Research
Research in the Department of Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment (CPA).
Our department is a vibrant hub of research – international, national and local. Teaching in the CPA department is informed by the research we carry out.
- Centres in the department
- Research projects
- Research groups
- Special interest groups
- Case studies
- Further information
- Contact us
Centres in the department
- Centre for Holocaust Education
- Centre for Teachers and Teaching Research (CTTR)
- Development Education Research Centre (DERC)
- UCL Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Education
Research projects
Current projects
We have an exciting research portfolio of projects, including:
- Between-class attainment grouping and educational inequality
- Branching Out: Tackling mental health inequalities in schools with Community Artscapers
- Broadening Secondary School Science 2018-2021
- COVID-19: Trainee TEACHers’ challenges and barriers to mental health and WELLbeing support
- Eco-Capabilities: Supporting children’s wellbeing through participatory art in nature
- Early career support: pilot evaluation
- Educational technologies in mathematics education
- Evaluation of Early Career Support Pilots
- International School Partnerships
- Low attainment in mathematics: an investigation of Year 9 students in England
- Minority ethnic PGCE student teachers’ racialised experiences while learning to teach and the implications for retention
- More than ‘mixed-attainment good, ability grouping bad’: The perspectives of trainee teachers towards grouping in the primary classroom
- Moving Up: optimising secondary school transition processes during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Programme for International Student Assessment 2025 (PISA 2025)
- Raising Standards in Holocaust Education
- Retention of Teachers from Minority Ethnic Groups in Disadvantaged Schools
- SMART spaces evaluation
- Teachers and Citizenship Knowledge (TACK)
- The Student Grouping Study: Investigating the impact of setting and mixed-attainment grouping
- Understandings of social justice in secondary science education among ITE students and their university tutors
- Visions of artificial intelligence, biometrics and digital surveillance in schools
Completed projects
Team: Dr Mary Richardson, Professor Sandra Leaton Gray (Project Leads); Naomi Care: Assessment MicroAnalytics Limited, Dr Rose Clesham - Pearson PTE Academic, Dr Bryan Maddox - Assessment MicroAnalytics Limited (Collaborators)
Team: Professor Sandra Leaton Gray (Principal Investigator); Dr Jane Perryman, Professor Eleanore Hargreaves, Dr Katya Saville, Dr Jennie Golding, Dr Lauren Hammond, Dr Beate Hellawell, Dr Helen Lawson, Dr Emma Jones, Dr Jie Liu, Professor Michael Reiss (Co-Investigators).
Reports and publications
- Moving Up: Starting Secondary school during the Covid-19 Pandemic (student flyer)
- Moving Up: Secondary school transition processes during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Starting secondary school in 2020 - Student Guide
- Starting secondary school in 2020 - Teacher Guide
Blog and articles
- Moving Up: Lessons from Researching Transitions During a Global Pandemic (Transformative Change: Educational and Life Transitions) - Dr Emma Jones and Dr Katya Saville.
- Moving up to secondary school during a pandemic is difficult. Here are some ways for teachers to help (IOE blog) - Sandra Leaton Gray and Jane Perryman.
Team: Professor Nicola Walshe, Dr Kris De Meyer (Co-leaders); Dr Alison Kitson, Dr Lucy Hubble-Rose, Sarah Sharp (Researchers).
Research groups
- Educational Assessment Group at IOE (EAG@IOE)
- Mathematics Education Group (MEG)
- Researching Own Practice in Education (ROPE) Group
- Subject Specialism Research Group (SSRG)
Special interest groups
- Mathematics Education SIG
- Science Education SIG - for more info contact Amanda McCrory at a.mccrory@ucl.ac.uk
- Religious Education SIG - for more info contact: Alexis Stones at a.stones@ucl.ac.uk
Case studies
Case studies
Promoting gender equality through sexuality education with primary-aged children in China
How UCL research is listening to children's voices and perspectives to enhance educational design around gender equality, inclusion and diversity in the Chinese context.
05 Aug 2024
UCL and British Council Iraq working together for better climate change and sustainability education
UCL’s Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Education partnered with British Council Iraq to enhance Iraqi climate change and sustainability education.
25 Mar 2024
Enriching the teaching in universities across Poland
The IOE established a professional development programme for higher education academics in Poland to develop their teaching methods.
05 Sep 2022
Further information
For further details about our researchers, publications, activities, groups and themes:
- Contact Professor Eleanore Hargreaves
- Visit UCL Profiles
Contact us
Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment
IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society
University College London
20 Bedford Way
London WC1H 0AL