Welcome

Dear Colleague

The British Educational Research Association (BERA) would like to invite you to participate in its next Annual Conference to be held at the Institute of Education (IoE), University of London. BERA is delighted to be hosting this event at such a prime venue, with a long and distinguished history of research and teaching in the field of education. We hope that you take the opportunity to attend BERA 2007 and, whilst in London, that you make the most of your visit. The Institute’s central location in Bloomsbury is ideal for exploring all that London has to offer: close to the main tourist attractions, and yet surrounded by the best of London’s ‘park squares’ for peace and tranquillity. Delegates can stroll to Covent Garden to shop or imbibe the café atmosphere; Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, the National Gallery, the British Museum and Tate Modern are close by, as is the West End for shows and theatres. For lovers of good food and drink, the nearby Southampton Row offers cuisine from around the world, and if you want to sit back and enjoy the London Experience why not book onto one of our organised events.

Do explore the capital city but BERA Council, and the Conference Committee in particular, hope that, whatever your interests, you will first and foremost enjoy the conference programme. BERA 2007 will be the second undertaken with our newly introduced refereeing process and we are grateful to reviewers who gave us constructive feedback on the process last year. This was a major shift for the conference which was soundly endorsed by the membership in the consultation process. The challenge this year is to improve our systems even further, and we hope you will find the procedures easy to understand and trouble free. Details of the review process, and the conference time line, can be found on pages 5 and 6 and the online submission and registration web sites will be open in mid-November.

The highlights of the conference this year include an address from the incoming BERA President, Professor Pamela Munn (University of Edinburgh), and keynote speeches from Professor Herbert W. Marsh (University of Oxford) on ‘self-concept in educational research’, Professor Stephen Ball (IoE, University of London) on ‘learning and schooling in the global market’ and Professor Susan Groundwater-Smith on ‘practitioner researchers’ (Universities of Sydney and Liverpool Hope).

The Conference Committee this year comprises Olwen McNamara (University of Manchester), Brenda Taggart (IoE), Carole Leathwood (London Metropolitan University) and BERA’s research and training consultant, Ralf St Clair. This year Carole, supported by Ralf, will be taking the lead in the referring process. Brenda will be overseeing the Keynote Symposia competition and supporting the SIG presence at the conference. She will also, supported by Carole, be organising this year’s Practitioner Day Conference to be held on Saturday 8th September.

The Practitioner Day Conference was introduced at BERA 2006 and it offers an opportunity for practitioners from the region to join with conference delegates for the Keynote and parallel sessions on the last morning of the main conference. After the main conference ends (12 noon) the practitioner day delegates remain for the afternoon activities which will draw on the morning keynote by Susan Groundwater-Smith. The Practitioner Day Conference will be advertised separately in the London region and interested main conference delegates interested in attending lunch and afternoon activities must register separately at www.bera.ac.uk

Finally, in addition to our traditional encouragement to all BERA members to contribute to an academic programme of high quality and interest, we can also promise a full social programme including a Conference Dinner at the Hotel Russell in Bloomsbury and a range of sight-seeing excursions. The IoE Students’ Union bar will also be open throughout providing music in a convivial atmosphere.

We look forward to meeting up with friends and colleagues in London in September, and we hope that BERA 2007 will be a conference to remember!

Olwen McNamara (Chair)
on behalf of the BERA Conference Organising Committee.

Organising Committee

Olwen McNamara (Chair), University of Manchester
Brenda Taggart, The Institute of Education, University of London
Carole Leathwood, London Metropolitan University
Ralf St Clair, BERA and University of Glasgow

British Educational Research Association

BERA is committed to promoting high quality research and to its use in understanding and improving
education. BERA, as the learned society in the field of educational research in the UK:
• seeks to promote quality in educational research;
• seeks to ensure that educational research is undertaken in concordance with the Association’s
Ethical Guidelines;
• promotes independent debate about the quality, purpose and methodologies of educational research;
• provides a forum for dissemination and debate of the findings of educational research;
• supports the mediation of research findings for policy makers and practitioners;
• represents educational researchers to government, funding bodies and the public;
• provides training and development for educational researchers at all levels;
• aims to work with employers and others to improve the conditions of work and rights of educational
researchers; and relates to other associations nationally and internationally which have interests and
concerns in educational research.

Student Conference Key Aims

The Key Aims of the Research Student Conference are to:
• provide research students with the opportunity to present papers to an audience of fellow research
students;
• offer sessions on research processes led by experienced researchers e.g. on interviewing, data analysis,
writing skills, presentation techniques;
• help research students develop a network of contacts.