Abstracts

Abstract Submission is now closed. 

Key Dates for Your Diary

Friday 12 January	Abstract submission deadline for Keynote Symposia.
Friday 19 January	Abstract submission deadline for Main and Student Conference.
Friday 9 March	Corresponding authors notified of outcome of Main Conference and Keynote Symposia review processes. Corresponding authors of symposia have responsibility for notifying the lead presenters of individual papers of the outcome.
Friday 30 March	Corresponding authors notified of time and date of their presentation. Corresponding authors of symposia have responsibility for notifying the lead presenters of individual papers of the time and date.
Friday 20 April	Early bird registration deadline
Friday 1 June	Lead presenters of papers must register or abstracts will be withdrawn

Regulations for the Submission of Abstracts

• The deadline for the submission of abstracts for Keynote Symposia is Friday 12 January 2007.

• The deadline for the submission of abstracts for the Student and Main Conference is Friday 19 January 2007.

• Authors may offer no more than two submissions (excluding poster sessions) on which they appear as lead presenter.

• Only students or new researchers may submit proposals to the Student Conference. Participants may not submit the same paper to the Student and Main Conference.

• All symposia, individual papers and posters when submitted must indicate the SIG which most closely relates to the topic of their paper.

• Authors of individual papers can opt for their proposal to be considered for ‘oral presentation only’ or for ‘oral or poster presentation’. Authors choosing this latter option would be offered a poster presentation even if their oral presentation was not accepted for the programme.

• All individual papers and papers within symposia will be peer reviewed anonymously. Further details of the procedure can be found on pages 5 and 6.

• The corresponding author (the person who submits the poster/paper/symposium) is responsible for communicating to co-authors and in the case of symposia to lead presenters of individual papers the decisions of the reviewers and the dates and times of the presentations.

• The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that the lead presenter is registered by 1 June 2007 or the paper/symposium will be removed from the programme. All deadlines will be enforced firmly

• All authors are encouraged to submit their full conference paper to the EDUCATION-LINE collection for indexing and permanent on-line archiving. EDUCATION-LINE currently contains over 1000 BERA papers among its total of over 4000 texts. Papers can be sent before, during or after the conference. Guidelines for submission can be found at http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/guide.htm Papers in the Education-line collection are also listed in the British Education Index.

Instructions for the Submission of Abstracts

Keynote Symposia Format
The Keynote Symposia are a special feature of the BERA conference. At the IoE there will be six 90 minute symposia; three per day on Thursday and Friday during the lunch time period. In order to ensure that the quality of these sessions is high, and that they are likely to warrant this privileged position in the programme, they are selected by open competition. Symposium not chosen for these sessions will automatically be entered into the review process with other submissions. If you wish to be considered for a Keynote Symposium you may submit only one proposal where you are the lead presenter. The proposal should include an overview (maximum) 400 words together with the title of the symposium and the name(s) and affiliation(s) of the convenor, chair and discussant and an additional supporting statement of (maximum) 600 words, explaining the importance of the research addressed by the symposium (e.g. its timeliness, contribution to knowledge etc. - see selection criteria below). The symposium should comprise 3 or 4 individual papers (maximum 6), each submitted with an abstract of (maximum) 600 words together with title, author(s) and affiliation(s). Symposia should be submitted under the SIG which authors feel most closely represents the topic area.

After submission each proposal will be reviewed by two members of BERA Council. The selection will be based on a combination of the five criteria for the assessment of all abstracts (to be found on page 5) together with the following four criteria:
• High quality of the research and overall coherence of the papers;• Timeliness of the research in the current educational context;
• National/international significance of the research;
• Demonstrable impact of the research upon practice, policy or theory.
The submission will be rated against the 9 criteria on a 5 point scale excellent (5), good (4), satisfactory (3), weak (2), poor (1). Corresponding authors will receive numerical feedback and brief comments. Please note the conference committee reserve the right to make the final selection of keynote symposium in order to ensure an even spread and good balance of presentations.

Student Conference Session Formats

Individual Papers - Not Refereed
Papers are oral presentations of 15 – 20 minutes and will be scheduled in 75 minute themed sessions which will normally include 3 or 4 papers. An abstract of (maximum) 600 words is required together with the title, author(s) and affiliation(s). When abstracts are submitted they must be linked to the SIG that most closely represents the topic of their paper. The presenter(s) should have full written papers, 4000 – 6000 words in length, to distribute in the session.

Posters - Not Refereed
Posters are largely graphic presentations, which may be accompanied by a (maximum) 5 minute oral presentation. An abstract of (maximum) 600 words is required together with the title, author and affiliations. When posters are submitted they must be linked to the SIG that most closely represents their topic. Poster presenter(s) should have the abstract available, but a written paper of 1000 – 2000 words may also be provided.

Main Conference Session Formats

Symposia – Refereed
Symposia are 90 minute conference sessions, organised by convenors, and usually structured to include 4 papers (maximum 6) or 3 papers and a discussant. The title of the symposium, plus the name(s) and affiliation(s) of the convenor and discussant (where appropriate) and an overview of (maximum) 400 words should be submitted, together with abstracts of (maximum) 600 words, title, author(s) and affiliation(s) of individual papers. Guidance on the writing of abstracts can be found below. The presenters(s) of each paper should have a written paper length 4000 – 6000 words, to distribute at the symposium. The symposium must be linked to the SIG that the convenor/corresponding author feel most closely represents the topic. Each symposium is strictly one 90 minute session. If a group of researchers or a SIG wish to link symposia in the programme they must submit each separately and specify who will present in which symposium. It should be indicated in the the on line registration form that this is part of a linked series. A symposium may be organized more flexibly, for example in the form of a workshop or expert panel discussion which may not be suitable for inclusion in the review process, if you think the symposium you wish to submit is of this nature please contact In-conference who will provide further advice and guidance.

Individual Papers – Refereed
Papers are oral presentations and will be scheduled in 90 minute themed sessions which will normally include a maximum of 4 papers, each of which will be given approximately 20 minutes for presentation. An abstract of (maximum) 600 words should be submitted together with the title, author(s) and affiliation(s). Guidance on the writing of abstracts can be found below. When abstracts are submitted they must be linked to a SIG that author(s) feel most closely represents the topic of the paper. Presenters(s) should have a written paper, length 4000 – 6000 words, to distribute in the session.

Posters – Not Refereed
Posters are largely graphic presentations, which may be accompanied by a (maximum) 5 minute oral presentation. Poster presenter(s) should have an abstract available, but a written paper of 1000 – 2000 words may be provided. An abstract of 600 words (maximum) is required together with the title, author(s) and affiliation(s). When abstracts are submitted they must be linked to the SIG that most closely represents the topic of the paper.

The Review Process

Abstract Structure
Abstracts submitted for the main conference should not exceed 600 words and should address the following address:
• Background to the topic;
• Research questions and/or focus of enquiry;
• Research methods and/or mapping of literature;
• Analytical and/or theoretical frame;
• Research findings and/or contribution to knowledge.
In addition, the 400 word overview submitted with symposia should focus on the overall coherence of the symposium.

Criteria for Assessment of Abstracts
Paper abstracts will be assessed using the following criteria:
• Relevance of study or enquiry to BERA members;
• Clarity of research question(s) or focus of enquiry;
• Appropriateness of research method(s) and/or literature;
• Robustness of analytical and/or theoretical frame;
• Significance for educational practice, policy or theory.
In addition, the 400 word overview submitted with symposia should focus on the overall coherence of the symposium.

Proceedure for Peer Review
• Referees will be recommended by SIG convenors, and these reviewers will, where possible, review the abstracts of all papers which have been submitted under that SIG in the submission process.
• Abstracts for individual paper abstracts will be reviewed anonymously by 2 referees using a 5 point scale excellent (5), good (4), satisfactory (3), weak (2), poor (1). Papers will be accepted/rejected on the basis of the average total score (out of 25) awarded in the review process.
• Abstracts for individual papers in a symposium will be anonymously reviewed by the same 2 referees. The abstracts will each be rated using a 5 point scale excellent (5), good (4), satisfactory (3), weak (2), poor (1). Symposia will be accepted/rejected on the basis of the aggregated average total scores (out of 25) awarded to the papers in the review process. The symposium overview will be available to the referees as a context for assessing the abstracts of individual papers.
• The conference committee reserves the right to moderate assessments across SIGs and across individual referees within SIGS.

Feedback on the Review Process
Corresponding authors of individual papers will have access to the scores awarded to their abstracts against each of the 5 criteria and may receive some comments. Corresponding authors of symposium will have access to the scores awarded to individual papers in the symposium and will be responsible for disseminating this information to the presenters of individual papers.

Special Interest Groups

BERA SIGs vary in character, function and level of activities and participation in them is one of the benefits of being in BERA. When submitting your abstract you must link it to an appropriate SIG. For more information on the SIGs visit
www.bera.ac.uk/sigs.html

Assessment
Comparative & International Education
Creativity in Education
Early Childhood
Educational Research for Educational Policy Making
Higher Education
Inclusive Education
Leading & Managing Schools & Colleges
Learning in the Professions
Literacy and Language
Mathematics Education
Mentoring and Coaching
Neuroscience and Education
New Technologies in Education
Philosophy of Education
Physical Education & Sports Pedagogy
Post Compulsory and Lifelong Learning
Practitioner Research
Primary School Teachers' work
Race, Ethnicity and Education
Research Methodology in Education
Science Education
Sexualities
Social Justice
Socio-Cultural and Cultural-Historical Activity Theory
Teacher Education & Development

There will be a designated SIG area during the conference which you should visit for more information on individual SIGs.

Poster Displays

Poster boards are 1.00m wide x 2.00m high. It is recommended that displays do not exceed 1.5m in length. Posters can be put up from 08.00hrs on Wednesday 5 September and should be removed before 15.00hrs on Saturday 8 September. The organisers cannot be held responsible for any posters left after this time. Further information on the poster presentations will be sent in the confirmation letters.

 

 

Audio Visual

Overhead Projector, data projector, computer, flipchart, and a screen will be provided in each meeting room. We advise you to bring a copy of your presentation on CD and memory stick. There will be a charge for any other equipment which needs to be hired in, please fill in the Audio Visual section on the abstract submission form and the Conference Organisers will contact you with a cost.