IOE Insights

In January 2023, the Food Foundation estimated that 24% of UK households with children were living in food insecurity. This staggering figure brings to light issues affecting their life chances.

We’ll hear about how IOE research is raising awareness and informing policies and efforts in the midst of a new school and academic year now underway, another challenging winter and a general election in 2024.

This season's guests:

• Dr Jake Anders - the links between food poverty and hunger with academic attainment
• Professor Alice Bradbury - educational responses to the cost of living crisis and in particular how schools are doubling up as food banks for their local communities
• Professor Gary McCulloch - the history of school meal provision and nutritional standards.

More episodes of Research for the Real World: ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/researchfortherealworld⁠⁠

The IOE Podcast: ⁠https://bit.ly/ioepodcast

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Audio snippets featured:

• Children’s health chief calls for free school meals for all to end ‘disturbing’ food poverty - The Independent
• Rishi Sunak rejects Marcus Rashford’s call for free school meals extension - The Indepdendent
• Sadiq Khan says making free school meals programme permanent is his ‘aspiration’ - London Evening Standard
• 'Inside the Factory', Series 7: Rice Pudding - BBC Two

Alison Wiggins, a PGCE and anti-racist lecturer, emphasises the need for teachers to develop their racial literacy – 'naming it changes the power of it.'

She talks about building positive relationships and the connection she forges with mentees and students. One of her highlights, she explains, is they joy of being able to pass on her experiences of teaching, and the opportunity to see mentees' progress as they grow.

In this episode, she also shares her thoughts on a culturally responsive pedagogy as well as the need for racial literacy: 'we can't tackle something if we can't name it'.

Alison says that we've been socialised to avoid racism as an issue in schools, which creates a greater call to action to do something about the issue, and develop a shared language and understanding of the central aspects of race and racism.

Full show notes, transcript and links: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2023/nov/speak-and-speak-out-even-if-your-voice-shakes-anti-racism-too-important-leave-chance

ECF Staffroom speaks to Early Career Teachers, mentors and participants at all levels of the UCL Early Career Teacher Development programme.

Hilary talks about her journey as an educator and doles out some advice for early career teachers (ECTs): find the joy, discover your own teacher persona, and be unapologetically yourselves.

"We want our new teachers to train and stay and thrive in our classrooms."

Mark and Elaine speak to Hilary, the Programme Director of the Early Career Framework (ECF), and she talks about her role at the UCL Centre for Educational Leadership.

She talks more deeply about the ECF programme and emphasises the importance of the relationship between mentors and their ECTs.

She sets policymakers, school leaders and her UCL colleagues some challenges too – and shares her hopes that the ECF programme will improve teacher recruitment and retention.

Full show notes, transcript and links: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2023/oct/be-unapologetically-yourself-ecf-director-hilary-adli-shares-her-recipe-success-s03e03

ECF Staffroom speaks to Early Career Teachers, mentors and participants at all levels of the UCL Early Career Teacher Development programme.

Tapping into the experience of induction tutors, facilitators and an ECF lead to learn about ensuring high-quality mentoring and cultures of professional learning.

Elaine and Mark attend an Induction Tutor conference, which emphasises working with and learning from peers. They speak to Saiqua Zaneb, Tessa Blair and Lara Boyer, who are part of the East London Teaching School hub.

They discuss what is important for Early Career Teachers (ECTs) to experience on a day to day basis, particularly the opportunity to connect with colleagues at their school and build relationships.

Full show notes, transcript and links: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2023/sep/taking-staffroom-road-gatecrashing-induction-tutor-conference-east-london-s03e02

ECF Staffroom speaks to Early Career Teachers, mentors and participants at all levels of the UCL Early Career Teacher Development programme.

This podcast hears about research evidence focused on the role of apps in early education.

A key part of Dr Laura Outhwaite’s work includes examining claims of many products on Google and Apple’s app stores to be “educational” and having an impact on young children’s learning.

Full show notes and links: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2023/sep/how-find-maths-learning-app-you-can-count-your-kids-rftrw-s20e03

Jan shares her wisdom from decades in teaching and teacher education. She reminds us why teaching can be a great – and still greater – profession to join.

She talks about her commitment to the importance of teaching, and the ways in which the profession can transform people and fill them with confidence.

Full show notes, transcript and links: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2023/sep/what-teaching-does-people-people-what-can-ecf-providers-learn-ite-s03e01

ECF Staffroom speaks to Early Career Teachers, mentors and participants at all levels of the UCL Early Career Teacher Development programme.

This podcast explores how artificial intelligence (AI) has grown over time and whether it can be used as a tool to support education, rather than as a replacement for human thinking.

Professor Manolis Mavrikis talks about the role of technology in schools and the obstacles that can prevent further integration, like infrastructure, teacher workload and professional development.

He discusses the potential of AI in particular, and the role of schools and educators in helping students understand how to use AI as a tool to aid learning. This includes awareness of its pitfalls – like concerns around privacy and biases – but also how to self-regulate and think critically about it.

Full show notes: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/evolution-artificial-intelligence-rftrw-s20e02

Professor Alison Clark-Wilson has a wealth of experience breaking down barriers between research communities and industry through her work with educational technology entrepreneurs, experts, and end users all over the world.

We hear about some of the projects she’s led and collaborated on, how nurturing humility in EdTech might be possible in a world of “tech bros” and big egos, and why “fake it till you make it” is not acceptable in education.

Full show notes and links: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2023/aug/how-do-we-make-edtech-work-everyone-rftrw-s20e01

This roundtable is the second event in the TCRU@50 programme of activities celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Thomas Coram Research Unit.

The speakers offer perspectives on the benefits of engaged fatherhood for men, for children, for families and for gender equality.

Speakers
- Professor Esther Dermott (University of Bristol)
- Professor Paul Hodkinson (University of Surrey)
- Professor Margaret O’Brien (UCL, Thomas Coram Research Unit)
- Chair: Professor Alison Koslowski (UCL, Thomas Coram Research Unit)

More info: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/events/2023/jun/tcru50-roundtable-families-fatherhood-and-future

Transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/about-ioe/ioe-life/digital-and-social-media/podcasts/transcript-tcru50-roundtable-families-fatherhood-and-future

In this season of Research for the Real World, we're highlighting IOE research that provides insights on finding ways for technology to play a meaningful role within education. We know that parents, teachers and students have concerns about the way in which society reacts with technology, but how can we improve our relationship with it? Maximise the use of high-quality content? Is there a way we can take advantage of personalized learning? There's also all that chat about AI… well, we’re going to provide some examples on how this technology improves lives.

We'll hear from:

• Professor Manolis Mavrikis on artificial intelligence's role in education
• Professor Alison Clark-Wilson on the intersections between industry and research in EdTech
• Dr Laura Outhwaite on all things educational maths apps, and how we can look for high-quality learning content.

More episodes of Research for the Real World: https://bit.ly/researchfortherealworld

The IOE Podcast: https://bit.ly/ioepodcast