Valentina presents at the 2023 British Sociological Association Annual Conference

Visual identity for the BSA 2023 conference

On 14th April, Valentina presented at the British Sociological Association (BSA) 2023 Annual Conference – Sociological Voices in Public Discourse hosted by the University of Manchester.

At the 2023 BSA Conference, Valentina presented preliminary results for a work-in-progress BIPE paper investigating the socio-economic gradient in teacher-student relationship in England and Scotland. The paper explores teacher-student relationships by focusing on the accuracy of teacher perceptions of student’s attitudes towards school and learning. In both England and Scotland, preliminary empirical evidence shows how teacher perceptions are not entirely accurate, indeed they appear to be biased based on the socio-economic background of the student in question.

Slides from the presentation can be viewed on our ‘Publications’ page.

First Federation Trust workshop

Logo of First Federation Trust, which is two F's joined together on a white background

On 25th January, Katherin and the BIPE team gave a workshop on biases in primary education to school leaders and teachers from the First Federation Trust.

The First Federation Trust is a multi-academy trust and education charity linking 19 primary schools located across Devon and into Dorset. The aim of the trust is to enhance the provision of the schools, whilst enabling them to maintain their individual identities and the freedom to shape and deliver a curriculum that reflects their school’s values and the aspirations of the children they serve.

Participant feedback was very positive highlighting the importance and impact of such activities. Participants said, for example, that the seminar motivates teachers to:

Extend our curriculum further, to include opportunities to challenge bias thoughts, to support both children and staff on views and openly discuss their views.

If you are interested in hearing more about our teacher workshops, further information can be found on our flyer, on our ‘Teaching materials’ page.

Welcome to our new Senior Research Associate

We are delighted to have a new member on the project team!

Valentina Perinetti Casoni has joined us as Senior Research Associate and will be working with us on data analysis, writing up of publications and impact activities.

We are now getting started with a paper on discrepancies between teacher, parent and children’s perceptions of learning and teaching. We are curious to find out whether such discrepancies vary by student, social and ethnic background, and what their impacts on further educational pathways are.