The pandemic has led to considerable disruption to the learning of all pupils in England. This report analyses the general trends in the data across several studies investigating the impact of COVID-19 on educational attainment in England, from March 2020 onwards, and identifies where particular attention is needed. It is broken down into four…

Research has shown that book ownership has a significant impact on life outcomes. In 2019, we found that that children who reported that they had a book of their own were not only more engaged with reading but also six times more likely to read above the level expected for their age than children who did not own a book (22% vs. 3.6%). We included…

In contrast with many European nations, university students in the United Kingdom have traditionally relocated for their higher education (HE). However, with rising fees and diversification of the student body, an increasing number are remaining in their parental or own home whilst they attend a local university or commute to a HE provider. For…

This current study draws on data from a large sample of trainee teachers in England to provide a long overdue baseline assessment of the knowledge of autism. It has particular import given the recent research that shows that 60% of autistic young people identified 'having a teacher who understands autism' as the main thing that would make school…

There is a growing policy focus on children and young people's mental health. The United Kingdom (UK) government has positioned schools as being well-placed to identify children and young people's mental health needs and to provide appropriate intervention. At the same time, school staff report a lack of skills, knowledge and systems to support…

The present study investigates the relation between language environment and language delay in 63 British-English speaking children (19 typical talkers (TT), 22 late talkers (LT), and 22 late bloomers (LB) aged 13 to 18 months. Families audio recorded daily routines and marked the new words their child produced over a period of 6 months. To…

Institutions, organisations, and policymakers use open educational resources (OERs) to promote student equity and social inclusion. The global COVID-19 crisis highlighted the need for lifelong learning and underscored the importance of the higher education system in this endeavour. This study describes informal learning among adults through OERs,…

One of the most commonly identified obstacles in the learning-teaching of quantitative material is statistics anxiety. Of the factors analysed in relation to statistics anxiety, age and gender have received a substantial proportion of the research focus. Yet there is limited work that systematically examines the possibility of an…

This article describes an action research project that was undertaken to address a poor progression rate at the end of the first year of a single honours law degree. An attainment gap due to gender, age and ethnicity was also noted. The students were predominantly assessed by examinations; therefore a change of assessment to coursework and…

The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate Archer's reflexive modalities in relation to Further Education (FE) students' higher education (HE) decision-making and choices. To do this, it draws on data from a qualitative, longitudinal narrative inquiry that explored how socioeconomically under-represented FE students made their HE…

Increasing and diversifying participation in science remains a key educational policy concern for governments across the world. "Science capital" has been proposed as a useful theoretical lens that can explain patterns in science aspirations among young people aged 11-16 -- but to date it has not been explored in relation to educational…

Comparative studies of European social policy have pointed to significant differences with respect to the way in which diversity is valued and understood, contrasting nations that have adopted strongly compulsory and integrationist policies with others that have pursued more voluntary and pluralistic approaches. Within the higher education sector…

Science-related careers are often considered to be less accessible by many children. More research is needed to distinguish any influences from different aspects of life so that support and/or interventions can be focused to help mitigate any disadvantage and inaccessibility. In order to gain greater understanding of constraints or influences on…

We present new evidence on the pandemic's effects on youth, for the first time focusing on perceived effects on the learning of job skills, as well as on education. The context is post-Brexit Britain. We find that 47% of young people in a representative sample perceive a loss of learning of job skills, while a sizeable minority (17%) judge that…

This paper examined whether a younger starting age of formal instruction on a foreign language is beneficial in expanding circle countries. An experimental study was designed to examine to what extent the five varieties of English language teachers are intelligible to Japanese- (JSLs) and Korean-speaking language learners (KSLs), who have…