IOE Insights

Peter Tabichi is a science teacher and Franciscan Brother who gives away 80% of his monthly income to help the poor. Thanks to Peter's dedication, hard work and passionate belief in his students, his poorly-resourced school in remote rural Kenya is now winning national and international science competitions.

Peter was awarded the 2019 Global Teacher Prize, a $US1 million award from the Varkey Foundation to a teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession.

Peter teaches at Keriko Mixed Day Secondary School in Pwani Village, situated in a remote, semi-arid part of Kenya’s Rift Valley. Here, students from a host of diverse cultures and religions learn in poorly equipped classrooms.

Peter's lecture begins at the 07:55 mark.

The Global Teacher Prize lecture was recorded at the UCL Institute of Education on 30 September 2019. More information: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/events/2019/sep/evening-peter-tabichi-winner-2019-global-teacher-prize

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For a long time, the ‘grand narrative’ in education and social policy has been the pursuit of social mobility – breaking the link between an individual’s background and where they get to in life. Over the past year, the political rhetoric has changed, with the emergence of the cause of social justice as the new proposed guiding principle for public policy choices.

But there’s been a certain ‘fuzziness’ around what exactly is meant by each of the two projects – with little attention paid to downward mobility as an inherent part of social mobility, or to where precisely the line is to be drawn between equality of opportunity and equality of outcome.

Speakers:

Louise Archer, Karl Mannheim Professor of Sociology of Education, UCL Institute of Education

Dan Morrow, CEO, Woodland Academy Trust

Dr Jason Arday, academic, Trustee of the Runnymede Trust, and School Governor at Shaftesbury Park Primary School

Iesha Small, Head of Strategy, Youth Hostels Association (England and Wales)

Chair: Professor Becky Francis, Director of UCL Institute of Education

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Professor Becky Francis, Dr Becky Taylor and Dr Antonina Tereshchenko examine research from the Best practice in grouping students project. Their book, ‘Reassessing 'Ability' Grouping: Improving Practice for Equity and Attainment’ looks at wider political debates on pupils' social backgrounds and educational attainment. Its chapters discuss the practicalities of classroom practice, and recommend improved practice to maximise pupil outcomes, experiences and equity.

This is a recording from the book's launch event on 26 September 2019, which saw Professor Francis, Dr Taylor and Dr Tereshchenko in conversation with TES journalist Ann Mroz. The authors also spoke about how there is limited movement between sets and that this lack of movement has a negative impact on pupils in the lower sets.

More information about their research: ucl.ac.uk/ioe-groupingstudents.

Follow them on Twitter: @GroupingStudy.

The book is published by Routledge.

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The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a major international study of the reading, mathematics and science skills of 15-year-olds across the world. The results are closely watched by journalists, educationalists and policymakers across the globe.

Yet there have been recent criticisms of the methodology used by PISA, and debate about whether the results can really be trusted. With the latest PISA results released on December 3rd 2019, this public lecture taking place the evening before will discuss some of these criticisms of PISA in detail.

This will include key aspects, such as how the PISA sample is selected and whether it is a truly representative reflection of 15-year-olds’ achievement, as well as unusual aspects of the PISA test design.

A lecture by Nobel Prize Winner, Professor Carl Wieman, Stanford University that took place on Wednesday 25 September 2019 at UCL Institute of Education (IOE).

About the lecture:

Guided by experimental tests of theory and practice, science and engineering has advanced rapidly in the past 500 years. Guided primarily by tradition and dogma, science education meanwhile has remained largely medieval. Research on how people learn is now revealing much more effective ways to teach and evaluate learning than what is in use in the traditional science class. It makes much more use in the classroom of the instructor’s expertise, and it also shows students how to learn most effectively. This research is setting the stage for a new approach to teaching and learning that can provide the relevant and effective science education for all students that is needed for the 21st century. Although the focus of the talk is on undergraduate science teaching, where the data is the most compelling, the underlying principles come from studies of the general development of expertise and apply widely.

This lecture was co-hosted by the OECD Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) and the Centre for Global Higher Education (CGHE).

From the archives: in 2011 Vivian Hill spoke about the contemporary issues affecting educational psychology and disadvantaged and disabled children, focusing on her work and research with supporting inclusive learning environments in schools for children.

Vivian also discusses research that finds conceptual differences in the way children on the autism spectrum view friendships compared to their peers, and the lack of cultural understanding when it comes to assessing abilities and intelligence.

Vivian is an educational psychologist and Programme Director of the IOE's Educational Psychology doctorate programme.

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From the archives: in 2011, Professor Michael Reiss spoke to the IOE about his interest in science education research, sex education and bio-ethics.

He's in conversation with Tamjid Mujtaba, who is now a Senior Research Associate and happens to work alongside Professor Reiss here at the IOE. The pair discuss why many students appear to lose interest in studying science after leaving school.

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From the archives: in 2011, Dominic Wyse, Professor of Early Childhood and Primary Education, joined IOE alumna Melissa Beeko for a conversation about his research interests, which include the understanding of literacy and language in early years and primary.

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From the archives: Ann Phoenix, Professor of Psychosocial Studies spoke to the IOE about her research interests, which include motherhood, social identities, young people, radicalisation and gender.

Professor Phoenix is joined by Catherine Walker, who at the time was a PhD candidate, and is now a Research Associate at the Sustainable Consumption Institute. The pair discuss inequalities, education and life paths.

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From the archives: Elaine Unterhalter, Professor of Education and International Development spoke to the IOE about her research into gender, education and poverty.

She's joined by Kate Greany, who is currently the Head of Economic Development in Kenya for the UK government's Department for International Development.

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