A different kind of chemistry? Reformulating 'formulation'

We have been moved to write about this since both of us have seen formulation rise in importance with some ambivalence. These issues appear to come most to the fore in the context of training and it is our experience as both a supervisor and assessor of case reports which has prompted us to write this article. It is trainees who experience most keenly the difference between the rhetoric of our profession and their lived experience of reality. In this article we would like to pose some questions about formulation. We do not think there are any easy answers to the questions we raise and we are certainly not the first to note dilemmas in the turn towards formulation. Ways of addressing these concerns will, no doubt, largely reflect readers’ theoretical persuasions. Our own debt to ideas from what have come to be termed social constructionist and critical psychology traditions will become evident in what we think might be possible ways forward

Learning through disruption 3: schools engaging with families and communities during COVID

During the COVID pandemic, schools have found new ways of working with children and, crucially, their families. This has far-reaching implications for how schools and policy-makers consider homeschool communication as a means of developing parental and community engagement in the future

Learning through disruption 4: building a more resilient education system post-COVID

COVID has highlighted significant weaknesses in how the education system in England is currently managed and resourced. We need to build a more resilient education system post-pandemic

Responding to COVID-19, Briefing Note 1: Primary Assessment and COVID

This briefing note considers the place for statutory testing in primary schools during 2020-21, in the light of the COVID crisis. The English system of primary statutory assessment, culminating in SATs tests in Year 6, was suspended during the 2020 lockdown. Yet many questions remain about how primary assessment should resume, given that COVID-19 may continue to cause disruption to children’s learning in both the short to medium term. / Our research project findings have informed the recommendations that follow and focus in this briefing note on three themes: / Whether a quick reintroduction of statutory tests will help or hinder pupils in making progress in the coming year. / Whether statutory tests can accurately be used as school accountability measures, in the coming year. / Whether more fundamental flaws in the current testing and accountability regime have been revealed by the COVID crisis and require urgent reform

Learning through disruption 2: schools serving high poverty communities need funding that fully reflects the work that they do

The pandemic has shown how important schools are as networks of support for children and families. Our project, Learning Through Disruption , also shows that schools have a particularly vital role in addressing the needs of high poverty communities, both directly and indirectly. Yet this work goes largely unrecognised and underfunded. This needs to change

Responding to COVID-19, Briefing Note 3: Resetting educational priorities in challenging times

discussion on how to repair the fragilities in the education system that COVID has revealed. Over the length of our research projecti we have seen a gulf open up between government policy announcements and primary schools’ experiences of the crisis on the ground (Bradbury, 2020). Our data show teachers, head teachers and system leaders have not felt listened to by the DfE. Our respondents have expressed little confidence in decisions taken by government or the ways in which these have been communicated. The very different priorities that have emerged during the crisis for government and for teachers have set an agenda for change. This briefing note considers three critical issues: / How the education system recognises the needs of our most disadvantaged communities and funds the schools that work with them / The stresses in our testing and accountability systems that COVID has exacerbated / The need to better support locallyresponsive decision-making at times of crisi

Written evidence submitted by the International Literacy Centre, UCL, Institute of Education to the Education Select Committee Inquiry into the impact of COVID-19 on education and children’s services, July 2020

This submission comes from the International Literacy Centre at UCL, Institute of Education and a team of researchers working on an ESRC/UKRI funded research project designed to explore: / * primary teachers’ responses to the Covid-19 crisis / * their priorities during lockdown and as schools re-opened / * any lessons learnt for education going forward. The primary source of data on which we report is a survey of 1,653 primary school teachers in England, conducted for us by Teacher Tapp between May 27-29th 2020. The sample was weighted to reflect the demographic characteristics of state primary school teachers in England. Analysis of responses by proportion of pupils eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) in each school, grouped into quartiles, was enabled by linkage to DfE administrative data. The submission sets out key findings, based on what our respondents told us about how they planned and prioritised their work with children and their families during the crisis. From our findings we make recommendations for developing a more resilient education system, capable of meeting the uncertainties the pandemic may still bring next academic year

Learning from Learning Disruption: A Resource for Schools

When the COVID-19 pandemic started in March 2020 schools across the globe were forced to close. Since then, on a stop-start basis, schools have reopened. Many schools, however, are still experiencing the ongoing effects of COVID-19 on pupil and teacher absence as well as the social, emotional, physical and academic impact on the entire school community. While the world has experienced global pandemics like Spanish flu before, the COVID-19 pandemic has been unprecedented. In May 2020 United Kingdom Research Innovation(UKRI) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) awarded a team of researchers at IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society with funding to explore the challenges the COVID-19 crisis set primary school teachers. One part of this research was to conduct a review of research on previous learning disruptions to see if we could learn anything from these events that might match with the COVID-19 pandemic. This booklet summarises: What we did and why we did it What we found and educators’ reflections on how it aligned with the COVID-19 learning disruption What we recommended based on our findings and educators’ recommendations for schools and policy makers We have shared these findings with educators to combine their reflections on our findings with their experiences