News and Blog

Note: This blog has been updated on 28 July to include Student Loan Company data to the end of June 2020. There has been much discussion, forecasting and concern around the impact of COVID-19 on the higher education sector. With many universities beginning to slowly lay out their intended teaching and learning practices for the…

The newly established WISERD Education Data Lab has launched a series of blog posts to share its latest analysis with a wider audience. The lab aims to generate high quality research-based evidence using education administrative data to support the Wales education sector. In order to undertake this work, the WISERD Education Data Lab is using administrative data…

This blog outlines preliminary findings from a larger WISERD Education Data Lab project exploring non-attendance and school exclusions. Here we draw on annual attendance data and pupil level data. We explore the total number of school sessions missed by a cohort of young people over an 11-year period, from age 5 years old (Year 1)…

A previous blog introduced the context and patterns of early entries to GCSEs in Wales. This blog builds on this to examine the practice of multiple entry and the effect that this has on grades. Using national data of all pupils in Wales who completed Year 11 between 2006 and 2018, we distinguished between pupils…

GCSE entry practices in Wales have meant that many pupils may have sat their GCSE examinations, and thereby certified, before the traditional end-of-Year-11 point of their academic career. Not only have some pupils experienced early entry, some have been entered multiple times in order to maximise the final grade achieved. Influences on the practice of…

By generating high quality research-based evidence, the newly established WISERD Education Data Lab aims to help inform and challenge our understanding of educational processes and outcomes and to support the Wales education sector to meet the aims set out by the Welsh Government in their national mission for 2017-2021. In order to undertake this work,…

      This report provides an overview of our research activity in 2019 – a year that has marked the end of one chapter and the beginning of another, and has strengthened WISERD’s position as an important national research centre. Read more about our latest income profile, the work we’re doing to strengthen our…

WalesOnline, 7th June 2020 Read the full article. Professor Chris Taylor is quoted in the article: “Much of the research on transitions says that it is the familiarisation with high school that is important – knowing where to go, who the teachers are, how work is organised, how much homework there will be, will they get…

Rhys Davies explores how he uncovered problems with official UK government figures on trade union presence and coverage – and how the government recognised and corrected the error.  In a time when trade union membership is decreasing in both the UK and the USA, The decline in union membership has been well documented for many…

  WISERD is among the nine partner centres who will continue to work with the National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM) to deliver a new phase of innovative training and capacity-building activities. These will be in the application of core and advanced research methods techniques. This news follows today’s announcement from the Economic and Social…