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Education Research (UoA23)
Education research at Newcastle is based in the School of Education, Communication, and Language Sciences (ECLS). Education at Newcastle has been training teachers and doing research for more than 130 years. The Unit returns 21 colleagues to REF2021. Their work ranges from pedagogic innovation to professional learning and education.
Education research at Newcastle is based in the School of Education, Communication, and Language Sciences (ECLS). It includes:
- Education and Education Psychology colleagues in ECLS in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HaSS)
- medical educators from the Faculty of Medical Sciences (FMS)
Education at Newcastle has been training teachers and doing research for more than 130 years. The Unit returns 21 colleagues to REF2021. Their work ranges from pedagogic innovation to professional learning and education.
Research themes
The Unit focusses its work in four Education research themes. These reflect a dynamic response to developing needs and interests in:
- social justice and education
- pedagogic innovation
- professional learning and practice
- international development and global education
The Unit has an international reputation for its work across all of these themes.
Interdisciplinary work
Our work is also highly interdisciplinary.
We lead the Newcastle Institute of Social Sciences (NISS). This involves all social scientists working across the three University faculties. They increase the visibility of social science research both within and beyond the University.
We also co-lead the Newcastle University Global Challenges Academy. This helps foster research and partnerships to realise the UN Sustainable Development Goals. It mentors and supports other staff to undertake research globally.
Centre for Learning and Teaching
The Unit has been host to the Centre for Learning and Teaching (CfLaT). This has a wide disciplinary membership. It includes research-active staff from:
- medical education
- educational psychology and speech and languages sciences
- SOLE Central, a global hub for research into self-organised learning environments (SOLEs)
Funding awards
The Unit has been awarded significant external funding in the period 2014–2020. Funds have come from a wide portfolio of funders. Major funded projects include the:
- FP7 funded FaSMEd project, Scientix Award Winner of the 6th STEM Resource Award
- ROMtels project, shortlisted for Project of the Year in the Times Higher Education Awards 2020
Other notable Education research includes:
- a British Academy project exploring women’s empowerment in a higher education college
- the Erasmus-funded CoRed project
The latter brings together six European partners. They develop participatory approaches and tools for school communities. These approaches and tools are used to understand and improve their educational space.
Methodological innovation
Our Education research is also distinguished by its methodological innovation. Underpinning much of our work is our commitment to participatory and co-creative approaches. These look at planning, co-designing, co-producing, and researching educational innovation. Examples of this include the:
AHRC-funded Co-curate North East project
This brought together online collections, museums, universities, schools, and community groups. They made and re-made stories and images from North-East England and Cumbria.
Find out more about Co-curate North East
EU-funded ACCOMPLISSH project
This project explored Education research co-creation to enhance impact. It found research impact is best encouraged through authentic, reciprocal relationships with collaborators. Different kinds of research methods and tools were needed for effective co-produced research.
Find out more about ACCOMPLISSH
Poverty Proofing the School Day
'Poverty Proofing the School Day' is an inspiring example. It showed the transformational impact of co-production. Our co-production approach to theory of change was adopted in Scotland.
The Scottish Parliament’s Education and Skills Committee used it for their new ‘the Cost of the School Day’ strategy.
Find out more about Poverty Proofing the School Day
Responding to policy and practice challenges
We are, through Education research themes, responding to current educational policy and practice challenges. These include regional challenges of having a workforce for growth sectors in the North East.
Our Project Based Learning (PBL) research, such as the PBL Goes to University project, involves partnerships with:
- local employers
- the North East Local Enterprise Partnership
These have focused on the growth sectors. To address specific challenges for the region, we have collaborated with partners including:
Global reach
Our Education research has global reach. We are:
- changing the face of teaching through thinking skills in Germany and the Netherlands
- developing of SOLEs with ex-FARC combatants in Colombia
- advancing teaching of reading of English in schools in high-density housing areas of Delhi, India
Our Education research focuses on benefitting the lives and education of people living in vulnerable circumstances, such as Roma pupils in Europe.
It also advances innovative pedagogies and education spaces, for instance, research into school buildings
Research impact
Our research is co-produced, engaged, creative, and world-leading. It advances pedagogies for equity and conceptual frameworks. We produce accessible resources emanating from our research for:
- parents
- teachers
- schools
- universities
- charities
- organisations
We are enabling impact which is powerful and transformational. We change attitudes, understandings, practices, and policies.
Equality, diversity and inclusion
We ensure all colleagues get the opportunity to develop leadership in research. A commitment to equality and inclusion is integral to the unit.
The unit is a dynamic and vibrant working environment. Our PGR students have an important presence in our research community. They are integrated in our activities as fully as possible.
We lead the Education pathway within the ESRC NINE (Northern Ireland and the North East) Doctoral Training Partnership.
The Education research and impact focus of the Unit is guided by our overarching strategy. That's to carry out high quality, internationally recognised research with significant impact. We contribute to the vitality of education and make a beneficial difference to society.
Research case studies
Improved Education for Roma Pupils and Families Through Translanguaging
Roma families face persistent social and educational disadvantages and exclusion across Europe.
This research focused on an improved education for Roma pupils. This led to significant improvements in attendance and achievement.
They made changes to teachers’ understanding of Roma languages and heritage. This supported a critical unlearning of tenacious prejudice towards Roma. Parents’ involvement as co-participants in the research was emancipatory.
It transformed their self-perception as language experts. This led to new ways of working with schools, thereby benefitting their children’s learning.
Tools born out of the research project have had an impact on educational professionals’ attitudes. Their main focus is practices for the inclusion of Roma pupils across Europe. They want to promote the prevention of harmful discrimination.
Improving Schooling for the Marginalised in East and West Africa, and India
This research looked at schooling for children living within a low socio-economic status in India and Nigeria.
Our research has been instrumental in changing education policy and practice. We enable grassroots awareness and knowledge transfer amongst:
- communities
- philanthropists
- governments
- non-governmental organisations
It has influenced the operation of partnerships in post-conflict zones within Liberia and Sierra Leone.
It created school chains in Africa (Kenya, Ghana, Uganda and Nigeria) and changed how children learn to read English in India and Nigeria.
They achieved this through the development and implementation of curriculum packages.
The ESRC (UKRI), DFID and USAID recognise its contribution to improving attitudes towards schooling. This resulted in changes in the allocation of research funding.
Our research has resulted in 500,000 children receiving schooling over the last decade in Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria.
Our phonics and curriculum development research impacted around eight million children. It allowed 105,000 primary teachers in Nigeria to undertake continuing professional development.
The knowledge transfer gained has changed the way DFID allocate international aid. They invested hundreds of millions of pounds to improve schooling for children from deprived backgrounds.