The BERA Guides – serie

The BERA Guide to Environmental and Sustainability Education aims to engage and inspire educators and education researchers to (re)engage with environmental and sustainability education and reflect on the intersections between their own areas of expertise and practice. This BERA Guide has been developed through the collaboration of eleven authors, working together to bring varied experiences, ideas and approaches to explore a diverse and vibrant field of environmental and sustainability education and research. Each chapter offers insight into a broad range of theories and methodological approaches which pay particular attention to themes of justice and futures in environmental and sustainability education research and practice.These chapters draw on research from across a range of geographical and educational contexts and through reflective questions, provide opportunities for readers to consider these ideas individually and/or collaboratively, as part of varied communities of practice. In these ways, The BERA Guide to Environmental and Sustainability Education aims to support and foster the development of environmental and sustainability education which is orientated towards action, to achieve a just future for all.Published in partnership between the British Educational Research Association (BERA) and Emerald Publishing, The BERA Guides are short, research-informed yet accessible introductions to key, interdisciplinary topics impacting education research and practice for a broad academic audience.

The call for decolonising curriculum knowledge comes from across public and academic voices and educational organisations. Led by international educationalists across all phases of education, The BERA Guide to Decolonising the Curriculum is a powerful evocation, direction, and call to action for epistemological equity in knowledge production, teaching, and learning.The chapters draw on significant international literature from across the fields of decoloniality, race, gender, history, sociology, and philosophy, and real-world cases, with multiple examples from international academic leaders, academics, and teachers to address concerns about the ideological and political orientation of educational policy discourse bounded by Eurocentric epistemology.Published in partnership between the British Educational Research Association (BERA) and Emerald Publishing, The BERA Guides are short, research-informed yet accessible introductions to key, interdisciplinary topics impacting education research and practice for a broad academic audience.

Educational research worldwide has shown that outdoor learning is a positive element of educational practices, which benefits children’s mental health and wellbeing, physical wellness, cognitive development.The BERA Guide to Outdoor Learning offers diverse perspectives on outdoor learning in all educational settings and advocates a teaching philosophy centred on immersive experiences, nature connection, play, dialogue and experiential learning, making use of place-based pedagogical perspectives. This collection shows how outdoor, play-based learning can support the teaching in all educational contexts including Higher Education. The theoretical framework for the future of research and practice in outdoor learning will benefit practitioners in both primary and secondary schools, school leaders, teacher educators and outdoor learning providers. Accompanied by case studies and vignettes, chapters exemplify how research in alternative and under-represented aspects of outdoor learning can support the development of curriculum and pedagogy to develop creative and meaningful learning experiences for all children to deepen their learning across a ‘broad and balanced’ curriculum.Published in partnership between the British Educational Research Association (BERA) and Emerald Publishing, The BERA Guides are short, research-informed yet accessible introductions to key, interdisciplinary topics impacting education research and practice for a broad academic audience.

Practitioner research offers a distinctive platform for educators to develop and share their professional expertise. It is the only approach that fully recognises the vital role practitioners play in generating and applying new knowledge in education.The BERA Guide to Practitioner Research is a companion guide for those who see themselves as practitioner researchers or those who are interested in becoming practitioner researchers within educational settings. Chapters highlights the considerations for understanding and engaging in practitioner research by drawing upon a range of case studies that exemplify the varied forms practitioner research can take, the influence it can have, and the subsequent questions it may raise for how we understand research and the role and relationship between teachers and higher education.Grounded in concrete examples of the characteristics and possibilities of educational practitioner research, The BERA Guide to Practitioner Research usefully illustrates the characteristics, principles, strategies, and challenges by presenting a range of real-world examples of practitioner research projects and reveals the variety of practitioner researcher roles and projects, promoting the voices of practitioner researchers in their educational settings.