REF 2014: School research 2nd in UK for impact

Research submitted by Bangor University’s School of Education has contributed positively to the University’s success in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework for the Modern Languages and Linguistics Unit of Assessment.

The Unit has been recognised as being joint 2nd in the UK for impact, with more than two-thirds of the research outputs rated as either world-leading or internationally excellent.  90% of the research case studies submitted were rated as having world-leading impact, with the remaining 10% having excellent impact at an international level.

Research topics submitted by Education focused on aspects of bilingualism, including bilingual acquisition of vocabulary, morphology and reading in Welsh and in English, and issues relating to bilingual children’s selective use of language inside and out of the minority language classroom.    

Head of School Professor Enlli Thomas expressed her delight at the results: “These results are excellent and testify to the importance of conducting applied research of the highest quality. Given our links with schools, our research has the capacity to inform pedagogy, and ultimately improve children’s education. We have a world-class reputation as leaders in bilingual education, and the REF 2014 results testify to our ability to impact on future developments in the field.”

The REF results follows the School’s equally strong performance in the 2014 National Student Survey. The NSS results placed the School’s Primary Education QTS courses top in Wales for student satisfaction, while other courses also scored highly (including a 100% satisfaction rating for the B BSc Design a Technology course).

A summary table of the University’s REF results can be accessed here.

Publication date: 19 December 2014