Publications

WISERD Education was launched in 2012 in order to change the landscape of educational research in Wales. The main aims of the Programme were: to enhance the capacity to carry out high quality educational research within the higher education sector in Wales; •    to undertake research activities designed to improve the quality of learning and…

In this article we discuss findings from our ethnography investigating how volunteering in local associational life is changing, asking whether structural factors fixed in localities remain important or whether, as others have suggested, volunteering is becoming disembedded from place. Across two locations, we observe how situational variables, including belonging, identification and interaction, remain important determinants…

The aim of this Briefing is two-fold.  First, it provides data users with a concise and succinct outline of the fieldwork protocols and outcomes used to produce the Skills and Employment Survey 2017 (SES2017).  A fuller account can be found in the Technical Report provided by GfK which is available on the project web site.[1] …

This paper focuses on the ‘mainstreaming’ of charities into schools. There have been growing concerns about the permeation of business and business values in education, but relatively little attention has been paid to the ways in which schools are increasingly engaged in the ‘business’ of fundraising for charities. Drawing on survey data from the WISERDEducation…

Since the Research Excellence Framework of 2014 (REF2014) ‘impact’ has created a conceptual conundrum gradually being pieced together by academics across the Higher Education sector. Emerging narratives and counter-narratives focus upon its role in dictating institutional reputation and funding to universities. However, not only does literature exploring impact, rather than ‘REF2014 impact’ per se, seldom…

This paper presents data that consider ways in which young people experience the curriculum through the lens of subject examination syllabuses (for GCSEs), their associated assessment techniques and structures, and educational policies at national and school level concerning subject choice. Drawing upon an original qualitative dataset from a mixed-methods study of students’ views and experiences…

In July 2017, the Welsh Government appointed OB3 Research, in conjunction with WISERD, to undertake an evaluation of the Seren Network. A formative and process evaluation of the Seren Network was commissioned to inform decisions about the criteria for young people’s participation and the design and delivery of the programme at national and local levels….

The number of studies using biographical narrative data has increased worldwide. Given the variety of analytical approaches in narrative research, a critical investigation of the relationship between the methodological procedures and the implications for research practice is needed. This article reports on a mixed analysis study applying three analytical methods to autobiographical narrative interview data:…

There is a growing amount of evidence on children’s subjective well-being in general, but research on this topic with younger children is still scarce. In the UK, Wave 4 of the Millennium Cohort Study asked questions about positive and negative affect to a nationally representative sample of over 13,000 children aged around seven years old….

This article explores the complex and contradictory positioning of the family within civil society literature. In some accounts, the family is seen as the cornerstone of civil society. In others, the family is positioned firmly outside – even antithetical to – civil society. This paradox arises from the ways in which civil society is variously…