News and Blog

WISERD visits the National Eisteddfod

For the first time, WISERD will be presenting research at the annual National Eisteddfod, taking placed this year in Montgomeryshire. The Eisteddfod Festival is the pinnacle of the Welsh cultural calendar. It travels from place to place, alternating between north and south Wales giving communities across the country a chance to welcome up to 160,000 visitors…

Framing the Geographies of Higher Education Participation: Schools, Place and National identity

How young people make choices about university, where and what to study has been a question asked by many social researchers, policy-makers and practitioners alike. Research has shown that when young people make choices about going to university, a range of factors come into play including peer influences, their families’ experience of university and their…

The “Ends” or the “Means”? What lessons education research can teach pedagogical practice

On July 6th, Cardiff University hosted the Welsh Baccalaureate Conference. This event was developed through a partnership between the Welsh Government, the WJEC and Cardiff University research staff. The aim of the conference was to engage secondary and further education teachers with some of the ins-and-outs of conducting research, with a particular focus given to enabling them to better assist their…

Ann Keane speaks about the future of Welsh education

Ann Keane, former HM Chief Inspector at Estyn, delivered our first keynote address of the WISERD 2015 Annual Conference. Ann discussed what she’d learnt throughout her 5 years at Estyn, and what she regarded as the key issues for Welsh education moving forward. Ann Keane, former HM Chief Inspector at Estyn, delivered our first keynote…

Stress, Environment and the Human Body

What effects do different environments have upon stress levels in the human body? What affect does it have upon our well-being and health? In order to test this in June 2014 WISERD’s biomapping project was invited by BBC Coast to ‘stress-test’ its presenter Nicholas Crane. The WISERD funded biomapping research project, led by Professor Chris Taylor(WISERD) and Dr Jon Anderson (CPLAN), ‘stress-tested’ the BBC…

Stress, Environment and the Human Body

What effects do different environments have upon stress levels in the human body? What affect does it have upon our well-being and health? In order to test this in June 2014 WISERD’s biomapping project was invited by BBC Coast to ‘stress-test’ its presenter Nicholas Crane. The WISERD funded biomapping research project, led by Professor Chris Taylor (WISERD) and Dr Jon Anderson (CPLAN), ‘stress-tested’ the BBC…

The Future of Welsh Education – An Inspectorate Perspective

At the WISERD conference I talked about what people expect from an inspectorate of education and training in Wales and I outlined the methods that inspectors use to come to professional judgements about standards in education.  I also talked about standards in the education system and the challenges that continue to exist. Inspectorates offer public…