News and Blog

WISERD Annual Conference: Early Bird Closing 29th May

Wednesday 13th July to Thursday 14th July 2016 Great Hall, Swansea University Bay Campus Come and join Wales’ largest social science conference! Swansea 2016 is set to be bigger and brighter than ever, offering an even greater choice of sessions for delegates in addition to plenary sessions, workshops, commercial exhibition and of course, the opportunity…

How the Welsh Baccalaureate impacts on students’ university performance

Undergraduate Bioscience students who achieved the Welsh Baccalaureate Advanced Diploma Qualification (WBQ) in addition to three A-Levels, performed less well academically at university than students who only undertook three A-Levels. These are the findings of a study carried out by researchers at Cardiff University School of Biosciences and Professor Chris Taylor, WISERD. The analysis also…

WISERD Foundation Phase Practitioner Conference

A one-day practitioner conference is to take place on Monday 23rd May to discuss the recommendations from WISERD’s evaluation and the implications these have for the future of the Foundation Phase.  Cardiff University and WISERD were commissioned by the Welsh Government to undertake an independent three-year evaluation of the Foundation Phase. ‘The final report for…

Schooling and the rights of young people in Wales

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…

WISERD Education reveals school children’s modern day heroes

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…

‘The cult of celebrity: school children’s modern day heroes’ – My Science UK

Professor Sally Power and Dr Kevin Smith received coverage from their research into 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 Beyoncé achieving the top three positions. The coverage, published on My Science UK, can be accessed via…

Foundation Phase Practitioner Conference

  On Monday, May 23rd, WISERD held a one day practitioner conference to disseminate key findings and recommendations in relation to the three year independent evaluation of the Foundation Phase early years curriculum. The conference brought together practitioners from the length and breadth of Wales, as well as key individuals from the Welsh Government Early…

Making the case for the Social Sciences in Wales launch event – In pictures

  Wednesday 25th November saw the launch of ‘Making the Case for the Social Sciences: Wales’ at the Pierhead Building in Cardiff. “Making the Case for the Social Sciences: Wales” is the tenth in a series of publicationsproduced by the Academy of Social Sciences and its Campaign for Social Science in order to celebrate the real and important…