Rebecca Loader

Although developed for the Scottish context, this is great for Irish schools also

Parents & Carers of P7 & Year 8 Pupils in North, East and West Belfast and Newry Researchers at Queen’s University Belfast are conducting a study on post-primary transfer in Northern Ireland. They are looking to speak with parents and carers of children who will be in P7 or Year 8 in September 2025. What’s involved? You’ll take part in an online interview lasting up to 1 hour. Topics include: ✔️ Your views and experiences of post-primary transfer ✔️ Priorities when choosing a school ✔️ Thoughts on possible changes to the current transfer process It doesn’t matter if your child has taken/will take the SEAG test or not—we want to hear all perspectives. As a thank you, all participants will receive a £20 gift card. Interested? Fill out this short form🔗 https://forms.office.com/e/9QeTwDryqJ

It's summer, but our research on post-primary transfer doesn't stop! We're still keen to speak to parents in Belfast and Newry whose children will be going into P7 or Year 8 in September. Please share! forms.office.com/e/9QeTwDryqJ

Ah, Amy - your sister won't remember but I met her years ago when she was working for an MLA, I think? She stayed in my mind as a really impressive and competent woman. I hope she is doing okay now.

‘Where are the foreigners?’: does a facile explanation lie behind Ballymena’s outbreak of hate? Northern Ireland faces stark questions over the racism, xenophobia and intolerance that has forced families from abroad to flee

These topics are much more complex and nuanced than a few lines can address, but glad that a couple of the educational issues I raised, including the need for more explicit commitments to antiracism in the curriculum, made the cut in this piece.

Review of Education | BERA Educational Research Journal | Wiley Online Library Academic selection for post-primary education is an important feature of the educational landscape in some parts of the United Kingdom, most notably in Northern Ireland and some areas of England, in ...

Pleased to have contributed to this systematic review of literature on academic selection in the UK, led by Ian Cantley. Consistent with the emphasis on evidence in NI education policy, it offers a robust evaluation and synthesis of the research. bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

I’m tired of the academic road to nowhere – but it’s too late to exit For one mid-career academic scientist, precarity is becoming unbearable. But they are too experienced for entry-level industry jobs and not experienced enough for senior ones. They’ve stayed too long,...

"A career is meant to be something you grow into – layered with experience, trust and time, but in academia these days, you’re uprooted before anything can truly take hold. The opportunities to stay put and flourish are so often dependent on whim and circumstance." @timeshighered.bsky.social

Congratulations, Darren! That's great news.

#InternationalDawnChorusDay in our garden at 5.30am. A wonderful moment just to be still and listen.

WHO’s emergencies director, Mike Ryan, sounds the alarm on Israel’s ongoing genocide operation in Gaza. Netanyahu has turned the strip into an open air concentration camp and is deliberately starving civilians.

The political commitment to this work is also exceptional. Yesterday's event included speeches from two Welsh cabinet ministers - for education and for culture and social justice. The strength and enthusiasm for antiracist work that this institutional support encourages can't be underestimated.

Had a wonderful day at the third @beranews.bsky.social Presidential Seminar on anti-racism and education yesterday in Cardiff. Wales's commitments to being both an antiracist nation and a nation of sanctuary are fantastic, especially from the vantage point of NI. (1/2)

Thank you, Niamh - much appreciated.

The educational response to ethnic and cultural diversity in transitional Northern Ireland: a critical review of policy and research Ethnic diversity has increased substantially in Northern Ireland’s schools over the past two decades, with statistics showing that the number of minority ethnic pupils doubled between 2013 and 2023...

How have the education system and the curriculum responded to a more ethnically and culturally diverse Northern Ireland? Our analysis just published in Irish Educational Studies
tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
@erikafjimenez.bsky.social @aislingoboyle.bsky.social

This is shocking, an egregious overreach by #MetPolice. Westminster #Quaker Meeting House is a place of peace, of worship & community. To be invaded so aggressively is a violation of the space AND of the right to freely assemble.
#HomeSecretary & #PoliceCommissioner must respond.

@quaker.org.uk

Parents & Carers of P7 Pupils in Newry and North Belfast Researchers at Queen’s University Belfast are conducting a study on post-primary transfer in Northern Ireland. They are looking to speak with parents and carers of children currently in P7, who will move to post-primary school in September 2025. What’s involved? You’ll take part in a one-hour interview, either online or in person at a convenient location. Topics include: Your views and experiences of post-primary transfer Priorities when choosing a school Thoughts on possible changes to the current transfer process It doesn’t matter if your child has taken the SEAG test or not—we want to hear all perspectives. As a thank-you, all participants will receive a £20 gift card. Interested? Fill out this short form, and a researcher will be in touch: https://forms.office.com/e/9QeTwDryqJ

We are looking to speak to parents of P7 pupils in Newry and North Belfast for our research on post-primary transfer. Please share! If you're interested in participating, please let us know here: forms.office.com/e/9QeTwDryqJ

We've had an email this evening to say Yecid has been found safe and well 😊

Belfast race riots aftermath: ‘We have received nothing from the council, the government or our insurance company’ Immigrants whose businesses were destroyed or damaged in August’s violence say the only help they have got came from the public

A shameful story about immigrant business people’s experiences in Belfast, from the paramilitary protection racket to council inaction after racist riots

www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2025...

Join us in Leeds for the BERA Presidential Seminar Series: The Struggle for Curriculum Knowledge and Culture: What’s next for England? @drmoncrieffe.bsky.social

🗓️ 25 Feb 2025
📍Leeds Beckett University

Find out more and register: bera.ac.uk/event/presid...

Book Launch: The Racialized Nature of Academic Language You're kindly invited to our next virtual Plurilingual Lab Speaker Series event with the book launch of: The Racialized Nature of Academic Language: Disentangling the Raciolinguistics Power Structures...

Book Launch for "The Racialized Nature of Academic Language" edited by
Dr Sultan Turkan
and
@jlschissel.bsky.social
See the full list of speakers and how to register online here🤩: mcgill.ca/plurilingual... And if you are in Belfast (NI), join us in person!
Image

YouTube video by QUB School of Law Youth Voices Under Occupation - Human Rights in Palestine

You can now watch our short 📽️ Subtitles (select before playing) in Arabic/English Italian Spanish Turkish. Special thanks goes to Palestinian videographers for incredible footage & those on screen for their powerful message 🙏🏼 youtu.be/v68xWxZr_Rk?...

The government has made reducing child poverty one of its key policy objectives.

📈 Our interactive tool allows you to compare policies for reducing child poverty, and see how child poverty rates have changed over time: https://ifs.org.uk/calculators/how-reduce-child-poverty-compare-policy-options

YouTube video by Northern Ireland Assembly Committee for Education - Wednesday 11 December 2024

The recording is available online for anyone interested in these issues.

Glad to be able to brief the NI Assembly Education Committee this afternoon on our research on experiences of education among minority ethnic groups in Northern Ireland. Thanks to the Committee for the opportunity and @nuffieldfoundation.org for the support for this research.

Headline: Quakers in Britain statement on ICC arrest warrants against Israeli and Hamas leaders. Statement: The news that arrest warrants have been issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israeli and Hamas leaders sends a clear signal: no party to this violence is above the law. The focus now turns to the 124 member states of the ICC – including the United Kingdom – and what they will do to support the ICC's actions, uphold international law and its institutions, and enforce the warrants. Thirteen months in is 13 months too late for those who have already suffered unimaginably because of this violence. We pray the UK government is propelled into action by this news, not only to publicly support the ICC's investigations and enforce the warrants, but also to review its own complicity in enabling alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity to take place. This must include reviewing what pressure can be applied to ensure the unhindered flow of aid into Gaza and implementing a ban on all UK arms exports to Israel. We are unwavering in our belief that actions such as these are needed and justified to hasten the end of the violence. We pray the warrants – and our own government's reaction to them – will herald a desperately needed turning point for the region.

The news that arrest warrants have been issued by the ICC against Israeli and Hamas leaders sends a clear signal: no party to this violence is above the law.

We pray this will herald a desperately needed turning point for the region. www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-eve...