Outputs (37)

Editorial (2025)
Journal Article
MacKenzie, A., Hoskins, K., Xu, Y., Wong, B., Cheng, M., & Read, B. (2025). Editorial. British Educational Research Journal, 51(1), https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.4130

In this editorial for the first issue of 2025, we describe our year in post, the challenges and opportunities we face, including the threats of AI to the editorial process and the initiative we have launched since becoming the editorial team of BERJ.

How 'international' are sociology journals? Analysis of stated aims and editorial board networks (2025)
Journal Article
Brown, E., Vega Castillo, M. A., & Hordósy, R. (2025). How 'international' are sociology journals? Analysis of stated aims and editorial board networks. Sociological Research Online, https://doi.org/10.1177/13607804241281455

This article analyses leading international sociology journals regarding the global relations as observed within their aims and editorial boards. As such, it explores the geographies and power relations of knowledge production in the context of socio... Read More about How 'international' are sociology journals? Analysis of stated aims and editorial board networks.

What is a ‘quality TVET lecturer’? Problematising the concept of quality in vocational education (2024)
Journal Article
Wedekind, V., Russon, J.-A., Liu, Z., Zungu, Z., & Li, M. (2024). What is a ‘quality TVET lecturer’? Problematising the concept of quality in vocational education. Journal of Vocational, Adult and Continuing Education and Training, 7(2), 22. https://doi.org/10.14426/jovacet.v7i2.421

The notion of ‘quality’ in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and the ‘quality TVET lecturer’ is often referred to in policy and public discourse in South Africa, but rarely defined. This leads to the partial identification of wha... Read More about What is a ‘quality TVET lecturer’? Problematising the concept of quality in vocational education.

Engaging low-income families in education research: examining the challenges in Beijing and London (2024)
Journal Article
Hoskins, K., Wainwright, E., Arabaci, R., Zhai, J., Gao, J., & Xu, Y. (2024). Engaging low-income families in education research: examining the challenges in Beijing and London. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2024.2429825

This comparative paper considers the similar challenges encountered in Beijing (China) and Greater London (England) when engaging low-income families in education research. Through semi-structured interviews with 10 parents/caregivers in Beijing and... Read More about Engaging low-income families in education research: examining the challenges in Beijing and London.

BERA for me as an international academic in the UK (2024)
Newspaper / Magazine
XU, Y. (2024). BERA for me as an international academic in the UK

Universality versus culturality in early childhood education (ECE): What are they and where are they located in the everyday practice of Chinese and English ECE? (2024)
Journal Article
Xu, Y., Barton, S., Chen, H., & Pratt, S. (in press). Universality versus culturality in early childhood education (ECE): What are they and where are they located in the everyday practice of Chinese and English ECE?. Journal for the Study of Education and Development: Infancia y Aprendizaje,

Criticisms on the dominance of ‘Western’ mores and values in shaping early childhood education (ECE) curriculum frameworks in Asian contexts have led to arguments for culturally appropriate pedagogy that addresses conflict and fusion of Western and n... Read More about Universality versus culturality in early childhood education (ECE): What are they and where are they located in the everyday practice of Chinese and English ECE?.

On wounds, incompleteness, and conviviality: Notes on counter-actualising the conditions of the contemporary (2024)
Journal Article
Kruger, F. (2024). On wounds, incompleteness, and conviviality: Notes on counter-actualising the conditions of the contemporary. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 56(11), 1101-1111. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2024.2353666

For Bernard Stiegler ‘the question of philosophy is first of all that of action’ (p.7). By extending this statement to philosophy of education, I consider the possibilities of action in education in responding to the conditions of the contemporary. T... Read More about On wounds, incompleteness, and conviviality: Notes on counter-actualising the conditions of the contemporary.

Interrogating the agency and education of refugee children with disabilities in Northern Uganda: A critical capability approach (2023)
Journal Article
Monk, D., Walton, E., Madziva, R., Opio, G., Kruisselbrink, A., & Openjuru, G. L. (2024). Interrogating the agency and education of refugee children with disabilities in Northern Uganda: A critical capability approach. Children & Society, 38(5), 1419-1434. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12810

This paper draws on empirical evidence from a 3-year research project in Northern Uganda examining the educational experiences of refugees with disabilities. The authors present the compounded and interrelated challenges children with disabilities an... Read More about Interrogating the agency and education of refugee children with disabilities in Northern Uganda: A critical capability approach.

Theorising VET without 'VET theory'? Foundations and fragmentation of Anglophone VET research (2023)
Journal Article
Esmond, B., & Wedekind, V. (2023). Theorising VET without 'VET theory'? Foundations and fragmentation of Anglophone VET research. bwp@ Berufs- und Wirtschaftspädagogik - online, Spezial (19), 1-28

Whilst VET in German-speaking countries and its research base are well-known internationally, its theoretical foundations are not shared in countries where VET emerged later and has undergone more circuitous forms of theorisation. The significance of... Read More about Theorising VET without 'VET theory'? Foundations and fragmentation of Anglophone VET research.

Why inclusive education falters: a Bernsteinian analysis (2023)
Journal Article
Walton, E. (2023). Why inclusive education falters: a Bernsteinian analysis. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2023.2241045

The inclusive education policy agenda has not made a significant impact on the global problem of educational exclusion. Explanations for this lack of impact include inadequate teacher education, lack of resources, negative attitudes, and a policy-pra... Read More about Why inclusive education falters: a Bernsteinian analysis.

Men in Early Childhood Education (2023)
Book Chapter
Wang, D., Chen, L., & XU, Y. (in press). Men in Early Childhood Education. In The Encyclopedia of Social Justice in Early Childhoods and Childhood Studies. Bloomsbury Publishing

This entry provides a critical overview of men working in early childhood education (ECE). It covers the rationales for men’s participation in ECE, the recruitment and retention of men in the ECE workforce, and men’s subjective working experiences; d... Read More about Men in Early Childhood Education.

Understanding secondary school students' agentic negotiation strategies in accessing higher education in Cameroon (2023)
Journal Article
Zhao, T., Xu, Y., Yu, Y., & Liu, Z. (2024). Understanding secondary school students' agentic negotiation strategies in accessing higher education in Cameroon. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 54(7), 1155-1170. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2023.2179870

This article investigates students’ post-secondary education transition processes in Cameroon through the lens of agency. Situated in a country where the higher education participation rate is fairly low, our article explores how students agentically... Read More about Understanding secondary school students' agentic negotiation strategies in accessing higher education in Cameroon.

When the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child meets Confucianism: Chinese parents' understanding of children’s right to play (2023)
Journal Article
Liu, C., & Xu, Y. (2023). When the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child meets Confucianism: Chinese parents' understanding of children’s right to play. Childhood, 30(2), 177–193. https://doi.org/10.1177/09075682231151848

This study employs a poststructuralist theoretical framework to explore parents’ attitudes towards children’s right to play in Shanghai, China. It adopted mixed methods of online questionnaires (N = 880) and semi-structured interviews (N = 11). The f... Read More about When the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child meets Confucianism: Chinese parents' understanding of children’s right to play.

Participation or eschewal? Final-year secondary school students’ attitudes towards participation in higher education in Cameroon (2022)
Journal Article
Zhao, T., & Xu, Y. (2022). Participation or eschewal? Final-year secondary school students’ attitudes towards participation in higher education in Cameroon. South African Journal of Education, 42(4), Article 2126. https://doi.org/10.15700/saje.v42n4a2126

In this article we examine students’ attitudes towards participation in higher education in Cameroon and consider the role of personal and socioeconomic factors in their post-school educational trajectories. The data were drawn from a questionnaire s... Read More about Participation or eschewal? Final-year secondary school students’ attitudes towards participation in higher education in Cameroon.

Children and young people's perspectives on and experiences of COVID-19 in global contexts (2022)
Journal Article
Hoskins, K., Xu, Y., Gao, J., & Zhai, J. (2023). Children and young people's perspectives on and experiences of COVID-19 in global contexts. Children & Society, 37(1), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12664

This special issue was proposed by Children & Society editors specifically for the journal's strategic aims to enhance its internationalisation; and to embrace children's perspectives and experiences in producing knowledge about childhoods in challen... Read More about Children and young people's perspectives on and experiences of COVID-19 in global contexts.

Disability studies in education and intersectionality (2022)
Book Chapter
Walton, E. (2023). Disability studies in education and intersectionality. In R. Tierney, F. Rizvi, & K. Ercikan (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of Education (249--258). (Fourth Edition). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818630-5.12013-5

Disabled children and young people are among the most marginalized in education. Understanding ableist power is necessary to address educational exclusion, but it is not always sufficient. Intersectional analysis shows that disability is co-construct... Read More about Disability studies in education and intersectionality.

Curriculum reform in agricultural vocational education and training in Zimbabwe: Implementation challenges and possibilities (2022)
Journal Article
Muwaniki, C., McGrath, S., Manzeke-Kangara, M. G., Wedekind, V., & Chamboko, T. (2022). Curriculum reform in agricultural vocational education and training in Zimbabwe: Implementation challenges and possibilities. Journal of Vocational, Adult and Continuing Education and Training, 5(1), 94-115. https://doi.org/10.14426/jovacet.v5i1.248

There is a need for the agricultural technical vocational education and training curriculum in Zimbabwe to be reformed so that it can respond to changes in farmer demographics, the expanding roles of agricultural extension officers (AEOs), changes in... Read More about Curriculum reform in agricultural vocational education and training in Zimbabwe: Implementation challenges and possibilities.

Men times ten: does the presence of more men support inclusion of male educators in early childhood education and care? (2022)
Journal Article
Sullivan, V., Coles, L., Xu, Y., & Thorpe, K. (2023). Men times ten: does the presence of more men support inclusion of male educators in early childhood education and care?. Gender and Education, 35(1), 18-36. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2022.2137106

Retention rates for men in early childhood education and care (ECEC) are low. Exit is associated with experience of feeling ‘other’ perpetuated by judgements of men’s sexuality, motives, and ability. In this paper, we take the unique circumstance of... Read More about Men times ten: does the presence of more men support inclusion of male educators in early childhood education and care?.

Disabled Refugees Included and Visible in Education (DRIVE): case reports: South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe (2022)
Report
(2022). Disabled Refugees Included and Visible in Education (DRIVE): case reports: South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe. British Academy

Contents: Disabled refugees students included and visible in education: challenges and opportunities in three African countries: South Africa case report / Nicole De-Wet Billings, Khuthala Mabetha -- Disabled refugees students included and visible in... Read More about Disabled Refugees Included and Visible in Education (DRIVE): case reports: South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe.

Pedagogical Responsiveness in Complex Contexts (2022)
Book Chapter
Walton, E., & Osman, R. (2022). Pedagogical Responsiveness in Complex Contexts. In E. Walton, & R. Osman (Eds.), Pedagogical Responsiveness in Complex Contexts: Issues of Transformation, Inclusion and Equity (1-20). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-12718-2_1

Responsiveness and complexity are familiar terms in pandemic times. When applied to education, they take on particular meanings separately and in combination. This chapter shows education complexified by a number of factors, including governance and... Read More about Pedagogical Responsiveness in Complex Contexts.