British Educational Research Journal

The structural approach of cultural capital theories neglects the idea that the impact of structural constraints on educational results can be reduced by agency. This predicament can be solved when the advantages of abundant educational resources available in schools are unpacked, since doing so can compensate for the paucity of such resources often seen in the low‐socioeconomic status (SES) family social space. Although the gains available from such resources remain embedded in the school social space, it can be assumed that their compensatory function can be activated through reading activities that contribute significantly to students' cognitive development. This situation prompts two research questions related to the contributions of reading to academic disciplines such as mathematics and science, and the amelioration of the structural impact of SES and cultural capital on low‐SES students' learning outcomes. To explore these questions, we used regression analysis and hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) to analyse data from the stratified random sample of Taiwanese students (n = 7342) contained in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 dataset. The estimates of regression analysis showed that reading ability functioned as a reliable indicator of Taiwanese students' mathematics and science scores on PISA 2018. The results of HLM analysis further demonstrated that the predominant influence of economic, social and cultural status and cultural capital can be attenuated significantly when the independent variables of school support and student personal efforts/learning strategies are considered. Accordingly, reading resources can be regarded as a compensatory genre of cultural capital embedded within the school social space, at least in the case of Taiwan, as the benefits they create need to be achieved through reading plans/projects scientifically implemented by schools.

The increasing integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in education has led to a surge of interest in AI‐assisted learning environments. These environments offer various advantages, yet a deeper understanding of their effects on key student‐related constructs in the English as a foreign language (EFL) context is essential. This study aimed to fill this gap by investigating the relationships between emotion regulation strategies, grit, self‐compassion, L2 learning experiences and academic demotivation among Chinese EFL learners in AI‐supported settings. A quantitative research design was employed, with 219 EFL students participating through purposive sampling. Data were collected using validated questionnaires measuring the five target constructs and analysed using structural equation modelling. Results revealed that emotion regulation strategies were positively associated with L2 learning experiences and negatively associated with academic demotivation. Similarly, grit tendencies demonstrated positive correlations with L2 learning experiences and negative correlations with academic demotivation. Self‐compassion demonstrated similar patterns, with positive relationships to L2 learning experiences and negative associations with academic demotivation. These findings offer important pedagogical implications for EFL educators and developers of AI‐powered learning platforms in China. By understanding the influence of emotion regulation, grit and self‐compassion on learners' experiences and motivation, educators can implement strategies to foster these positive attributes.

This paper explores the growing influence of young people's activism in UK museums and its educational implications. It draws on a five‐year collaborative programme (2019–2023) with young people of colour (16–28) in a university museum setting, focusing on a Young Collective established to address cultural inequalities. The study analyses activist co‐research conducted with the Museum Young Collective during the COVID‐19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter mobilisation. The findings reveal that young people are actively challenging educational norms and cultural policies across various institutions. The paper explores how young people's activism can address cultural and educational inequalities through reflective and creative approaches. It advocates for developing inclusive, multicultural and anti‐racist practices in both formal and informal educational settings. This research contributes to understanding the transformative potential of young people‐led initiatives in museums and their broader impact on anti‐racist education, social justice and social change.

Many newcomer children spend a ‘silent year’ in elementary school classrooms while they adjust to a new culture and language. This often delays inclusion in learning and forming friendships with peers. For refugee children with disabilities (RCDs) this phase may last for 3 years or more, impacting their mental health and sense of belonging, and potentially worsening issues they carry from experiences of war and violence. This paper suggests that these barriers might be overcome through capitalising on strategies that circumvent spoken language by relying on the universal language of art. While making art, children naturally explore their identities, decide how they will present themselves to others, find meaning in a healing narrative and safely process bad memories. The main goal of the study was to uncover hidden ‘knowledge of self and others’ through an arts‐based research approach. Five arts education and art therapy methods with 49 children (aged 7–9) were implemented and evaluated, including self‐portraits, emoji games, read‐aloud story books, paper‐bag puppets and digital stories. Findings reveal that over time, students undergo noticeable changes in their cognitive and affective understandings with exposure to art, and improve their language ability, self‐esteem and well‐being. An unexpected outcome was how the arts may scaffold RCDs into academic learning earlier than expected. Examples of student art are included in Appendix A.

In this paper, I use the idea of purposes of education, particularly subjectification, and the concept of love to explore long‐term teacher activism in Chile. ‘Long‐term activism’ is used to describe an ongoing struggle rather than activism confined to specific moments. There has been extensive research on how Chilean student activism has challenged extreme forms of neoliberal education policies. However, little research has explored the ongoing engagement of former student activists as they transition into teacher activist roles. I explore the long durée of activism through narratives produced with 26 Chilean teachers who were former student activists. These narratives illuminate on the catalysts for their activism, their reasons for persisting and their aspirations for ongoing activism. The activists' narratives were generated using the Indigenous research methods of yarning, photoyarn and testimonios. Thinking about the teachers' narratives with the concepts of subjectification and love enabled me to write about the (im)possibilities of social justice in and through schooling. While much has been written about the ways in which schools reproduce inequalities, there is less research on the potential disruptive work of activist teachers in challenging entrenched educational inequalities.

The Foundation Phase is a pioneering early years education reform that was introduced across Wales in 2008. Based on a progressive, child‐centred design, this reform aimed to improve educational outcomes in Wales and reduce achievement gaps for young learners. This paper reports a number of findings from a mixed‐methods study that assessed the impact of the Foundation Phase on pupil outcomes. The study paid particular attention to learners from disadvantaged backgrounds and responded to a gap in the empirical literature on the impact of progressive early years reforms on pupil outcomes. The findings reveal a disconnect between teachers' positive perceptions of the programme for learners disadvantaged by poverty and its more modest impact on measured attainment. This disconnect is explored in the paper, with the aim of helping to better understand the impact of progressive reforms like the Foundation Phase for learners from disadvantaged backgrounds, providing valuable insights for similar programmes and the new curriculum being rolled out in Wales.

School children experience a range of normative transitions throughout their compulsory education, with the transition from primary to secondary school seen as the most intensive and challenging. While this transition is well researched, the focus of such work has been labelled disparate and lacking in terms of its focus on the pupils’ experiences specifically. Consequently, to alleviate these concerns, this article draws on qualitative data gathered in a series of individual interviews with first year secondary school children currently experiencing the transition. The findings captured showcase a range of difficulties, brought about by the transition, and while the students were able to identify strategies designed to ease these issues, they found most solace in peer‐led emotion work‐based support. The implications of these findings, in terms of the positioning of children as focal points of support for transition‐based concerns, and their ability to engage in meaningful emotion work grounded in the ethics of care are discussed and suggestions for future practice are made.

This study provides a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of research on novice teachers, drawing from the metadata of 1032 publications indexed in the Scopus database. It explores publication trends, key contributors and prevailing research themes from 1945 to 2024, offering insights to inform and enhance support systems for novice teachers. Data were analysed using tools such as Microsoft Excel, biblioMagika, OpenRefine, VOSviewer and Biblioshiny to evaluate publication metrics, collaboration patterns and thematic trends. The analysis reveals a steady publication growth over time, with the USA emerging as the most productive country, supported by key institutions such as the University of California and Harvard University. Teaching and Teacher Education is identified as the most influential journal in this field. Most of the novice teacher publications were written in English (94.86%) and focused on the fields of social sciences. Dominant themes include teacher development, professional practices, mentoring and identity formation. While relying on Scopus data, this study highlights the need to incorporate additional databases in future research to understand the evolving landscape comprehensively. By addressing literature gaps and emphasising emerging topics, this study contributes valuable insights to novice teacher research, offering implications for policy and practice in teacher education.

This study examines the relationship between English‐medium instruction (EMI), self‐efficacy development and English performance among Vietnamese undergraduate students. Using a sequential explanatory mixed‐methods design, the research investigated changes in self‐efficacy through EMI instruction and explored self‐efficacy as a predictor of English performance. Data were collected from 311 undergraduate students across three Vietnamese universities through self‐efficacy questionnaires, Test of English for International Communication tests and semi‐structured interviews. The findings revealed differential patterns of self‐efficacy development across language domains, with receptive skills showing more substantial improvements than productive skills. Listening self‐efficacy demonstrated the strongest enhancement (d = 0.82), followed by reading (d = 0.76), speaking (d = 0.59) and writing (d = 0.54). Multiple regression analyses established self‐efficacy as a significant predictor of English performance, explaining 43.2% of performance variance. The relationship between self‐efficacy and performance was moderated by disciplinary context and institutional support, with stronger correlations observed among students with regular access to academic support services. These findings contribute to theoretical understanding of self‐efficacy development in EMI contexts and provide practical implications for implementing effective language support systems in Vietnamese higher education institutions. The study suggests the need for discipline‐specific approaches to EMI implementation and targeted interventions to enhance student confidence in academic language tasks.

The impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic and associated lockdown measures on child and family functioning requires ongoing investigation to understand its far‐reaching effects. This study investigated the experiences of 10‐year‐old children (n = 2421) from the Growing Up in New Zealand longitudinal cohort during some of the strictest pandemic‐related lockdown measures of 2020, with the aim of examining the effects of these measures on several aspects of children's lives and wellbeing. Children reported on their lockdown experiences in relation to household ‘bubbles’, school, family, social connectedness and activities. The findings indicate that although the lockdown restrictions disrupted regular routines and activities, children and their families largely demonstrated great adaptability and had largely positive experiences together, despite the worldwide crisis. For example, 79% of children in the study indicated that they were having a good time with their family during the lockdown period and almost 85% indicated that they felt moderately or strongly socially connected with others during this time. This study also highlights challenges experienced by some children during lockdown. Post‐pandemic strategies aimed at mitigating difficulties and improving children's experiences should aim to reflect the diversity of these experiences. The findings of this study are relevant to other countries that implemented lockdown restrictions during the COVID‐19 pandemic, shedding light on the day‐to‐day experiences of children and families during this unprecedented time.

Distributed leadership is currently the most studied leadership model in education. This study posits that there is not a single best model or blueprint for distributed leadership, but that schools should foster manifestations of distributed leadership to support professional development and school improvement. The school leader can support distributed leadership. In this study we examined dimensions of distributed leadership when teachers collaborate in two Dutch schools, which were selected after an elaborate selection process—quantitatively through an online survey and a benchmark method and qualitatively through additional focus group interviews. Within these schools, which were considered as critical cases, data were collected through semi‐structured interviews with teachers (14) and school leaders (three), focus groups with teachers and school leaders (three) and observation of teachers collaborating (four). Data were analysed by inductively labelling and thematising relevant fragments. This was checked by a second researcher, ensuring the validity of the findings. Based on our findings we propose four manifestations of distributed leadership in teacher collaboration and discuss the role of the school leader in supporting these manifestations. This role is larger than one might expect. Depending on the situation, school leaders can either formally manage structurally designed manifestations of distributed leadership, which requires transactional leadership, or facilitate relational manifestations of distributed leadership, which requires transformational leadership.

Teacher retention in England continues to be in a state of decline, with early career teachers (ECTs) most at risk of leaving the profession. High attrition rates create an unstable and unsustainable workforce, which negatively affects the educational development of young people. The purpose of this paper was to explore the career‐related push and pull factors for ECTs in England. The paper also explores the way in which ECTs' experiences shape career decision‐making, and the extent to which their motivational needs are being met. Previous studies have considered workplace retention; however, little is known about the motivational needs and perspectives of ECTs. This paper explores the experiences of 20 ECTs in state‐funded primary, secondary and special schools in England. All participants had less than 5 years' teaching experience and were selected through purposive sampling. Participants took part in semi‐structured online interviews with data analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Five themes were constructed from the data: complexity, belonging, emotional impact, professional identity and relentlessness. Findings show that these themes are interrelated and combine to create a clear ‘tipping point’ where ECTs begin to find the job unmanageable. From a motivation perspective, we found that autonomous motivation reduces quitting intentions and that the need for relatedness and positive professional identities is particularly important for retaining teachers in the first 5 years of their careers.

The rapid and pervasive integration of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies into education presents both unprecedented opportunities and significant challenges. While AI‐powered tools offer personalised learning experiences and access to vast knowledge repositories, their successful implementation hinges on a nuanced understanding of how learners' psychological and cognitive processes interact within these dynamic environments. This study delved into the intricate interplay between cognitive‐emotion regulation, critical thinking, academic resilience, academic motivation and autonomy in a cohort of English as a foreign language (EFL) learners engaged in AI‐mediated learning. For this, a sample of 302 EFL learners was recruited using a stratified random sampling method. The data were analysed using structural equation modelling and confirmatory factor analysis through SMART PLS software. Findings revealed that there was a significant correlation between cognitive‐emotion regulation and academic motivation and autonomy among EFL learners in AI‐mediated learning environments. Moreover, the results showed that a significant correlation between critical thinking and academic motivation and autonomy existed. Additionally, the outcomes indicated that the academic resilience was significantly correlated with the academic motivation and autonomy. These findings underscored that by cultivating learners' ability to effectively manage their emotions, engage in critical inquiry and exercise autonomy, educators can empower them to navigate the complexities of AI‐integrated learning environments, achieve academic success and develop the essential skills for lifelong learning in the digital age.

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into language education is rapidly transforming English as a foreign language (EFL) learning environments, presenting both opportunities and challenges. While AI‐supported tools offer potential benefits, they can also trigger complex test‐related emotions that may impact learners’ psychological and academic well‐being. Therefore, understanding the interplay between internal resources like self‐esteem and academic mindfulness, alongside these emotions, becomes crucial. This study investigated the correlations between self‐esteem and academic mindfulness with test emotions, psychological well‐being and academic achievement among EFL learners in AI‐supported contexts in China. To meet this purpose, a quantitative approach was employed, using data collected from a sample of 305 EFL university students (155 males and 150 females) in China selected through stratified random sampling. The analysis was conducted via confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling using SMART PLS software. The results indicated that self‐esteem and academic mindfulness were strong predictors of test emotions, psychological wellness and academic achievement. Higher levels of academic self‐esteem and academic mindfulness were linked to higher test emotions, psychological well‐being and academic achievement. These findings stress the necessity of incorporating socio‐emotional skills into AI‐enhanced EFL learning, considering students’ psychological well‐being when deploying AI tools and designing interventions to address emotional challenges within AI‐supported environments.

This paper presents new evidence on the link between staff perceptions of school leadership and job satisfaction, drawing on three waves of The Engagement Platform data collected from over 4000 members of school staff in England. We find that when staff have a positive rather than an ambivalent view of school leadership, their job satisfaction is markedly improved. Views of school leadership in the autumn term are also found to correlate with whether staff leave their job by the end of the academic year. Together, our results demonstrate how views of leadership play a pivotal role in the satisfaction and retention of school staff.

This paper explores the critical role that safe spaces, or ‘Pride Groups’, can play in developing ontological security and allyship within schools. Drawing on data collected from eight UK secondary schools and one college, the research evaluates the impact of these groups, using an innovative theoretical framework combining Meyer's minority stress model with Giddens' concept of ontological security. The research addresses a significant and notable gap in UK‐based Pride Groups literature, as these groups are more commonly studied in the US context. The findings demonstrate that such groups provide essential safe spaces, fostering personal development, emotional wellbeing and broader school inclusion. Moreover, this study adds depth to existing research by examining the logistical and ideological challenges of running Pride Groups, such as the negotiation of group membership and the tension between inclusivity and safety. These insights contribute to an original and deeper understanding of inclusive policy and practice, revealing how educational environments can be transformed into spaces of safety for LGBT+ students.

With a growing emphasis on students playing an active role in the feedback process, understanding how students perceive academic feedback is essential to support the implementation of relevant strategies that can drive better engagement. The current study explored elementary school students' perceptions of feedback in two different contexts/cultures: the United Kingdom and Indonesia. Results suggest that younger students in the United Kingdom and older students in Indonesia hold similar understandings of the purpose of feedback (task‐based), with older students in the United Kingdom showing higher awareness of the importance of process‐based feedback. However, when it comes to the desired type of feedback, UK students preferred more self/praise‐based feedback, while Indonesian students preferred task‐based feedback. Potential reasons for these differences are discussed.

Although peer mentoring has been widely adopted in universities, in which sophomores serve as mentors to help freshmen quickly adapt to university life, less attention has been given to the effect of these programmes on mentors. To address this gap in the literature, the impact of mentors' engagement in peer mentoring on citizenship fatigue in Chinese universities was investigated and framed within the conservation of resources theory. We collected data from 401 peer mentors across two survey waves and explored how and when engagement in peer mentoring affects mentors' citizenship fatigue. The results showed that higher engagement in peer mentoring significantly enhanced mentors' perceived meaningfulness, which in turn reduced citizenship fatigue. Additionally, mentor self‐disclosure strengthened the positive relationship between engagement in peer mentoring and perceived meaningfulness. These findings highlight the importance of psychological resources in reducing mentors' citizenship fatigue and suggest that universities should support mentors by providing mental health resources and encouraging open communication to enhance the effectiveness and sustainability of peer mentoring programmes.

This paper aims to unpack potential reasons why law and legal knowledge—despite its apparent importance and value in teaching and learning about human rights—appears to be largely conspicuous by its absence in human rights education (HRE) in schooling. Drawing on a range of contextually relevant categories of ignorance identified from discourse on epistemologies of ignorance, it argues that deficits in legal literacy on the part of the wide range of stakeholders involved in HRE can manifest in multiple guises, including: ignorance as a strategic choice for political ends; ignorance as a conscious, rational and practical (not necessarily self‐interested) choice; and inadvertent ignorance or such that is unconsciously selective in nature. By approaching the issue from this novel standpoint, the overarching aim of the paper is to illuminate the prospects and possibilities for tackling instances of such ignorance going forward.

Despite the growing integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in language education, limited research has explored its impact on emotional regulation and vocabulary retention, particularly in English as a foreign language (EFL) contexts. This study addressed this gap by comparing the effects of Bing and ChatGPT environments on interpersonal emotion regulation (IER), behavioural emotion regulation strategies (BERS), hopelessness and vocabulary retention among 458 upper‐intermediate Chinese EFL learners. Participants were divided into three groups: Bing, ChatGPT and a control group (CG) receiving traditional instruction. Both AI‐supported groups engaged with identical content and tasks on their respective platforms, while the CG followed a conventional curriculum. A mixed‐methods design was employed, incorporating quantitative pre‐ and post‐tests and qualitative semi‐structured interviews. The one‐way ANOVA results revealed that both AI groups significantly outperformed the CG across all measures, with no statistical difference between Bing and ChatGPT groups. The learners in AI‐supported conditions reported reduced hopelessness and improved IER and BERS, alongside notable vocabulary retention. In agreement with the quantitative results, the qualitative findings highlighted the engaging and supportive nature of AI environments, which led to improved IER, BERS and vocabulary retention and reduced hopelessness in the EFL learners. These results suggest that integrating AI tools like Bing and ChatGPT in EFL classrooms can enhance emotional well‐being and language acquisition, offering valuable pedagogical insights for educators seeking to leverage technology in language instruction.

Children's political participation is a well‐established theme in childhood studies. In this article we offer an original account of child activism that takes into account the entangled and emergent aspect of children as activists. We begin with a historical and a conceptual review, noting the importance of mid‐20th century developments such as May 1968 but tracing their roots to the earlier community‐derived activism of the US civil rights movement—a long episode of activism not normally included in accounts of children's political involvement. We consider the ways in which adults surround children, creating contexts and working for and through them with diverse political and social ends in mind. It has been a dominant focus of adult activity to facilitate children's participation rights. These rights are defined in international legislation as non‐contingent, that is, explicitly predicated on an absence of responsibility. Regardless, the relational aspect of responsibility is present in children's lives in families, churches, schools and wherever adults interact with children, whether to protect, instruct, direct or guide them. We conclude by indicating how current historical and conceptual frames do not allow for the complex understanding required to account for children's agency understood as necessarily entangled with adults’ prior being in the world. We advocate a radical relational turn in childhood studies to leave behind the lacuna that arise from individualist accounts of child‐activism.

In response to a proposal to reframe the ‘research into practice’ agenda in UK education using partnership working, this paper examines a type of collaborative research known as a research–practice partnership (RPP), drawing on models established in education in the United States. It examines their characteristics and what has been learnt from several decades of experience before reflecting on the relevance of this literature for the UK context. RPPs can allow researchers to gain a better understanding of practice problems and, by involving practitioners and local policymakers, the resulting research is likely to be more relevant to local users. The paper highlights the importance of relationship building, considerations around locus of power and issues related to boundary working. It considers aspects of the underlying research infrastructure in the United Kingdom relevant to partnership working, including the role of local authorities, research funding structures and the general research environment. Changes to the Research Excellence Framework and funders' requirements, as well as shifts in policy approaches to research, all suggest that support for more collaborative working in the United Kingdom may be growing.

Permanent school exclusions continue to be a topic of keen interest to UK schools and policymakers. The debate over the practice has recently intensified owing to the perceived negative outcomes directly resulting from the exclusion event. Research has indeed shown that pupils who have been permanently excluded are at a greater risk for a variety of negative life outcomes when compared with their non‐excluded peers. However, that disadvantaged groups are disproportionately represented among those excluded has not been accounted for in empirical testing. Accordingly, previous measures of the influence of permanent exclusion may have over‐estimated its negative consequences because they have not controlled for disadvantageous pupil characteristics. This is a critical limitation of the research owing to the influence of confounding variables and sample selection bias. Using the National Pupil Database and a full cohort of UK pupils (N = 590,092), our analysis tracked a sample of 1490 pupils permanently excluded in year 11 of the English education system in 2018/2019. Using capped GCSE points as the academic attainment variable, we find that permanently excluded pupil scores were nearly 25 points lower than their non‐permanently excluded peers. However, when controlling for disadvantageous pupil characteristics, this difference was cut roughly in half. As such, we conclude that permanent exclusion is neither the catalyst of disadvantage nor a continuation of disadvantage on the same trajectory, but rather an accentuation of existing disadvantage. In other words, the existing trajectory of disadvantage gets steeper following the permanent exclusion event. Therefore, considering that the GCSE attainment gap found is equally attributable to both permanent exclusion and disadvantageous pupil characteristics, policymakers should both limit permanent exclusion to being a last resort and provide additional support for pupils at risk of being permanently excluded. Including a permanently excluded pupil's GCSE attainment in their former school's academic league table data incentivises schools to act in the best interests of these highly disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils.

Research on the international secondary students (ISS) is scarce compared with the proliferating literature on their tertiary counterparts. This paper focuses on social integration experiences of ISS from diverse ethnic backgrounds, the undergirding macro‐, meso‐, and micro‐mechanisms, and the supports needed for their successful integration. It draws on a subset of data from a longitudinal qualitative study through an interdisciplinary conceptual framework. This study employs multiple case study designs with critical intercultural hermeneutics as an interpretive approach. Research methods involve (a) serial interviews with six ISS that spanned the 2022–2023 school year; (b) in‐depth interviews with their parents, homestays, teachers, and agents; (c) online observations of the students’ virtual communities; (d) documents; and (e) research journals. It uncovers three mechanisms undergirding ISS’ social integration challenges: lack of ethnic proximity, a departmentalised classroom system and capital defence. This study suggests that stakeholders and researchers of ISS must obviate deficit‐oriented and assimilationist perspectives, which attribute social integration challenges solely to ISS’ limited knowledge of mainstream culture and language. Instead, a paradigm shift is necessary to redefine the criteria for successful social integration as harmonious interaction with students from diverse ethno‐cultural backgrounds, encompassing both culturally dominant and minority groups, with educators playing a central role in fostering this integration.

This study aimed to contribute to the substantial body of research on critical thinking (CT) interventions by determining whether the effectiveness of two CT interventions (generic and infusion) varied according to students' baseline CT levels. Using a quasi‐experimental design, we collected data from two universities, with 167 participants from University A and 76 from University B. Students' CT skills were measured before and after the interventions using the National Assessment of Collegiate Capacity (NACC) CT assessment. The analysis employed paired t‐tests to evaluate within‐group changes and independent t‐tests with moderation analysis to compare CT gains between experimental and control groups across different baseline CT performance levels. Results showed that infusion CT interventions, rather than generic CT interventions, had a beneficial effect on these students' CT. Notably, the effectiveness of these interventions depended on students' baseline level of CT skills, suggesting that, while CT interventions may not result in substantial improvements for students with high and low baseline levels of CT skills, those with moderate levels can benefit significantly from these interventions. This study contributes to research on the effectiveness of embedding CT within course contents and differentiation based on baseline skills in maximising the impact of CT interventions within an educational context.