News and Blog

For the past 30 years there has been substantial focus in the UK on the issues related to the physical size and condition of schools, and how it may affect pupils’ academic progress, achievement and overall school experience. Young people’s perspectives of their environments are reflected through cultures and organisation, as well as physical structures…

Dr Kevin Smith will present the latest findings at the BERA (British Education Research Association) Annual Conference this week at the University of Leeds. The new findings reveal that fewer than half of young secondary school pupils think their views are taken seriously by those educating them while the majority of their teachers disagree. These are…

Dr Kevin Smith discusses how the WISERDEducation project has benefited from Cardiff University’s School Partnership Project. The project is a Research Councils UK initiative that support researchers’ direct engagement with students and brings contemporary and inspirational research contexts into formal and informal learning to enhance and enrich the curriculum. Dr Smith has run a series…

Using recent findings from the WISERD Education project, Dr Kevin Smith not only compares how boys and girls perform at school but how they feel when at school. ‘For the past three years, our research group has been analysing the difference in boys’ and girls’ perceptions of their school experiences. Our study, involving approximately 1,500 pupils…

The usual discussions about children’s schooling experiences often focus on academic achievement, personal development and school evaluation. Ask a teacher, parent or policy maker what is the most important thing a school should offer and many will say it is education: they want children to develop the knowledge and skills that will help them build…

Dr Kevin Smith features in The Conversation on how boys and girls perform at school and how they feel when at school: ‘Girls may perform better at school than boys – but their experience is much less happy’. The article is accessed through the link below. https://theconversation.com/girls-may-perform-better-at-school-than-boys-but-their-experience-is-much-less-happy-63161

  In 2014, I presented a paper at the British Education Research Association’s (BERA) annual conference. Shortly after the presentation, I was approached by an editor with Palgrave MacMillan and asked if I was interested in publishing a book as part of the Pivot series on citizenship education in Wales. I was delighted by the…

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is intended to address the political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights of children everywhere in the world. In 1989, this Convention was widely adopted by governments worldwide in recognition of children’s rights and in making a political promise to acknowledge those rights in their…

Dr Smith joins the Welsh Crucible – an award-winning programme of personal, professional and leadership development for the future research leaders of Wales. Welsh Crucible is based on NESTA’s highly esteemed ‘Crucible’ development programme, and has been informed by the successes of the Scottish Crucible.  The Programme has recently established collaborative links with The Learned Society of Wales, who…

WISERD Education has uncovered which famous people school pupils most admire and dislike.  The findings reveal that the most admired are celebrities and sportspeople: with Jessie J, Taylor Swift and Beyonce achieving the top three positions. Pupils nominated a wide variety of people – stretching alphabetically from Adele and Adolf Hitler to Zara Philips and…