IOE student wins BERA 2017 Masters Dissertation Award

We are delighted to announce that a recent IOE graduate has won the British Education Research Association (BERA) 2017 Masters Dissertation Award.

Mr Jonathan S James, who graduated with a distinction in September 2016, studied the Comparative Education MA at the UCL Institute of Education (IOE).

His dissertation, 'Civil disorder, domestic terrorism, and education policy', seeks to identify the ways in which occurrences of Islamic terrorism and outbreaks of civil disorder have impacted on approaches to migrant incorporation and education policy in England and France. Mr James explores the divergent approaches that the two countries have taken towards immigration since the Second World War: while Britain has tended towards a 'multicultural race relations' model, France has taken more of an assimilationist Republican model.

The dissertation seeks to establish whether, given the common challenges faced by the two countries, these distinct approaches to migrant incorporation have been maintained. Mr James finds that the policy traditions continue to frame political discourse and feed into the policy response. At the same time, commonalities in the challenges faced, as well as processes at super-national level, appear to have led to convergence in some areas.

Every year, BERA recognises academic excellence and rigour in research by a Master of Education student who completed their degree in the previous year.

Links

• British Education Research Association (BERA)
• Comparative Education MA