IOE Insights

Now that the initial shock of lockdown has subsided, we can step back and ask: are we making the most effective use of the learning opportunities that digital technology, including social media, presents? Are we fully informed users of that technology when it comes to matters of data security and privacy? What benefits and risks does this brave new world of schooling online present us with?

More information: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/events/2020/jul/virtual-event-navigating-digital-technology-learning

Dr Keri Wong shares the story of her global academic journey and how those experiences have shaped her research interests in wellbeing across cultures.

Born in New Zealand, spending her childhood years in Hong Kong then going on to further study in the United States and the United Kingdom, Keri brings to the table extensive international perspective - including living through the SARS outbreak in the early 2000s through to witnessing the social justice challenges faced by the Black community across America.

This leads to Dr Humera Iqbal asking about her lead role in the ‘COVID-19: Global social trust and mental health’ study’, looking at the what the pandemic has done to social trust in relationships, and mental and physical health. Spanning five countries, the study promises to be an opportunity to compare how populations in each have adopted their respective government’s COVID guidelines.  

Full show notes and links: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2020/jul/effects-covid-19-mental-health-physical-health-and-social-trust-rftrw-s03e02

Universities are set to be deeply impacted by the pandemic; the prospect of significant falls in international student numbers threatens to change the face of our universities dramatically, in the process weakening their financial viability.

Perhaps the biggest immediate question facing the sector concerns online learning; its longer-term appeal and efficacy at scale remain to be tested.

Can our university sector adapt to what will be a very different context, and in anything like its current form? How should it change in order to better serve students and wider society for the years to come?

More information: bit.ly/ioedebatescovidpt3

In this third episode, we move into the 1990s to find out how the study and its staff survived the lean years of the 80s and early 90s, and managed to get back in contact with study participants after a 10 year gap. We learn about the study’s stark findings on adults’ numeracy and literacy, which led to the Skills for Life adult learning programme. We also ask study participants what it was like to join the study again as adults and find out how they were getting on in the big wide world after the boom and bust years.

Guests include:

Full show notes: https://cls.ucl.ac.uk/bcs7050stories/podcast-series-50-years-of-life-in-britain/

Season 3 kicks off with Dr Rob Webster joined by Dr Sam Sims for a discussion about issues affecting the supply and quality of teachers.

We unpack Sam’s research which focuses on the challenges behind facing the supply of teachers, how they are recruited, how they are best retained. And what are the factors causing them to leave the profession - is it pay? Is it workload?

And of course, COVID-19 has dramatically changed the game. Economic modelling and government policy has been shaken up and will affect our schools in so many ways. So how will these issues be addressed in the aftermath of the pandemic?

Full show notes and links: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2020/jul/should-i-stay-or-should-i-go-teaching-profession-post-pandemic-rftrw-s03e01

As the pandemic hit, our further education colleges faced all the difficulties of moving teaching, pastoral care and governance and administration online. Meanwhile, the employment and assessment of apprentices has been thrown into disarray for many, and there have been calls to delay the launch of the new flagship qualification, T Levels.

For the longer-term, the pandemic could bring marked changes to the world of work. How can policy enable our college system to respond swiftly and effectively to the post-COVID19 context, for people of all ages?

More information: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/events/2020/jun/virtual-event-what-if-our-education-system-changed-good-light-covid-19-part-2

For weeks, schools have been closed to all but the children of key workers and the most vulnerable. Exams for the ‘class of 2020’ have been cancelled, to be replaced by teacher assessment.

Since COVID-19 arrived, where has our schools system been able to rise to the challenge, and where has it struggled? As we seek a way out of the pandemic, how will our schools system need to change and how, ideally, should it change for the future?

More information: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/events/2020/jun/virtual-event-what-if-our-education-system-changed-good-light-covid-19-part-1

Professor Martin Mills explores the meaning of ‘respect’ in the context of contemporary constructs of the ‘ideal teacher’.

In interviews with teachers and students over many years and on many different topics, the word ‘respect’ comes up regularly.

It will be argued that a lack of ‘respect’ is damaging to the teaching profession, and that such a lack is evident in the ways teachers are currently being constructed by policy.

More information: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/events/2020/jun/virtual-event-teachers-and-teaching-politics-respect

In this second episode, we move into the 1980s to find out how Neville Butler kept the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) going during a decade of austerity. We learn about the benefits of reading for pleasure for children’s English and maths skills. We also ask study participants about their teenage years and find out what it was like sharing their 19th birthday with 4,000 other people at Alton Towers.

We explore these topics and more with:

Full show notes: https://cls.ucl.ac.uk/bcs7050stories/podcast-series-50-years-of-life-in-britain/

Dr Rob Webster and Dr Humera Iqbal are joined by a special guest to talk about the third season of our series, with a key focus on a future post-pandemic.

For more info and to listen to past episodes: bit.ly/researchfortherealworld

😸 Thanks so much to Sidney for helping out with the production of this trailer.