The immediate impact of COVID-19 on the education system was profound; it heavily disrupted classroom teaching, across all phases, and upended school leaving examinations, with significant knock-on effects for further and higher education. In what ways have the past months opened up education policy and practice to new possibilities, and how have those debates evolved in different countries? In part 

Recorded on 15 December 2020, 5:45 pm–6:45 pm GMT.

From start: John O'Regan introduces our guests.

Full show notes: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/events/2020/dec/how-pandemic-reshaping-education-debate-part-2-americas-and-south-africa

The immediate impact of COVID-19 on the education system was profound; it heavily disrupted classroom teaching, across all phases, and upended school leaving examinations, with significant knock-on effects for further and higher education. In what ways have the past months opened up education policy and practice to new possibilities, and how have those debates evolved in different countries? In part 1, the panel considers the case of South Asia, South East Asia, and Australasia.

Recorded on 14 December 2020, 9:15 am–10:15 am GMT.

From start: John O'Regan introduces our guests.

Full show notes: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/events/2020/dec/how-pandemic-reshaping-education-debate-part-1-east-asia-south-east-asia-australasia

And we're so lucky and grateful to have you back for another year to share stories that shape our everyday lives.

This season we're sitting up and paying close attention to the curriculum and examining the relationships between knowledge disciplines in schools and beyond. Dr Arthur Chapman, Dr Alex Standish and Dr Jennie Golding will be joining us to talk about what this means for subjects like history, geography and mathematics.

The trio have also contributed to a series of books, "Knowledge and the Curriculum", published by UCL Press.

If you'd like to ask our presenters or guests a question for future episodes, you can record a voice message: https://speakpipe.com/ioe or on social media: #IOEPodcast.

Take our 2-minute survey and help us make the best podcast possible: https://bit.ly/rtrw-survey.

To kick off the new year, UCL Minds takes a look back at 2020 and the lessons we've learned throughout the pandemic. In this episode, we revisit some of the exemplary work happening at UCL - work that has been as interdisciplinary as it has been instrumental to combating the virus, as cutting edge as it has been community-minded, and as world-leading as it has been lifesaving.

This episode features interview exerts from experts of all manner of disciplines, from medicine, engineering, psychology, education, political science, sociology and many more.

More info: www.ucl.ac.uk/ucl-minds/coronavirus

If you’ve got a question about the pandemic you’d like UCL researchers to answer, please get in touch by emailing UCL’s Communications and Marketing team on [email protected] – we’d love to hear from you.

IOE's Dr Tamjid Mujtaba joins this Coronavirus: The Whole Story episode (listen from 13:22) to discuss her work exploring how ethnic minority women in higher education are coping during the pandemic.

But first up, Dr Daisy Fancourt (Institute of Epidemiology & Health) explains the findings of her study exploring the differing impacts of Covid on the UK population over the past 33 weeks - from exacerbated social inequalities to the psychological implications of lockdown, including loneliness, isolation, domestic abuse, and fertility and family planning issues - as well as behaviours that can help improve mental health.

More info: www.ucl.ac.uk/ucl-minds/coronavirus

Transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ucl-minds/podcasts/coronavirus/transcript-episode-28

If you’ve got a question about the pandemic you’d like UCL researchers to answer, please get in touch by emailing UCL’s Communications and Marketing team on [email protected] – we’d love to hear from you.

The Research for the Real World production team reveal their favourite episodes of the whole series. The team share why each research story resonates with them, and discuss why they think everybody should know about these research stories.

Full show notes and links to the episodes featured: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2020/dec/producers-cut-research-real-world-s06e04

Take our 2-minute survey to let us know what you think of the IOE Podcast: https://bit.ly/rftrw-survey

Play is typically defined as ‘activity for enjoyment and recreation’, but in many respects, it serves a very serious and purposeful role in our lives. It’s vital to our early development and supports wellbeing throughout the lifespan. In education, though, play has seemed to carry less respect, squeezed out by curriculum reforms and shrinking break times. 

We’ve brought together experts from a range of fields to throw around some ideas about the place of play in children’s learning.  

Full show notes: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/events/2020/dec/virtual-event-what-if-we-took-play-more-seriously-schools-system

The narrative of education as an investment in a better future is as compelling at a national level as it is at the individual one, and Professor Moses Oketch aims to find the key to making this work in practice.

Dr Humera Iqbal discovers how Professor Moses Oketch’s career has been building a compelling connection between human capital theory and education policy.

Full show notes: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2020/dec/putting-human-capital-theory-practice-and-raising-education-outcomes-rftrw-s06e03

What has the experience of the past few months taught us about leading through a crisis – about the skills required and the impact on individual leaders? And how can the research literature help us navigate this difficult terrain?

Throughout the lockdown, school leaders were on the frontline: suddenly interpreting large volumes of evolving national guidance, supporting staff in adapting to new ways of working, reassuring pupils and families through uncharted, stressful, and sometimes distressing times. As schools re-opened, those same leaders have been helping their school communities to adapt once again. 

Full event info: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/events/2020/nov/virtual-event-school-leadership-during-covid-19-pandemic

Less is more? The back and forth over class sizes has been an enduring debate amongst many in the teaching profession. Professor Emeritus Peter Blatchford calls for a fresh look at the issue.

An IOE veteran of three decades, Professor Blatchford shares with Dr Humera Iqbal his early experiences cutting his teeth in longitudinal research at the Thomas Coram Research Unit, teacher training, and his key focus, unpacking the findings of the world’s biggest study into the effects of class size as well as two decades’ of research and review.

This forms the basis of Professor Blatchford and Dr Anthony Russell’s book ‘Rethinking Class Size: The complex story of impact on teaching and learning’, which examines how class size affects many areas of the pupil and teaching experience and outcomes.

Dr Iqbal also finds out how and why the gap in views of class size effects exist, the implications the research has for policy and practice, and to what extent this needs to be examined in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Full show notes and links: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2020/nov/one-size-fits-all-closer-look-classroom-numbers-rftrw-s06e02

Please take our 2-minute podcast survey and let us know what you'd like to hear on future episodes: https://bit.ly/rftrw-survey