News and Blog

New data from over 10,000 children and young people in Wales reveal the impact pressures of modern life are placing on their mental health. WISERD Research Associate, Dr Rhian Barrance carried out the Beth Nawr, 2019 survey for the Children’s Commissioner for Wales, which collected data to help shape the Commissioner’s new three-year work plan….

Dr Nigel Newton writes about new research which suggests the new curriculum in Wales, although more holistic, may mean students miss out on subject knowledge.            

Since 2015, ‘pioneer’ schools across Wales have been contributing to the development of a new national curriculum based on Professor Graham Donaldson’s (2015) report, Successful Futures. As part of a Welsh government-funded research project being conducted through the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data and Methods (WISERD),*  over 30 teachers involved in this…

Three WISERD researchers – Constantino Dumangane, Wil Chivers and Ian Thomas – have successfully secured places on the 2019 GW4 Crucible. The GW4 Crucible is a competitive annual programme that seeks to promote interdisciplinary collaboration between early career researchers from Cardiff, Bristol, Bath and Exeter universities. This year’s programme comprises three two-day residential labs. 30…

    WISERD Co-Director, Professor Chris Taylor and Dr Nigel Newton presented at an education event sponsored by WISERD and the Learned Society of Wales this week, where a new report by the Institute of Welsh Affairs on implications of curriculum reform was launched. Following a review undertaken by Professor Graham Donaldson in 2015, the…

WISERD researcher, Dr David Dallimore, from the School of History, Philosophy and Social Sciences at Bangor University has been awarded a Fellowship at the National Assembly for Wales. During 2019 he will be working with the Assembly Research Service to provide information about early childhood education and care (ECEC). Policy in this area has developed…

Over the past six years, the WISERD Education Multi Cohort Study (WMCS) has made an important contribution to understanding the lives of young people in Wales, by conducting an annual survey of over 1,000 young people, aged eight to 18-years-old. A key part of the data we’ve been gathering is around our young people’s educational…

A good sense of humour is more important in a friend than being good looking, fashionable or popular, WISERD research has revealed. The research, part of the WISERD Education multi-cohort study, asked young people to choose the most important qualities an ideal friend should possess, out of a potential 11 options (see figure 1). A…

Friendships made in school play a special part in young people’s development. They are more than just moral support, friends help them learn key social skills, and serve as a source of social support. Close school friends also help young people develop a sense of importance, trust, acceptance and belonging within their school. Young people…

‘Wales still worst in UK in world education tests’. This is how BBC Wales announced the most recent results of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) study in 2016. But, the headline could also have been ‘Wales tops the table of rich countries in world education tests’. It all depends on the choice of…