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Creating a Decolonised and Liberated Curriculum Self-Assessment Tool (DeLCSAT)
By IOE Blog Editor, on 27 January 2026
Credit: Sam Robinson for UCL
27 January 2025
By Gideon Sappor and Eirini Gkouskou
This blog is dedicated to Richard Harrison, who was co-chair of the IOE Department of Leadership and Learning’s decolonising and liberating the curriculum working group, until his untimely death in the spring of 2025.
In higher education, the call to decolonise and liberate the curriculum is not just a trend, it’s a transformative movement aimed at fostering equity, inclusion and critical engagement (Meda, 2020). This is borne out of the principles of fairness, equity and justice in relation to diversity that have long occupied a prominent position within social and political discourse in the UK and beyond, not least within higher education. This sustained engagement reflects an enduring societal aspiration to construct an equitable and inclusive order in which structural inequalities are dismantled and individual life chances are not predetermined by immutable characteristics such as race, socio‑economic background or place of birth (Sappor & Franks, 2025). Read the rest of this entry »
The government has promised many new nurseries based in primary schools – but where are they opening?
By IOE Blog Editor, on 22 January 2026
Credit: Mat Wright for UCL IOE.
22 January 2026
By Alice Bradbury, Rodie Garland, UCL Institute of Education, and Kerstin Sailer, UCL Bartlett School of Architecture
One of the government’s flagship policies in relation to education is the creation of ‘over 4,000 school-based childcare places’ from September 2025, through funding for nurseries based in schools. These places are either in separate nurseries on the school site – run by the school or a private provider – or extra places in the traditional nursery classes for 3–4-year-olds that have been run by primary schools for decades. The school-based nursery (SBN) policy is part of the government’s attempts to, in their words, “help parents get to work”, allowing families to “access high-quality early education and get the best start in life”.
Our current research is exploring how schools are using their SBN funding to open new nurseries, and we have seen examples of excellent nurseries where children are thriving. As part of this we have analysed which 300 schools were awarded the first set of capital grants to offer new early years places in September 2025 and found a rather different picture from how the policy has been presented. This suggests that the implementation of this policy may be rather more complex than first thought. Read the rest of this entry »
The English school curriculum needs democratic aims
By IOE Blog Editor, on 18 December 2025
Credit: WavebreakMediaMicro via Adobe Stock.
18 December 2025
By John White
In Europe, England is exceptional among many countries in not having the economic, civic and personal well-being of democratic citizens as a central aim of its national curriculum. Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Norway and Spain do. In the UK, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales do so, too. It is time England joined them. Read the rest of this entry »
Amplifying voices: lived experiences of dyscalculia
By IOE Blog Editor, on 9 December 2025
Credit: zphoto83 via Adobe Stock.
9 December 2025
By Elisabeth Herbert, Helen Williams, Jo Van Herwegen, Laura Outhwaite, UCL Institute of Education (IOE) and Cat Eadle (Dyscalculia Network)
The IOE and the Dyscalculia Network are collaborating to raise awareness of dyscalculia and mathematical learning difficulties through developing research, resources and events that centre around lived experience. In this piece we set out how our recent initiatives are making an impact. Read the rest of this entry »
Votes at 16: the role of Citizenship education
By IOE Blog Editor, on 4 December 2025
Credit: meeboonstudio via Adobe Stock.
4 December 2025
By Hans Svennevig, UCL Institute of Education, with Sera Shortland, Mackenzie Dawson-Hunt and Tania Malik
Votes at 16, a manifesto commitment of the current Labour government, brings in an increase in voter franchise in England. Campaigns to increase the franchise to 16- and 17-year-olds have been around for some time, and this policy brings England in line with Scotland, which has had the right since 2015 and Wales since 2017 (in each case with voter registration starting at age 14). Northern Ireland looks set to follow in 2027.
As educators, we believe the best way to make this reform meaningful is to have high quality Citizenship education. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer agrees, as does the recently announced Curriculum and Assessment Review report and the government’s response to it. These reforms and the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, requiring academies to follow the National Curriculum, will help improve Citizenship education. Research from a range of academics, including Germ Janmaat at the IOE, or colleagues at the Association for Citizenship Teaching, Middlesex University, Nottingham Trent University and the Royal Holloway University highlight the value of this provision. Read the rest of this entry »
Beyond words: creative listening in (dis)ability and employment
By IOE Blog Editor, on 3 December 2025
Photo credits: Duncan Mercieca.
3 December 2025
By Duncan Mercieca and Leda Kamenopoulou
On 5 November 2025, we gathered at the UCL Institute of Education (IOE) for an interactive workshop designed for disabled young people aged 16–25, many of whom are navigating unemployment. Families and carers joined too, creating a space where experiences could be shared openly. The aim was simple yet profound: to rethink what employment means when viewed through the lens of disability – and to do so creatively. Read the rest of this entry »
Bridging research and policy: the role of science-policy organisations in evidence-informed policymaking
By IOE Blog Editor, on 2 December 2025
Credit: 2024 Alejandro Salinas Lopez “alperucho”.
2 December 2025
By Jessica Ko
In an era where policy decisions increasingly demand robust evidence, science-policy organisations (SPOs) are emerging as pivotal actors in shaping more equitable and effective public systems. However, extant research has largely focused on the role of the individual knowledge broker rather than organisational factors in the policymaking process. This is a research gap that our British Academy-funded research project hopes to address. Read the rest of this entry »
Closing the loop: what schools and universities can learn from each other through a ‘funds of knowledge’ approach
By IOE Blog Editor, on 27 November 2025
Credit: Darren Tsang / 1314 Family Style for UCL IOE.
27 November 2025
By Joseph Mintz, Gayoung Choi and Jianing Zhou
As educators, we routinely reflect on how to respond to and meet diverse learner needs within our classrooms. But do we also see and value the knowledge and experiences that students bring with them? Engaging with that question means looking at ourselves, our own backgrounds, experiences and perspectives, and thinking about how those shape what and how we teach. This is especially so when our backgrounds differ from those of many of our students. Read the rest of this entry »
Is it time to drop the terminology of ‘powerful knowledge’ in talking about the school curriculum?
By IOE Blog Editor, on 25 November 2025
Credit: Richard Stonehouse for UCL IOE.
25 November 2025
By John White
At the heart of the Curriculum and Assessment Review Final Report, Building a world-class curriculum for all, is the claim that the curriculum should be ‘knowledge-rich’ and ‘centred on powerful knowledge’. The government response endorses this, using the same two expressions. These terms were also used, in the same closely related way, in an address on ‘The importance of a knowledge-rich curriculum’ by the former Schools Minister, Nick Gibb, in 2021.
The idea that the curriculum should be rich in knowledge and based on powerful knowledge has been around since the Gove reforms of the earlier part of the last decade. How far will it shape curriculum policy in the last half of this one? Read the rest of this entry »
Teaching controversial issues in schools – challenges and opportunities
By IOE Blog Editor, on 20 November 2025
Credit: Cavan for Adobe via Adobe Stock.
20 November 2025
Brexit, migration and the Israel/Palestine conflict are just three issues that have saturated public debate and generated polarised reactions in recent times. Meanwhile, young people in particular are increasingly receiving their news through social media (Internet Matters 2025), and research suggests that, although the relationship is complex, social media does play a role in aggravating ‘destructive’ polarisation (Esau et al 2024). Read the rest of this entry »
