Richard Budd

High-stakes tests are common in England’s schools – and they’re linked to a fear of failure In England, where high-stakes testing is common, students’ fear of failure is higher.

👇 a piece that @mvanhoutte.bsky.social and I wrote for @theconversation.com. It's based on our analysis of PISA data from England & Flanders, published in @berj-2025.bsky.social. Below we've connected our work to the Curriculum & Assessment Review led by @beckyfrancis.bsky.social.
shorturl.at/7pHms

Interested in studying a fully online, part-time PhD in higher education? I will be hosting an applicant webinar for our HEREE programme from 9:00am to 10:00am (UK time) on Tuesday 16 December 2025 www.lancaster.ac.uk/social-scien...

WEEKEND READING: Three reasons why the TEF will collapse under the weight of OfS  and DfE expectations - HEPI This blog was kindly authored by Paul Ashwin, Professor of Higher Education, Lancaster University. The Office for Students (OfS) and the Department of Education (DfE) have big plans to make the TEF mu...

A @hepi-news.bsky.social blog on why the TEF will collapse under the weight of OfS & @departmentforedu.bsky.social plans. The points I raise are well known to those who understand the measurement of HE educational quality. Why are OfS/DfE so deteremined to press ahead? www.hepi.ac.uk/2025/11/30/w...

Cover of the third edition of reflective teaching

I am delighted that the third edition of Reflective Teaching in Higher Education has now been published. It's a privilege to work with such a brilliant international team of co-authors. www.bloomsbury.com/uk/reflectiv...

Programme Please note that the programme is provisional and may be subject to minor changes before the conference. Below is an overview of the programme for the day; a copy of the provisional programme inclu…

Session abstracts are now available online - do take a look to find out more about the range of topics we'll be discussing on Dec 16th :-) There is still time to register if you would like to join us in Lancaster - closes 5th Dec. See website at: socmedhe25.wordpress.com/2025/07/16/p...

Calling online PGRs!
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Are you studying for a doctorate at a UK university via a programme that is wholly or mostly online? If so, please take part in an anonymous, 10 min survey about the impacts of online doctoral study on wellbeing and share the link lancasteruni.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_....

#SocMedHE25 Video made with Biteable. The World's Simplest Video Maker

We're very happy to share the conference programme - you can view the range of exciting topics we'll be discussing here: socmedhe25.wordpress.com/2025/07/16/p...
If you would like to join us on Dec 16th in Lancaster, registration is open - *closes 5th Dec*: socmedhe25.wordpress.com/2025/10/03/r...

Free online seminar – all welcome.
Corridor Cultures: Transforming school cultures of gender and sexuality in partnership with students, teachers, and school leaders.
Dr Victoria Rawlings, University of Sydney.
Wednesday 26th November, 4.30-6pm (UK time).

Screenshot of paper in Disability and Society. Title: Diagnosis and distinction: understanding autistic identity construction in university students and graduates through the tactics of intersubjectivity Author: Jonathan Vincent

Delighted to have this paper out in Disability & Society on autistic students' & graduates' experiences of negotiating diagnoses / identities whilst at university.
Important insights for other autistic ppl at uni + staff and peers. It's #openaccess via link: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Gender-related campus violence is a problem for staff too Research on sexual violence in universities tends to focus on students, but a study across two countries – England and Australia – shows that staf...

Here's a piece by Emily Gray and me in University World News about our recent article on university staff experiences of gender-related violence in Australia and England: www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?sto...

There's a link in the piece to the full article, which is available open access.

As we discussed, there has been a lot of progress on promoting #inclusion in many ways but nowhere near enough. Even those with the best of intentions face countermanding pressures ranging from sectoral hierarchies and poor governance to insufficient resourcing and knowledge sharing.
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Rita Hordósy, Manny Madriaga, Sonia Ilie and Richard Budd in formal attire.

Was part of a panel with @rhordosy.bsky.social , @mannymadriaga.bsky.social and @soniailie.bsky.social as @srhe.bsky.social network convenors talking about wider widening participation dynamics for Cambridge Faculty of Education's new THRiVE research group.
www.educ.cam.ac.uk/research/gro...
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To reform universities, first tackle global rankings Universities are in thrall to a rankings system that prioritizes narrow aspects of academic life. Three changes would give institutions the freedom to explore fresh ways of working.

"Such reliance on rankings means that universities are shaped not by the needs of society or by innovations driven from inside the international higher-education community, but by unappointed third-party ranking agencies."

New article by @lizziegadd.bsky.social.

👇

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Photo of the four members of the panel

Really enjoyed contributing to the @wonkhe.bsky.social Festival of HE panel on knowledge & skills with Gemma Marsh, Tony Moss and @debbiemcvitty.bsky.social. Heartened by the panel's shared pragmatic commitment to making education meaningfully accessible to a diverse a range of students.

Job Opportunity at Lancaster University: Lecturer in Technology Enhanced Learning Lecturer in Technology Enhanced Learning in the School of Social Sciences, Lancaster University (Temporary one-year post).The School of Social Sciences seeks to appoint a full-time Lecturer in Technol...

We're looking for a Lecturer in Technology Enhanced Learning to contribute to our PhD in E-Research and TEL for 12 months. Please share: hr-jobs.lancs.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...

Gender-related violence in Australian and UK universities We analyse interview data from two projects undertaken in Australia and England to explore gender-related violence (GRV) and its impact on university staff. This focus is novel and important as mos...

Great to see my article with Emily M. Gray is now published open access.

Similar optics here on the culling of what could amount to nearly 500 jobs being easier than any difficultues in pausing or cancelling significant infrastructure or overseas campus projects.

Thanks, Ria! Hope you're well.

Your spider plant's babies are all grown up now and having children of their own, btw!

Quoted on the danger of putting too much weight on TEF judgements by using them to allocate resources because it will completely undermine the TEF's already limited validity as a measure of educational quality in this @timeshighered.bsky.social piece www.timeshighereducation.com/depth/tef-so...

Nobody is more surprised than me that I'll be a keynote speaker for the Emerging Researchers' Group at the European Educational Research Association Conference in Tampere in August 2026.

(Conference submissions open from the 1st of December, by the way.)

eera-ecer.de/conferences/...

Interested in studying a fully online, part-time PhD in higher education? I will be hosting an applicant webinar for our HEREE programme from 17.00-18.00 (UK time) on Wed 26th November on Zoom. Register here: www.lancaster.ac.uk/social-scien...

Soft Power Rankings? What the…? World leading, or not…? Something caught my eye online recently – the publication of the “HEPI/Kaplan Soft Power Index” (LINK). I clicked on it out of curiosity and almost instantly wished I …

I took a deeper look at the HEPI/Kaplan Soft Power "Index".

To me what it isn't saying - what is effectively being taken for granted - is far more important and interesting than what it purportedly tells us (which is of very little real value).

ddubdrahcir.wordpress.com/2025/11/05/s...

The definition of educational quality in a quasi-marketised higher education system: stumbling towards a knowledge crisis In this article, I examine the definition of educational quality in the English higher education system. I examine three phases in the measurement of educational quality, each prompted by the repor...

Delighted my article 'The definition of educational quality in a quasi-marketised HE system: stumbling towards a knowledge crisis' is now published open access www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... & even happier it's part of a brilliant special issue edited by @jo-annebaird.bsky.social & Gemma Moss

Risk of ‘standardisation’ as ministers mull progression measures Universities would look to ‘game’ new metric for testing learning gain, critics warn, with external examination defended as ‘best we’ve got’

me, @profstevenjones.bsky.social and others on the dangers of the Skills White Paper proposals for measuring and assuring the quality of education offered by HE institutions: www.timeshighereducation.com/news/risk-st...

There is still time to register for this applicant webinar this Thursday for our part-time fully online PhD in Higher Education. I look forward to seeing you there.

The Future of Technology in Language Education, Wednesday 29 October, 1:30pm - Lancaster University All welcome to join 'The Future of Technology in Language Education' event. This event will launch the Language Education Technology Research Group.

I'm looking forward to being part of a panel at the launch event of the Language Education Technology Research Group tomorrow.

The Future of Technology in Language Education
Wednesday 29 October, 2025
13:30-15:00

www.lancaster.ac.uk/confucius-in...

<em>British Educational Research Journal</em> | BERA Journal | Wiley Online Library Fear of failure is damaging in a host of ways yet is rife in many schools. Drawing on self-worth theory, we explore whether fear of academic failure is higher in education systems with features that ...

🎓 New publication alert 📢

Open access in British Educational Research Journal:

"System failure? Exploring the interplay of fear of failure, competition, cooperation and sense of belonging in education in England and Flanders" with @carolynjackson.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1002/berj...

Keynote speaker We are excited to announce that Andy Tattersall will be the keynote speaker at the conference!  #AcademicTwitter Is Dead — What Died, What Survived, What’s Next X was once the number one place for …

Excited to announce that the #SocMedHE25 keynote speaker will be @andytattersall! Andy will be speaking on '#AcademicTwitter Is Dead — What Died, What Survived, What’s Next?'. For more info, including the CFP and registration, see the website at: socmedhe25.wordpress.com/2025/07/15/k...

Printed paper covered in notes on a desk.

First day working in my new office, re-engaging with a paper I've not been able to work on for a few weeks for various (marking) reasons.

It's not too bad, if - ahem - still 3k too long.
#academicwriting #academiclife