Registered Charity Number: 1091491
## **Annual General Meeting 2021**
## **Saturday 20[th] November 2021 at 11.00 am**
**Venue: Hilton Garden Inn, 1 Brunswick Square, Birmingham, B1 2HW** (This meeting will also be held remotely)
## **Chair’s Report on behalf of the Trustees of ASPE**
## **Overview**
Once again, it is my pleasure to report on behalf of the Trustees of ASPE for the period 2020-2021. This has been the second year that the work of our association has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and its consequent periods of lockdown.
Enabling school-based research projects has been a real challenge since leaders in schools have had many other more urgent matters to deal with. Some of our events have been able to go ahead, thanks to remote access which has brought with it some added benefits, although the lack of ASPE’s physical presence has seen a knock-on effect which has resulted in a slowdown in the growth of our membership numbers.
Nevertheless, as required by the Charity Commission, Members of our Committee have worked collectively to develop and promote ASPE’s objects.
## **The work of the Executive Committee**
I am pleased to report that meetings of our Executive Committee have gone uninterrupted. Most of them have been held remotely and with good attendance. More recently, and including this AGM, we have been able to offer a choice between remote and physical presence. This has brought a renewed confidence to Committee members that things, hopefully, are getting back to normal. Everyone has been active in ensuring ASPE’s policies and ways of working are fully up-todate and fit for purpose.
I am sorry that three of our trustees Naheeda Maharasingam, Gill Johnson and Megan Dixon have decided to step down from their duties as committee members due to other commitments, including workload. I would like to extent my personal and sincere thanks to each of these
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members for the excellent contribution they have made to ASPE throughout the year and to the association’s initiatives generally.
On a positive note, I am pleased to welcome to the Committee, Professor Gary Beauchamp representing HEI, and Danielle Sullivan and Rebekar Gear representing the school sector. I know they are very keen to become involved in the wider work of the association. These appointments have enabled us to sustain nine Trustees who are individually strong, and collectively they promote the purposes of ASPE. The Committee continues to represent schools, universities and the broader education community.
During the first phase of the pandemic, most pupils worked from home resulting in teachers and leaders in schools having to rethink how to maintain contact and address emerging differences. Our Committee decided to engage in their own research to identify the perceptions of parents, teachers, leaders and the pupils themselves through Zoom interviews in order to gather sound evidence of the impact of Covid-19.
## **Events:**
No live events have taken place during the pandemic. Whilst some activities have been put on hold, momentum has been maintained through video conferencing. The response has been very impressive.
Research by staff at the Education Learning Trust (ELT), on the theme of ‘Pupil Agency in the Curriculum’ has attracted the attention of Professor Dominic Wyse, of the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Pedagogy (HHCP) at UCL. Consequently, an event was held remotely, with the support of the Centre, in November 2020 with a focus group of 25 representatives, several of whom were nominated by ASPE. They included Mark Brundrett, Professor Emeritus, Liverpool John Moores University and Editor of Education 3-13; Andrew Pollard, Professor of Policy and Practice in Education, UCL Institute of Education; Hugh Starkey, Professor of Human Rights Education, UCL; Samantha Twistleton, Director, Sheffield Institute of Education and Gill Jones, Deputy Director, Schools and Early Education at Ofsted. This was a very successful event.
This event was followed up with a further full conference in June 2021, again via video conferencing. The response was very impressive with over 200 participants, nationally and internationally. Staff from the ELT ran an excellent workshop during the afternoon showing how pupils and teachers from this trust were able to demonstrate pupil agency in real practice. I would like to thank the Centre for Pedagogy and in particular its Director, Professor Dominic Wyse and his team for their support in making this event such a success for ASPE.
In early March 2021, ASPE was pleased to sponsor the third **National Research Conference** , organised by the London South Teaching Schools Alliance. This year it was held remotely with over 40 presenters from 30 organisations speaking on a range of topics related to tackling inequalities in the education system. I am proud to report that two of our Committee members, Dr Gill Johnson and Naheeda Maharasingam presented workshops at this virtual event.
## **Research Projects**
We are continuing to develop partnerships with colleagues in universities and schools. ASPE’s policy is to part-fund research projects and help advise and shape the direction of them. We encourage those participating to publish a report on the design and approaches used and the
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outcomes. ASPE also encourages dissemination of the project and its findings through seminars and workshops. The application form for funding has recently been revised.
## **The Projects**
1. The **Executive’s own research into the impact of Covid-19 on the primary school community** . This was led by Gill Johnson, with contributions from other committee members, and the cooperation of a sample of schools from across the UK representing a wide range of communities they serve. The research involved interviews and questionnaires that have been analysed and documented for validity. The research represents the views and perspectives of parents, pupils, staff/senior leaders and governors in schools. This has led to four separate Bulletins containing the findings of this research. I would like to thank Gill Johnson for coordinating this very worthwhile project, alongside her committee colleagues, Malini Mistry and Elizabeth Malone and others, including those in schools for their skills, cooperation and hard work.
2. The Metacognition Research Group, led Naheeda Maharasingam, the Executive Headteacher from Rathfern Primary School in Lewisham, S.E. London, has been delayed due to Covid-19. The project involves 16 teachers from 8 schools from the local Research Hub and is researching the **Effectiveness of Metacognition as part of day-to-day Teaching.** The project is in collaboration with the University of Exeter. We look forward to hearing about the progress of this project in forthcoming months.
3. A research project is being led from Institute of Education, University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD), in association with the UWTSD Athrofa Professional Learning Partnership (APLP) was also delayed due to Covid-19 and reasonable access to schools. This has now re-emerged with a new focus on the ways that **‘Escape Rooms’ in classroom practice may contribute towards better learning in literacy and creatively.** ASPE is particularly interested in this development because it supports the Welsh Government’s policy to introduce research skills into the training and development of all teachers.
4. There has been some initial interest in further research projects from colleagues associated with Cardiff Metropolitan University.
## **- Seminars emerging from Education 3 13 Special Issues**
Where possible, we aim to link the themes from the Education 3-13 Special Issues to conferences and events, when research can be disseminated to practitioners attending them. As mentioned last year, we are building on the success of our first seminar based on an earlier Special Issue on the Humanities (published in June 2017) led by Dr Tony Eaude. In forthcoming months, we will be working to develop an event in 2022 based on the more recent Special Issue on **Reading,** with the guest editor Professor Roger Beard.
## **Future seminars based on a selection of ASPE Bulletins**
Now that 30 Bulletins have been produced, the Committee is working on a new proposal to enable a selection of bulletins to feature as a focus point in future seminars.
## **Publications**
## **The Journal: Education 3-13**
## **The Editor, Professor Mark Brundrett reports:**
“It is very pleasing to report that _Education 3-13_ has continued its upward progress. This year, submissions have risen considerably, with items now being submitted from many parts of the world. Full text downloads, whereby readers download whole articles online, have risen yet again and may exceed 300,000. In response to this success, Routledge/ Taylor and Francis have agreed that the journal will continue to be published
3
eight times a year but, from 2022, each issue will be expanded in order to enable the inclusion of one extra article every time the journal is published. This will provide the equivalent of one additional issue of the journal each year.
We were also delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Dominic Wyse and his colleagues Dr Alice Bradley and Dr Yana Manyukhina, of the Hamlyn Centre for Pedagogy at University College London, as Deputy Editors. The main focus of this outstanding team will be to develop special issues of _Education 3-13_ , the first of which to be produced under their supervision will focus on Children’s Agency, which formed the topic of the Centre’s inaugural conference this summer.
As many colleagues may know, _Education 3-13_ will enter its fiftieth year of publication next year and the 2022 issues will be designated as ‘Volume 50’. We look forward to this wonderful milestone with great pride. The fact the journal has not only been in existence for so many years but has also grown so considerably during that time is a tribute to current and past editors, members of the Board, and editorial staff. It is also thanks to the continued support of the executive committee of ASPE and all of the supporters and readers of what has become a key international publication in the field of primary education.”
## _**Mark Brundrett Editor Education 3-13**_
There is absolutely no doubt that Mark has made an enormous contribution to the world of research, the journal Education 3-13 and to this association that owns the journal. We are indebted to Mark, the editorial board, and his assistant Emma Fitzgerald for their continued commitment to quality research into primary education. I would like to endorse Mark’s comments on the appointment of Dominic Wyse and his team for taking on the role Deputy Editorship to develop special issues of Education 3-13. Not only will these issues be in safe hands, but the new arrangements will trigger greater liaison and partnership with ASPE’s National Executive Committee.
It is also important to acknowledge that royalties from the sales of Education 3-13 enable ASPE to fund its activities to being together research and practice.
## **The ASPE Bulletin.**
Since the launch of the ASPE Bulletin in January 2019, we have published 30 issues. The bulletin is a great source of easy to read well researched topics of relevance and interest to all primary practitioners. I would like to thank Malini Mistry, our Bulletin Editor, for her support and for helping to make the Bulletin initiative such a success.
## **Issues and topics covered over the past year have included:**
- The impact of Covid-19 on the primary school community – Pupil perspectives _Dr Gill Johnson - Independent Researcher and former Assistant Professor University of Nottingham_
- What do parents feel about the impact of Covid-19 on supporting children’s learning from home?
- _Malini Mistry Senior Lecturer, University of Bedfordshire and Dr Elizabeth Malone, Head of Primary Education Programmes, Liverpool John Moores University_
- The impact of Covid-19 on the primary school community - Senior leaders’ perspectives _Dr Gill Johnson - Independent Researcher and former Assistant Professor University of Nottingham_
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- Covid-19 Challenges faced by primary school governors and the impact of this on children's learning
- _Dr. Krishan Sood, Senior Lecturer, Nottingham Trent University), Abdishakur Tarah and Malini Mistry (Senior Lecturer, University of Bedfordshire_
- Navigating new learning horizons: with children at the helm _Professor Mick Waters, University of Wolverhampton_
- Democracy and the primary school _Professor Hugh Starkey, UCL Institute of Education, and Dr Lee Jerome, Department of Education, Middlesex University_
- Engaging children's climate change experiences for action _Dr Rebecca Webb and Dr Perpetua Kirby, Centre for Innovation and Research in Childhood and Youth, University of Sussex_
- Literacy after lockdown - rethinking digital communication _Guy Merchant, Professor of Literacy in Education, Sheffield Institute of Education, Sheffield Hallam University_
- Children's voices can influence practice and provision in physical education _Associate Professor Maura Coulter, Dublin City University, Ireland, Professor Stefan Ward, Central Washington University, USA_
- How can the voices of children in the early years influence changes in pedagogy and practice? _Dr Tricia Shaw, Director of Graduate Research at the School of Education, University of Hull_
- The impact of pupil voice and the social nature of learning on mathematical thinking and problem solving: Stories from a Year 5 primary class
- _Rebekah Gear, Maths Curriculum Leader, Hillocks Primary Academy and Dr. Krishan Sood, Senior Lecturer, Nottingham Trent University_
## **Website and social networking**
We have continued to improve to our website in order to make it more appealing. If you would like to submit anything of interest for the website, do not hesitate to get in touch with our web editor Malini Mistry at - malini.mistry@beds.ac.uk
I would like to thank Malini for her work in liaising with our publisher and others, in order to keep the website up-to-date.
## **Broader Representation**
After a period of absence from The Primary Umbrella Group (PUG), I am pleased to report that we are being invited to their meetings in order to reinstate our presence. Meetings attended (virtually) this year have been very interesting and informative, particularly the presentations from a range of external speakers, followed by discussions, on a variety of current issues affecting our school communities.
## **Membership**
Our Membership Secretary will provide a full report later in this meeting. We have a loyal core membership of ASPE, some members have supported the association for many years. We have an active PO Box and dedicated email address to enable membership enquiries. The general email address is aspeinfo@aol.com. I would like to thank Michelle Murray and her team at the ELT for the regular work that has taken place throughout the year in dealing with a host of enquiries coming in, coordinating our membership enquiries, chasing payments etc. and for the administration and publication of our Bulletin.
## **Finances**
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Our Treasurer will outline later in her report on our current finances. We continue to be in a very strong financial position. We are continuing to ensure that royalties received from Education 3 -13 are spent on events and other activities that promote the overall objects of ASPE, as outlined in our commitment to the Charity Commission. I would like to thank our Treasurer, Jill Adams for her work in keeping our finances in good order, throughout the year.
## **Conclusion**
This year has been a very challenging year for ASPE. Nevertheless, we are continuing to maintain our commitment to our core purpose established over 40 years ago. We continue to strive to lead the way in encouraging practitioners to develop learning opportunities based on good evidence, professional dialogue and the very best of classroom practice.
I would sincerely like to thank all members of our Executive Committee for their excellent work and commitment throughout the year. Despite having very busy lives they give their time generously to execute their duties in a very professional manner through attending meetings and other events and responding to ongoing initiatives. In particular I would like to thank our ViceChair, Roy Hughes for his continued commitment and support.
Finally, I would like to thank all ASPE members for their continued loyalty. Please help us to recruit and spread the good word to your friends and colleagues. We are the only association that promotes, solely as its main purpose, the significance of researched practice in Primary Education. ASPE will continue to strive in this direction.
As always, if you have any comments to make about anything raised in this report, please let me know. I can be contacted at aspeinfo@aol.com
15[th] November 2021
Paul Latham Chair ASPE
6
**Charity Name No (if any) The Association for the Study of Primary Education. 1091491**
## **Recei ts and a ments accounts p p y**
## **CC16a**
|**For the period**
**from**|01/08/2020
Period start date|**To**|31/07/2021
Period end date|
|---|---|---|---|
## **Section A Receipts and payments**
**Unrestricted funds**
**Endowment funds**
||**Unrestricted**||**Endowment**|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**A1 Receipts**|
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**1,605**
**8**
**53,619**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**55,233**|**Restricted funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**
**1,605**
**8**
**53,619**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**55,233**|**Last year**
**to the nearest £**|
|Subscriptions|**1,605**|**-**|**-**|**1,605**|**1,515**|
|Interest|**8**|**-**|**-**|**8**|**118**|
|Royalties - Informa UK|**53,619**|**-**|**-**|**53,619**|**69,219**|
|Conference Sales|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**400**|
||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|
||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|
||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|
||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|
|**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for AR)_|**55,233**|**-**|**-**|**55,233**|**71,252**|
|**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**|**-**
**-**
**-**
**55,233**|**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**-**
**-**
**-**
**55,233**||
||**-**|||||
||**-**||||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**|**-**||||**-**|
|**_Total receipts_**||||||
||**55,233**|**-**|**-**|**55,233**|**71,252**|
|**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for AR)_|**55,233**||**-**||**-**||**55,2**|**33**||**71,252**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**A2 Asset and investment sales,**|||||||||||
|**(see table).**|||||||||||
||**-**||**-**||**-**|||**-**|||
||**-**||**-**||**-**|||**-**||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**|**-**||**-**||**-**|||**-**||**-**|
|**_Total receipts_**|**55,233**||**-**||**-**||**55,233**|||**71,252**|
## **A3 Payments**
|**A3 Payments**|||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Committee Travel|**26**||**-**||**-**||**26**||**2,542**|03/2022|
|Administration Services|**6,266**||**-**||**-**||**6,266**||**5,972**||
|ASPE Chair Expenses|**1,500**||**-**||**-**||**1,500**||**1,500**||
|3-13 Publication and Bulletins|**27,169**||**-**||**-**||**27,169**||**21,086**||
|Insurance|**374**||**-**||**-**||**374**||**374**||
|Committee Meetings|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**1,736**||
|CCXX R1accounts (SS)
Conference Costs 2020/21|**2,500**||1
**-**||**-**||**2,500**||13/
**8,723**||
||**-**||**-**|||**-**|||**-**||**-**||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**-**||**-**|||**-**|||**-**||**-**||
|**_Sub total_ **|**37,835**||**-**|||**-**|||**37,835**||**41,933**||
|**A4 Asset and investment**|||||||||||||
|**purchases, (see table)**|||||||||||||
||**-**|||**-**|||**-**||**-**||||
||**-**|||**-**|||**-**||**-**||||
|**_Sub total_ **|**-**|||**-**|||**-**||**-**||**-**||
|**_Total payments_**|**37,835**|||**-**|||**-**||**37,835**||**41,933**||
|**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**|**17,398**|||**-**|||**-**||**17,398**||**29,319**||
|**A5 Transfers between funds**|**-**|||**-**||**-**|||**-**||**-**||
|**A6 Cash funds last year end**|**-**|||**-**||**-**|||**-**||**-**||
|**_Cash funds this year end_**|**17,398**|||**-**|||**-**||**17,398**||**29,319**||
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
13/03/2022
2
## **Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**
|**Categories**
**B1 Cash funds**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B3 Investment assets**|Bank Reserve Account
Bank Current Account
Liabilities Listed below
**Details**
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
**Details**
**Details**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**95,562**
**250**
**24,287**
**71,525**
Agreement Error
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which asset**
**belongs**|**Restricted funds**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
OK
**Restricted funds**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||OK|
|||||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
||||**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|
**Details**
**Fund to which asset**
**Current value (optional)**
**Cost (optional)**
**belongs**
CCXX R3 accounts (SS)
13/03/2022
~~3~~
## **B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use**
## **B5 Liabilities**
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees
|||||**-**|||**-**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||**-**|||**-**|
|||||**-**|||**-**|
|||||**-**|||**-**|
|||||**-**|||**-**|
|||||**-**|||**-**|
|||||**-**|||**-**|
|||||**-**|||**-**|
|||||**-**|||**-**|
|||**Fund to which**||**Amount due (optional)**||**When due**||
|**Details**||**liability relates**||||**(optional)**||
|Royalties in Advance||||**22,292**||||
|Subscriptions in Advance||||**1,995**||||
|||||**-**||||
|||||**-**||||
|||||**24,287**||||
Signature
Print Name Date of approval
CCXX R4 accounts (SS)
13/03/2022
4
## **Independent examiner's report on the accounts**
## **Section A Independent Examiner’s Report**
|**Report to the trustees/**
**members of**
**On accounts for the year**
**ended**
**Set out on pages**|Charity Name
Association for the Study of Primary Education|Charity Name
Association for the Study of Primary Education|Charity Name
Association for the Study of Primary Education|
|---|---|---|---|
|||||
||31 July 2021|**Charity no**
**(if any)**|1091491|
|||||
||No additional sheets
(remember to include the page numbers of additional sheets)|||
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended **31 / 07 / 2021** .
**Responsibilities and basis of** As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in **report** accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).
I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
## **Independent examiner's statement**
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination (other than that disclosed below *) which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
- the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; or
- the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or
- the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair’ view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
* _Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply._
**Signed:** S Carpenter **Date:** 12/01/2022
**Name:** Simon Carpenter
**Relevant professional qualification(s) or body (if any): Address:** 219 Washington Avenue Hemel Hempstead Herts HP2 6LT
1
**Oct 2018**
**IER**
## **Section B Disclosure**
Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).
**Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose** .
2
**Oct 2018**
**IER**