School of Education research impact stories

• Researchful practice in early years settings
  Educators are leaving the Early Years sector in unprecedented numbers, but conducting and engaging with research may improve job satisfaction and workforce morale.
• Enabling young Nigerian entrepreneurs to thrive
  A co-produced peer support, training and mentoring programme for young entrepreneurs in Nigeria is boosting participants’ business success and wellbeing.
• Promoting oracy in educational settings
  A knowledge-exchange programme between the University of Bristol and educational settings in southwest England is developing practice to support children’s oracy.
• Oral language support is key for covid recovery
  Covid-19 school closures are threatening children’s oral language skills: but whole school universal language interventions could help.
• COVID-19 and the 'forced culture change' in higher education
  Our research captures the lives and views of those working in higher education during the recent mass online migration.
• Supporting Early Years transition to school
  Examining the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on early years transition to school, with a focus on children with SEND and children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
• Reimagining the Diary
  Helping to improve teacher wellbeing in the UK
• International student mobility and climate change
  Estimating the environmental costs associated with the internationalisation of higher education.
• Improving scientific understanding of learning
  Our research is incorporating neuroscientific understanding into educational theory and practice.
• Helping students from rural communities in South Africa to access and succeed in higher education
  Supporting changes in institutional practice and national policy to widen participation in higher education for under-represented and marginalised groups in Southern Africa.
• Strengthening teaching and learning in schools in Tanzania and Rwanda
  Our research is strengthening English-medium school education in sub-Saharan Africa.
• Building more inclusive collaborations between universities and communities
  Supporting universities to forge research partnerships with communities – especially those who face barriers to participation in research.
• Improving the quality of life of older people
  Using objects and storytelling in care homes helps residents build social connections and improves their quality of life.
• Colombian truth commission and educators using research to build peace
  Research into how truth commissions have worked with education around the world informs approach of Colombian truth commission as they work to recover from decades of conflict.
• Changing public understanding of league tables
  Our improved school performance measure is reframing school accountability policy debates.
• Everyday Maths resources
  Supporting teachers’ engagement with parents around children’s mathematics learning.
• Schools as shared spaces
  Promote community relations in school classrooms through research informed practice.
• Supporting spoken language in the classroom
  School of Education collaboration with primary schools enhances vital spoken language skills in the classroom.
• Embedding research findings into teaching and learning primary maths
  A successful Knowledge Exchange project funded by the ESRC Impact Acceleration Account has embedded Bristol research findings into new materials for Maths teachers
• A productive partnership in professional learning for maths teachers
  Bristol research informs the use of Video Clubs for teacher development by the National Centre for Excellence in Teaching Mathematics (NCETM)
• Developing Professional Learning Communities in Chinese and East Asian Schools
  Major research collaboration with the National Institute for Educational Sciences in Beijing actively supports teacher development and learning tailored to East Asian contexts in China and Vietnam.
• A better way to evaluate schools
  Value-added measures of performance look beyond basic exam results, helping give a much clearer view of how schools perform within their regional and social context.
• Closing the educational attainment gap
  Research has helped shape new initiatives aimed at closing the educational attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers.
• Promoting educational equity in Chilean schools
  In a country of widespread inequality, good education can help close the gap. But first, we need to decide what we mean by “good”.
• Understanding and promoting the educational progress of children in care
  Research led by Bristol and Oxford Universities has concluded that, contrary to popular belief, children in care make better educational progress than children living at home receiving social work support (‘children in need’): the care system, therefore, operates as an educational protective factor
• Policy changes improve education standards for minority groups
  Research-led changes to policies, programmes and practices have helped raise the school performance of students from black and ethnic minority backgrounds.