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Reimagining protection for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children
By IOE Blog Editor, on 3 June 2025
Amina Meshnuni and Abdullahi Yussuf, speakers for this year’s TCRU-Coram annual lecture. Credit: James Tye for UCL.
3 June 2025
By Andrea Verdasco and Dushana Pinfield, Events and Communications Manager, TCRU
IOE’s Thomas Coram Research Unit (TCRU) and Coram have called for a fundamental shift in how asylum-seeking children and young people in the UK are supported. The case was put forward by IOE’s Professor Elaine Chase and Coram Young Citizens, Amina Meshnuni and Abdullahi Yussuf, speakers for this year’s TCRU-Coram annual lecture. The lecture marked a significant step in collaboration between UCL and Coram, with the public signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between them, underpinning a commitment to deeper partnership on research-led policy change regarding children’s rights. Read the rest of this entry »
Leading English schools at a time of climate crisis
By IOE Blog Editor, on 23 April 2025
Credit: Lucy Pope for UCL IOE.
23 April 2025
By Rupert Higham and Alison Kitson
“What do I do? Save the environment or let children go hungry?” So said one of ten secondary school headteachers who participated in case study research led by UCL’s Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability (CCCSE). Read the rest of this entry »
The future of AI in high stakes testing: the fairness question
By IOE Blog Editor, on 3 April 2025
Credit: .shock via Adobe Stock.
3 April 2025
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming high stakes testing. But how do candidates experience these tests? Are they trusted as fair and reliable measures? In 2023 a major research collaboration between UCL IOE and Pearson explored these crucial questions, focusing on the AI-driven PTE Academic test, a computer-based English proficiency language test often used to support study and visa applications and professional registration. Nearly two years on from the publication of our research report, AI-led assessment has continued to expand, raising new challenges around equity, bias and transparency. While AI has the potential to improve efficiency and standardisation, its role in shaping test-takers’ futures demands ongoing scrutiny. Read the rest of this entry »
Embedding disaster and climate education within curricula
By IOE Blog Editor, on 31 March 2025
Credit: WavebreakMediaMicro via Adobe Stock.
31 March 2025
This post is the third of three in a series on disaster and climate education (DCE). In the first two posts, Pedagogies for disaster and climate risk reduction and Collaborative and co-learning for disaster and climate justice, Kaori Kitagawa introduced what DCE is about and techniques for collaborative co-learning to prepare for these scenarios and reduce their impact.
In this post I hone back in on schooling to share resources that could enable teachers to embed DCE within their lessons. I use the case of England’s Citizenship school curriculum, but the principle of embedding DCE into learning and the resources themselves have wider application. I draw on my and Kaori’s recent publication ‘Preparing for disasters through Citizenship Pedagogies’. The new Co-learning for disaster and climate justice master’s module at UCL uses these themes to enable students to develop pioneering approaches and resources of their own that further progress practice in DCE. Read the rest of this entry »
What will schools look like in 2040? A European view
By IOE Blog Editor, on 27 March 2025
Credit: sarawutnirothon via Adobe Stock.
27 March 2025
Education is at a turning point, shaped by rapid technological advancement, climate change, demographic shifts and evolving labour market demands. As policymakers respond to these challenges, the need for long-term strategic thinking has never been more pressing. Read the rest of this entry »
Five years on from Covid-19: what have we learned about the transition to secondary school?
By IOE Blog Editor, on 22 March 2025
Credit: Lucy Pope for UCL IOE.
22 March 2025
By Jane Perryman and Sandra Leaton Gray
When researchers visit schools to ask young people about their experiences of moving up to secondary school, a number of recurring themes emerge. Pupils anticipate new uniforms, the chance to study new subjects in specialist classrooms, access to advanced equipment, opportunities to meet new teachers, join extracurricular clubs and form new friendships.
However, alongside this excitement, many also experience anxiety. Concerns about navigating a larger school site, managing increased academic demands, encountering bullying and struggling to establish friendships are common. Schools are well aware of these challenges and have long developed robust strategies to ease the transition. Liaison with primary schools, induction days and structured pastoral support ensure that by the end of the first term most students have settled in and adjusted to secondary school life.
Five years ago, however, this well-established process was profoundly disrupted. The Covid-19 pandemic meant that many young people arrived at secondary school with highly fragmented educational experiences, varying levels of academic preparedness and, in some cases, significant social and emotional challenges. As parents of sons in the suddenly disrupted Year 6/7 cohort, we wondered what we could do to help. In response, our research at IOE, supported by the UCL Coronavirus Response Fund, sought to identify the most effective strategies to support Year 7 pupils at that time. The recommendations we developed emphasised relationship-building over immediate academic catch-up, flexibility in routines, digital literacy training and a focus on physical activity and wellbeing. Read the rest of this entry »
Six myths and facts about accessibility
By IOE Blog Editor, on 11 March 2025
Accessibility is not just physical access, it also concerns digital products, spaces and services. Credit: Sophie Mitchell for UCL.
11 March 2025
By Leda Kamenopoulou and Ben Watson
What is and what is not accessibility?
Accessibility is often defined as the extent to which products, services and spaces are easy for people with disabilities to access and use. In this blog post, we argue that this is a narrow view and accessibility is a lot more than that. We do this by busting six common misconceptions. Read the rest of this entry »
To tackle exclusion we need a whole school social pedagogic approach, starting in the primary years
By IOE Blog Editor, on 5 March 2025
Credit: zinkevych via Adobe Stock.
5 March 2025
By Claire Cameron, Aase Villadsen, Amelia Roberts, Jo Van Herwegen, Vivian Hill, Dominic Wyse
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson is right to call for “…a national effort to tackle the epidemic of school absence so we can give all children the best start in life”, but the solutions adopted by recent successive governments, especially fining parents, have not been effective. We need a rethink in how to address attendance at school. Whether through truancy, also known as skipping school, or formal exclusion, far too many children are missing out on their right to education, with potentially lifelong consequences. As many studies show, these children are more likely to be socially disadvantaged children and those with special educational needs or mental health problems. We believe an approach based around the principles of social pedagogy offers a better way forward. Our new research highlights why this needs to start in primary school. Read the rest of this entry »
Collaborative and co-learning for disaster and climate justice
By IOE Blog Editor, on 27 February 2025
Credit: Pixel-Shot via Adobe Stock.
27 February 2025
This post is the second of three in a series on disaster and climate education. Read part one: Pedagogies for disaster and climate risk reduction.
Compared to didactic, ‘knowledge transmission’ models, more collaborative approaches stand out as an appropriate pedagogy for disaster and climate education (DCE). Preparing for disasters in communities or households will benefit from building solidarity and sharing responsibilities. By enabling a social learning environment, collaborative learning pedagogies cultivate a sense of belonging. This inclusive space values and respects every member, which plays a crucial role in promoting social justice. But we can go further. Read the rest of this entry »
Pedagogies for disaster and climate risk reduction
By IOE Blog Editor, on 20 February 2025
Credit: 24Novembers via Adobe Stock.
20 February 2025
As climate change accelerates, regions worldwide are grappling with increased flooding, droughts and wildfires. Areas prone to seismic activity frequently face large-scale earthquakes. Such catastrophic events disrupt lives and have fatal consequences. We need ‘education’ – formal, informal and lifelong learning – to help citizens navigate them. In this series of blog posts, I and my colleague Hans Svennevig discuss pedagogical approaches to education for reducing disaster and climate risk. This post explores the range of pedagogies used, and in the second I look in particular at ‘co-learning’ approaches in this field. In the third post Hans shares practical examples. Read the rest of this entry »
