British Education Studies Association
12th Annual Conference
University of Wolverhampton
Education Studies, the next 10 years – themes, thoughts and theories
Early Career Conference: 29 June 2016
Main Conference: 30 June–1 July 2016
Programme
Thursday 30th June
08:30-10:00 | Registration – tea & coffee on arrival (Common Room Dining Area) |
10:00-10:15 | Welcome |
10:15-11:15 | Keynote 1: Dr Trevor Male, UCL University (SA053) Education in the 21st Century: Implications for school, colleges and universities |
11:15-11:45 | Tea and Coffee (under Balcony area) |
11:45-13:15 | Parallel Paper Sessions 1 (SA052/SA053/SA063/SA064) |
13:15-14:15 | Lunch (Common Room Dining Area) |
14:15-15:15 | Key Note 2: Dr Glenda Walsh, Stansmillis University College, Ireland (SA053) Education in Northern Ireland: Progress and Pitfalls. |
15:15-15:45 | Tea and coffee (under Balcony area) |
15:45-16:45 | Parallel Paper Sessions 2 (SA052/SA053/SA063/SA064) |
16:45-17:30 | AGM (SA053) |
17:30-19:30 | Free time |
19:30-20:30 | Drinks reception (Common Dining Room Area) Sponsored by Sage and Palgrave |
20:30 | Conference Dinner (Common Dining Room Area, then onto campus entertainment area) |
Friday 1st July
09:30-10:15 | Welcome to the second day of the conference Prof. Steve Bartlett and Prof. Diana Burton University of Wolverhampton Introduction to Education Studies 4th edition book launch |
10:30-11:30 | Paper Sessions 3 (SA052/SA053/SA063/SA064) |
11:30-11:50 | Tea and Coffee (under Balcony area) |
11:50-12:50 | Paper Sessions 4 (SA052/SA053/SA063/SA064) |
12:50-13:50 | Lunch (Common Dining Room Area) |
13:50-14:50 | Paper Sessions 5 (SA052/SA053/SA063/SA064) |
15:00-15:45 | Keynote 2: Prof. Phil Gravestock University of Wolverhampton (SA053) ‘Teaching Excellence versus excellent teaching’ |
15:45-16:00 | Conference close |
Paper Sessions
Thursday 30th June 2016
Paper Session One 11:45 – 13:15
SA052
David Thompson – University of Wolverhampton
How to de-programme a University student
Marie Morgan – University of Winchester
The value of plurality and the future of Education Studies
Sue Ainsworth – University of Wales Trinity Saint David
Can the use of a Grade Point scale enhance the grades of Education Studies’ students?
SA053
Paul Skillen and Bethany Murphy – University of Chester
An investigation into the effect of phonics teaching on reading scores in KS1
Dylan Adams and Gary Beauchamp – Cardiff Metropolitan University
Portals between worlds: A study of the experiences of seven groups of children aged 7-11 years from six different primary schools in Wales making music outdoors
Aderonke Folourunsho – Canterbury Christ Church University
How children engage with iPads
SA063
Eleni Lithari and Larissa Sturgeon Anglia Ruskin University
Special Educational Needs and inclusion: is the education system providing meaningful education for all?
Richard Parker – University of Bath Spa
Attachment aware schools, emotional and mental wellbeing: explorations in social policy
Melanie Parker and Abbie O’Brien
Disentangling from Normalcy: The Coconstructed Narrative of an Education Studies Teacher
SA064
Cathal OSiorchru – Liverpool Hope University
Encouraging students to become researchers through collaborative research
Paul Wiseman – University of Wolverhampton
Reflecting on Einstein’s advice: a personal journey in creating an experiential approach to the development of undergraduate literature reviews
Rachel Jackson – Liverpool John Moores University
Practitioner Research: perceptions, practices and products
Paper Session Two 15:00 – 16:00
SA052
Helen Lyndon – University of Wolverhampton
Pedagogic mediation as a developmental tool for lasting change?
Emma Macleod-Johnstone – Plymouth University
‘We are such stuff as dreams are made on’: using dreams as a research method to trouble un/conscious discourses in education
SA053
Richard Farr – University of Bolton
Teachers’ Perceptions of the Role of Social Media in Student Engagement
Nick Young and Gary Beauchamp – Cardiff Metropolitan University
Examination of teacher’s perceptions to the impact of introducing robotics ‘Future Skills’ within the classroom
SA063
SYMPOSIUM
Ciaran O’Sullivan, Rachel Fenlon, Andrew Grace and Melanie Parker – Plymouth University
Taking Exceptional Student Dissertations to Publication
SA064
Howard Gibson – University of Bath Spa
Reconsidering British Values
Caroline Lewis – University of Wales Trinity Saint David
Education and Devolution in Wales: Heaven or Hell?
Friday 1st July 2016
Paper Session Three 10:30 – 11:30
SA053
Emma Macleod-Johnstone – Plymouth University
‘The red shoes’ in Salem: unnatural performances and witch-hunts of the ‘feminine’ in Higher Education
Paul Skillen and Olivia Naylor – University of Chester
An exploration of female interest and attitudes towards studying Mathematics
SA054
Alex Kosogorin – Nottingham Trent University
Consumerism, enterprise and charity: looking good, making money and assuaging guilt
Marni Westerman – Douglas College, Canada
Transforming students’ attitudes toward social issues through the development of the Sociological Imagination: Results of a three-year cross-cultural study
SA063
Rob Baker – Sheffield Hallam University
Smoke, Suspense and Scheherazade – Using Theatrical Devices to Engage the Student: a joint tutor-student action research project
John Sharp – Leeds Beckett University
Academic boredom among students in higher education: a mixed-method exploration of characteristics and consequences
SA064
Richard Woolley – University of Worcester
Student teacher perceptions of controversial issues faced in primary education
Verity Aiken – Nottingham Trent University
Everyday Ethics: Student writing as a not-so-benign area of research
Paper Session Four 11:50 – 12:50
SA052
Lynn Richards – University of Wolverhampton
To belong or not to belong: methodological tensions in collecting research data
Suanne Gibson, Melanie Parker, Ciaran O’Sullivan, Andrew Grace and Rachel Fenlon
Exploring Stories of ‘Becoming Student’
SA053
SYMPOSIUM
David Menendez-Alvarez Hevia
Becoming researchers: A collaborative effort to conceptualise research as a pedagogy in Education Studies programmes
SA063
Tristan Middleton
The Role of Assessment Feedback in Developing Student’s Academic Buoyancy
Steve Dixon – Newman University
Take care of the sense and the sounds take care of themselves? First year undergraduate Education Studies students’ experience of digital audio feedback
SA064
Madeline Crosswaite – University of York
‘Mr Cummings clearly does not understand the science of genetics and should maybe go back to school on the subject’: An exploratory content analysis of the online comments section beneath a controversial news story
Imran Mogra – Birmingham University
Studying Education at the dawn of Islam
Paper Session Five 13:50 – 14:50
SA052
Stephanie Brewster – University of Wolverhampton
Understanding leadership in higher education from a disability perspective
Rebecca Snape – Birmingham City University
Employability and Career Choices in Education Studies: A Recent Graduate’s Reflections
SA053
David Blundell – London Metropolitan University
“’Nature’, Childhood and The Anthropocene: evaluating the challenges for Education Studies
Catherine O’Connell – Liverpool Hope University
Academic responses to impact as a new indicator in the REF: exploring the implications for pedagogic research in HE
SA063
Catherine Lamond – University of Wolverhampton
Young People leaving care: plans, challenges and discourses
Joe Gazdula – University of Bolton
Teaching Critical Reflexivity Using an African Metaphor: The Hippo in the Room
SA064
Tracey Edwards – University of Wolverhampton
Effective Characteristics of Mentoring in the Early Years Workforce
Thomas Feldges – University of Hull
Establishing Educational Success in the Shadow of the Neuroscientific Education Agenda
Paper Sessions
Keynote Speakers

Dr Trevor Male, UCL, Institute of Education
Keynote: Education in the 21st Century: Implications for schools, colleges and universities.
Trevor is a Senior Lecturer at UCL Institute of Education, working in the London Centre for Leadership in Learning. He is Programme Leader for the MBA in Educational Leadership (International), a supervisor of doctoral theses and masters dissertations and a tutor on the MA in Applied Education Leadership and Management.
He has worked extensively in the field of education for over 40 years, including full-time employment as Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of Hull
(2002-14), Principal Lecturer at University of Lincoln
(1998-2002) and Senior Lecturer at Brunel University (1993-1998). In previous careers was an officer in the Education Department of London Borough of Harrow (1986-1993) and a qualified schoolteacher
(1973-86). In July 2014 he became a Fellow to the Royal Society of Arts and was appointed as a member of the Associate Analytic Pool to the UK Department for Education.
He continues to be an active researcher and is engaged in a number of live projects, with many academic articles, conference papers and book chapters having been published recently. His main area of expertise is in the field of education, and in educational leadership in particular, where he has two books: ‘Being an Effective Headteacher’ and ‘Doing Research in Education: Theory and Practice’, both of which have been published by SAGE. Currently he has three main research interests: Pedagogical Leadership, Digital Technologies in Education and Educational Leadership in Islamic Societies (including women as leaders).

Dr Glenda Walsh, Stranmillis University College, Belfast
Keynote: Education in Northern Ireland: Progress and Pitfalls
My research interests fall particularly into the field of quality issues, early years curriculum and pedagogy and the relationship between policy and practice. I was heavily involved in the large scale evaluation of the early years enriched curriculum project with the School of Psychology at Queen’s University Belfast for the past ten years which has guided the course of the Foundation Stage of the revised Northern Ireland Curriculum. I have also co-directed a project on examining pedagogy in Early Childhood Education for the Department of Education in the Republic of Ireland and I have been involved in evaluating an intervention to improve the quality of learning and the experience of 2-3 year old children in early years settings. My doctoral thesis concentrated on the play versus formal debate in Northern Ireland and Denmark. For the purposes of this study I devised an observation instrument, known as the Quality Learning Instrument, which has been used as one of the main assessment instruments in the early years enriched curriculum evaluation project and is currently being developed as a self-evaluative tool for use in Early Years settings.
New Researcher Conference Day
The fifth annual Early Career Conference day will be held on Wednesday 29 June 2016.
This event has been developed in preparation for the Annual Conference at the University of Wolverhampton which follows directly after on the 30th June – 1st July 2016.
The programme will include a keynote speaker, poster presentations and research workshops. These workshops include:
- How to (and how not to) write for publication: thoughts of a reviewer by Prof Gary Beauchamp, Cardiff Metropolitan University
- Listening to young children: a multitude of methods by Helen Lyndon, University of Wolverhampton
- Submitting your abstract and presenting at conferences by Dr Ioanna Palaiologou, Canterbury Educational Services
- Collecting quantitative data by Dr Trevor Male, UCL, Institute of Education