In this fourth episode, we move into the new millennium, when the study enjoyed a golden decade. With BCS70 greatly valued by scientists and policymakers, the study was funded to meet participants on three occasions and was regularly cited by New Labour in government policy. With this new-found recognition, researchers across the globe started using BCS70 in conjunction with other birth cohort studies to see how members of Generation X were faring compared to other generations. We also speak to ...
Jul 16, 2020•35 min
Now that the initial shock of lockdown has subsided, we can step back and ask: are we making the most effective use of the learning opportunities that digital technology, including social media, presents? Are we fully informed users of that technology when it comes to matters of data security and privacy? What benefits and risks does this brave new world of schooling online present us with? More information: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/events/2020/jul/virtual-event-navigating-digital-technology-le...
Jul 15, 2020•37 min
Dr Keri Wong shares the story of her global academic journey and how those experiences have shaped her research interests in wellbeing across cultures. Born in New Zealand, spending her childhood years in Hong Kong then going on to further study in the United States and the United Kingdom, Keri brings to the table extensive international perspective - including living through the SARS outbreak in the early 2000s through to witnessing the social justice challenges faced by the Black community acr...
Jul 13, 2020•31 min
Universities are set to be deeply impacted by the pandemic; the prospect of significant falls in international student numbers threatens to change the face of our universities dramatically, in the process weakening their financial viability. Perhaps the biggest immediate question facing the sector concerns online learning; its longer-term appeal and efficacy at scale remain to be tested. Can our university sector adapt to what will be a very different context, and in anything like its current fo...
Jul 10, 2020•51 min
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 to join the study again as adults and find out how they were getting on in the big wide world after t...
Jul 09, 2020•38 min
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 has dramatically changed the game. Economic modelling and government policy has been shaken up and wi...
Jul 06, 2020•40 min
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 changes to the world of work. How can policy enable our college system to respond swiftly and effectively...
Jul 03, 2020•1 hr
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, ideally, should it change for the future? More information: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/events/2020/jun/vi...
Jul 03, 2020•1 hr
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 being constructed by policy. More information: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/events/2020/jun/virtual-even...
Jul 02, 2020•1 hr 14 min
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 Towers. We explore these topics and more with: Professor John Bynner, former BCS70 director. Professor...
Jul 02, 2020•35 min
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 Development Goals for education. For more info and to listen to past episodes: bit.ly/researchfortherealworl...
Jul 01, 2020•3 min
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 that make good doctors. We find out why medical education research can differ from other areas of e...
Jun 29, 2020•33 min
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, academic and author of one of the most well-known BCS70 studies, which influenced New Labour policy on ...
Jun 25, 2020•34 min
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 measure’ of school effectiveness. A key focus of government assessment and accountability strategy f...
Jun 22, 2020•26 min
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: https://cls.ucl.ac.uk/bcs7050stories/...
Jun 19, 2020•1 min
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 describes a holistic and relationship-centred way of working in care and educational settings, and what...
Jun 18, 2020•1 hr 12 min
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 after right across the world, including here in the United Kingdom. The Black Lives Matter movement, ...
Jun 15, 2020•53 min
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 challenges COVID-19 is placing upon us and how we are attempting to overcome them. FACT-Covid (Fami...
Jun 15, 2020•21 min
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 health, energy and finance sectors, Allison explains how she became interested in the world of educatio...
Jun 08, 2020•24 min
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 has prompted a sharp reversal in that trend, at least for the ‘class of 2020’. Meanwhile, practical ...
Jun 02, 2020•41 min
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 previous episodes and find out more about Research for the Real World: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/abou...
May 29, 2020•3 min
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 explains the evolution and role of TAs, starting off as parent volunteers in the late 1970s through t...
May 27, 2020•37 min
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 learn about the concept of ‘Science Capital’, the concept developed by Louise and the ASPIRES project t...
May 20, 2020•22 min
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 data from the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) which follows the lives of over 17,000 people born t...
May 13, 2020•23 min
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 Rob Webster. This podcast is part of the 'Coronavirus: The Whole Story' series from UCL Minds. More ...
May 12, 2020•41 min
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 Development. Rob and Alison discuss the kind of role IOE research has played over the years, and what’s in st...
Apr 29, 2020•31 min
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, and subscribe to the IOE Podcast: https://bit.ly/researchfortherealworld #UCLMinds #IOEPodcast...
Apr 03, 2020•4 min
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: Piers Saunders, Head of Initial Teacher Education (ITE); Panel: Nazira Begum, Assistant Headteache...
Feb 25, 2020•32 min
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 practices – from the time the school day starts, to the inexorable rise of social media – helping or hinder...
Feb 05, 2020•1 hr 14 min
The IOE has launched the Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities (CEPEO), focusing on equalising opportunities across the life course. CEPEO's work seeks ways to improve education policy and wider employment practices to achieve this goal. In the first episode of their podcast, Research Fellow Dr Sam Sims discusses his research on improving teacher effectiveness in science. Learn more about the CEPEO and its work, and don't forget to listen to more of their podcasts: https://ucl...
Feb 03, 2020•13 min
