46.018 - How Can Education Policy Respect Children and Young People? British Social Justice Researchers Seek New Ways to Inform Public Debate

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

This symposium reports upon different ways British educational researchers committed to social justice are engaging with issues of policy in consideration of the upcoming parliamentary election in the United Kingdom. It emerges from a public engagement project of the British Educational Research Association (BERA) that seeks new ways for educational researchers to address the challenges of global change and social inequity impacting on the lives of children and young people. In this symposium we explore using research to inform a public consensus on social justice in education and its potential for fairer education policy. We stake a claim for a wider range of legitimate participants to take a central role in constructing education policy, including researchers committed to social justice.

Sub Unit

• British Educational Research Association

Papers

• Engaging Educational Researchers in the Pursuit of Social Justice for Children and Young People - Ruth Boyask, Plymouth University; Katy Vigurs, Staffordshire University

• Negotiating the New Policy Landscape to Make a Difference With Educational Research - Ruth Lupton, University of Manchester

• Respecting Young People's Informal Learning: Removing Stubborn Policy Blinkers - Jocey Quinn, Plymouth University

• The Relationship Between Research and Policy in Integrated Approaches to the Effects of Poverty on Education: Square Peg and Round Hole—or Hand in Glove? - Liz Todd, Newcastle University

Discussants

• Michael W. Apple, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Christopher A. Lubienski, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign