The Furlong Report, published this week, has highlighted the invaluable work undertaken by WISERD Education, and calls for further funding to be injected into the project.
The report was written by Emeritus Professor John Furlong, of the University of Oxford, who was appointed by Welsh Education Minister Huw Lewis last year as an adviser on initial teacher education and training. He was asked to look closely at the system and he has now set out nine recommendations in a 40-page report.
Speaking of WISERD Education, Professor Furlong said:
“Much can be learned from the Wiserd Education initiative. However, given the task it faces, it is
relatively small and is only focused on one particular largely social scientific form of educational
research. In addition to the type of research capacity being fostered by Wiserd Education there
is an urgent need in Wales for capacity in pedagogical research; a need that will become even
more pressing if the recommendations of the Donaldson Review (2015) are accepted. Developing
research on teaching, learning, and assessment, especially from a subject perspective (or indeed
in relation to Donaldson’s six ‘Areas of Learning and Experience’), would be particularly valuable
in supporting teacher education. Again, across Wales, pedagogical research, even in key areas
such as Welsh language teaching or mathematics, is currently at a very low ebb.”
The report was commissioned by Welsh Government, and can be read in full here.