Institute of Education London

Professor Peter Blatchford

• Qualifications and position:
  • BSc, PhD
  • Professor of Psychology and Education
• Faculty:
  • Faculty of Children and Health
• Department:
  • Department of Psychology and Human Development
• Summary:
  • Published 8 books and over 60 peer reviewed papers. Research projects directed include class size differences; the deployment and impact of support staff; group work in classrooms; social life in schools (including peer relations and school breaktimes).
• Teaching:
  • MA/MSc Psychology of Education and MA Education (Psychology)
    MSc Child Development
    MPhil/PhD Supervision
    EdD programme Research Methods
    
• Research Projects:
  • Deployment and Impact of Support Staff (DISS)
    www.schoolsupportstaff.net
    Recently completed a 5 year study of the Deployment and Impact of Support Staff (DISS) in primary, secondary and special schools in England and Wales, funded by the DCFS and WAG.
    
    Class Size Effect
    www.classsizeresearch.org.uk
    Directed a pioneering UK longitudinal large scale research project on the effects of class size differences at reception, Key Stage 1 and 2 (i.e., 5-11 years) on pupil academic attainment and classroom processes. It was funded by the DfES, Local Authorities and the ESRC. Of international significance, it was unique in its scale and methodology, and conducted by a large team at the Institute of Education. There was also an additional class size study at primary and secondary school level using data from the DISS project. I also worked with Prof Harvey Goldstein on a reanalysis of the STAR class size project.
    
    Group Work
    www.SPRinG-Project.org.uk
    Co-directed a major ESRC project on developing and evaluating a programme to improve the effectiveness of pupil group work in classrooms. (SPRinG project). This was one of the nine successful proposals to the ESRC Teaching and Learning Research Programme, Phase 2. I was responsible for work at KS2 (pupils aged 7-11 years)
    Earlier co-directed (with Prof Peter Kutnick) two Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded studies of the nature and uses of within class grouping practices in primary and secondary schools.
    
    Breaktimes/recess in school
    www.breaktime.org.uk
    International reputation for work on school breaktimes/recess (Playtime in the Primary School, and Breaktime and the School: Understanding and Changing Playground Behaviour, both Routledge; Social Life in School: Pupils' experiences of breaktime from 7 to 16 years (Falmer Press).
    
• Postgraduate Research:
  • Doctoral students working in his main areas of research interest, i.e., collaborative group work, class size effects, peer relations and school breaktimes and support staff in schools.
• Conferences/presentations:
  • Blatchford, P. (2009) Give Kids a Break: The Social and Educational Significance of Peer Relations. Keynote Lecture to International Conference on Primary Education, Hong Kong Institute of Education, November
    
    Blatchford, P. (2009) Convener and Chair. Keynote Symposium:The Deployment and Impact of School Support Staff. British Educational Research Association (BERA) Annual Conference, Manchester
    
    Blatchford, P., Bassett, P., and Brown, P. (2008) Do low attaining and younger students benefit most from small classes? Results from a systematic observation study of class size effects on pupil classroom engagement and teacher pupil interaction.
    Paper to symposium: 'Class size effects: new insights into classroom, school and policy processes.'
    American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting 2008, New York