. The examples used will come from studies of children’s reading and language disorders. In studies of such disorders we can probably never practically or ethically manipulate the ultimate causes (genes and environments) of a disorder. Professor Hulme will argue, ...
Nov 07, 2018•54 min
This seminar will provide an assessment of the development of research in subject-based education, and of its future prospects. Using geography education as an exemplar, it will offer a challenging critique of this field of research. The intention of the seminar is to help us further understand the unsteady, sporadic and increasingly insecure development of subject-based education research. However, despite the obvious challenges, the aim is to outline realistic ways forward for geography educat...
Oct 23, 2018•52 min
