Category: SIOE
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Why new school food standards could leave children with SEND hungry at school
Note: To support accessibility and processing, the commonly used term ‘SEND child’ is used throughout this post. Please note that a preferable term is ‘child that attracts the label of SEND.’ The government’s proposed overhaul of the School Food Standards (the first in over a decade) has been broadly welcomed. Banning deep-fried food, removing ice…
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Climate change is already in the classroom, so why aren’t we designing for it?
Each year, Earth Day invites us to reflect on our relationship with the planet. The 2026 theme, “Our Power, Our Planet”, emphasises agency and action. In education, this often translates into renewed attention on climate literacy and encouraging more sustainable behaviours among learners. But there is a more immediate question we need to ask: What…
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Autism research and ethics creep
Autism awareness month is often framed around three themes: awareness, acceptance, and inclusion. The merits and limitations of the month itself can be debated elsewhere, but it does provide an opportunity to reflect on how awareness, acceptance, and inclusion operate within research. In particular, autism awareness month offers a moment to consider an issue neuroaffirming…
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What is a university?
Beneath this blog post is the following disclaimer: “The views expressed in this post are the views of the author and do not represent the views of the university or its policies.” This raises an important question: what is the university? The answer is often assumed to be obvious, left to common sense. However, the…
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Can we discuss Gaza in the classroom? Maybe a human rights approach could help
As I write, hostilities are raging in the Middle East. This war has had an impact on civilians in Palestine, with all crossings into Gaza closed, suspending the entry of aid (OCHA, 2026), affecting an already devastated territory. Isreal’s war on Gaza had a catastrophic effect on the Strip’s children, with at least 21, 289…
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Resituating the narrative in Neurodiversity Week
It was both interesting and troubling to read Dame Uta Frith’s recent article in the Times Educational Supplement (TES). Interesting because it appeared to me to be an attempt by cognitive science to regain control of the narrative about autism – a questionable aim given that discipline’s limited success in moving us forward in our…
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Why animal welfare education matters
Animals are woven into our daily lives, whether through pet ownership, wildlife, assistance animals or the products we use. Approximately 76% of children own a pet as do just over half of the adult population (54%). Understanding the needs of animals and how they communicate is beneficial to humans and animals. Safe and positive animal…
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The SIoE children’s library: a community of reading teachers
As an English teacher of almost twenty years, it was during the shared reading of stories that my classroom really came to life. When we read aloud to students, the words on the page connect us; the shared laughter, eager anticipation or muted sorrow quietly shaping our individual experiences of the text. In a world…
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Safety Surfacing: The quiet loss of a common world
A recently mounted sign on one of the play structures in Liverpool’s Sefton Park explains that a large, well-used tyre swing has been removed due to damage caused by dogs biting and chewing it. What remains is an empty frame, purposeless now, like a scar on an otherwise joyful landscape. This absence struck me more…
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To AI or not to AI? That is the question
I like to tune into a podcast when I’m in the gym; it takes my mind off the laborious process of endlessly lifting weights that my body and brain believe are too heavy for me, but the trainers insist will do me good. It was during one such gym session that I stumbled across the…