Uncovering the landscape of cross-national UK education research: an exploratory review

Figures & data

Table 1. Output type across the 53 included studies.

Output type	N studies (total = 53)	Proportion of studies (%)
Journal article	36	68
Report	9	17
Grey literature	3	6
Book chapter	3	6
Blog post	1	2
Seminar paper	1	2

Percentages do not sum to 100 due to rounding.

Table 2. Most prevalent themes across the set of 53 abstracts.

Theme (content code)	Definition	Number of abstracts assigned content code (total abstracts = 53)	Proportion of abstracts (%)
National review	Stated or implied review of educational policy.	21	40
Inequality/inequalities	Reference to any type of inequality (including but not limited to equality, diversity and inclusion, social class, deprivation, disadvantage, vulnerable learners).	10	19
Devolution impact	Reference to the effects of devolution on areas such as education or policy.	10	19
Post Compulsory Education & Training (PCET)	Reference to PCET, including Further Education, Higher Education, and post-compulsory vocational training and apprenticeships.	9	17
Devolution	Reference to devolution.	9	17
Methodology	Reference to study methodology (e.g. novel method uses).	6	11
Education system overview	Reference to education system review and/or comparison (e.g. structural comparison of types of educational institutions).	5	9
Covid	Reference to the COVID-19 pandemic.	5	9
Teacher education	Reference to Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes, teacher training, school-based teacher training and teacher educators.	5	9
	Total number of content codes assigned	80

Abstracts may contain more than one theme. To qualify as a theme, a content code had to appear at least 5 times across the set of 53 abstracts. Percentages do not sum to 100 due to multiple content codes being assigned to individual abstracts.

Table 3. Educational phases referred to across the 53 abstracts.

Educational phases (codes)	Number of abstracts (total = 53)	Proportion of abstracts (%)
01: early childhood	0	0
02: pre-primary	0	0
1: primary e	3	6
2: lower secondary	0	0
3: upper secondary	2	4
4: post-secondary	12	23
5: cross-phase	36	68

The educational phase codes were based on the ISCED framework and adapted for the purposes of the project. Cross-phase refers to at least two phases of education. Percentages do not sum to 100 due to rounding.

Table 4. The interaction between educational phases and nations across the 53 abstracts.

Educational phases (codes)	Nations	Number of abstracts (total = 53)	Proportion of abstracts (%)
1: primary	England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales	2	4
	England and Scotland	1	2
3: upper secondary	England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales,	2	4
4: post-secondary	England, Northern Ireland,Scotland, Wales	10	19
	England and Scotland	2	4
5: cross-phase	England, Northern Ireland,Scotland, Wales	36	68

The educational phase codes were based on the ISCED framework and adapted for the purposes of the project. Cross-phase refers to at least two phases of education. Percentages do not sum to 100 due to rounding.

Table 5. Co-occurrence of nations across the 53 abstracts.

Combinations	Number of abstracts (total = 53)	Percentage of abstracts
England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales	38	72
England, Scotland, Wales	5	9
England, Scotland	5	9
Scotland, Wales	2	4
England, Wales	1	2
England, Northern Ireland	1	2
England, Northern Ireland, Wales	1	2

Figure 1. The most prevalent themes for each year, linked to nation.

EN = England; NI = Northern Ireland; SC = Scotland; WA = Wales.

Table 6. Number and proportion of assigned content codes in relation to nation combinations.

	Themes (content codes)
	Education system overview	Inequality/inequalities	Post Compulsory Education & Training	National review	Devolution	Devolution impact	Teacher education	Methodology	Covid	Total content codes assigned	Proportion of content codes assigned
England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales	4	9	9	16	6	9	3	3	5	64	80
England, Scotland, Wales	1	1		2	1					5	6
England, Scotland				2	1		2	2		7	9
Scotland, Wales						1		1		2	3
England, Wales				1	1					2	3
Total content codes assigned	5	10	9	21	9	10	5	6	5	80

This table presents the number and proportion of themes (content codes) assigned to the 53 abstracts in relation to the combination of nations explored by the abstracts. Abstracts may contain more than one theme. To qualify as a theme, a content code had to appear at least 5 times across the set of 53 abstracts. The percentages represent the proportion of content codes, showing that most content codes (80%) were related to the four nation combination. Percentages do not sum to 100 due to rounding.

Table 7. Most prevalent themes in relation to year of study publication.

	Year
	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Theme(content code)	a f					b	c				c	c		d						e	e c f

To qualify as a theme, a content code had to appear at least 5 times across the set of 53 abstracts. a: education system overview; b: devolution impact; c: national review; d: PCET; e: Covid; f: inequality/ies.

Table A1. The 53 studies included in the analysis.

Author	Date	Title
Allais	2011	The impact of implementation of national qualifications frameworks: A comparison of 16 countries
Andrews & Mycock	2007	Citizenship Education in the UK: Devolution, diversity and divergence
Andrews & Mycock	2008	Dilemmas of devolution: The ‘politics of Britishness’ and citizenship education
Andrews, Xenofontos & Sayers	2021	Estimation in the primary mathematics curricula of the United Kingdom: Ambivalent expectations of an essential competence
Arnott & Menter	2007	The same but different? Post-devolution regulation and control in education in Scotland and England
Atkins, Dalton, Phillips & Stojanovic	2021	Devolved public services: The NHS, schools and social care in the four nations
Bamber, Bullivant, Glover, King & McCann	2016	A comparative review of policy and practice for education for sustainable development/education for global citizenship (ESD/GC) in teacher education across the four nations of the UK
Beauchamp, Clarke, Hulme & Murray	2015	Teacher education in the United Kingdon post devolution: Convergences and divergences
Brisard, Menter, & Smith	2007	Researching trends in initial teacher education policy and practice in an era of globalisation and devolution: A rationale and a methodology for an Anglo‐Scottish ‘home international’ study
Burchardt & Holly	2009	Inequality and the devolved administrations: Scotland, Wales and NI
Chapman & Ainscow	2019	Using research to promote equity within education systems: Possibilities and barriers
Colwill & Gallagher	2007	Developing a curriculum for the twenty-first century: The experiences of England and NI
Croxford	2001	School differences and social segregation: Comparison between England, Wales and Scotland
Croxford & Raffe	2014	Social class, ethnicity and access to higher education in the four countries of the UK: 1996–2010
Croxford & Raffe	2015	The iron law of hierarchy? Institutional differentiation in UK higher education
Czerniawski, Gray, MacPhail, Bain, Conway & Guberman	2018	The professional learning needs and priorities of higher-education-based teacher educators in England, Ireland and Scotland
Donnelly & Brown	2022	‘Policy traction’ on social and emotional wellbeing: Comparing the education systems of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
Gallacher & Raffe	2012	Higher education policy in post-devolution UK: More convergence than divergence?
Gunning & Rafe	2011	14–19 education across Great Britian: Convergence or divergence?
Healey, Jenkins & Lea	2014	Developing research-based curricula in college-based higher education
Hizli Alkan & Priestley	2019	Teacher mediation of curriculum making: The role of reflexivity
Hodgen, Pepper, Sturman & Ruddock	2010	Is the UK an outlier? An international comparison of upper secondary mathematics education
Hodgson, Spours & Waring	2011	Post-compulsory education and lifelong learning across the United Kingdom: Policy, organisation and governance
Jeffery & Wincott	2006	Devolution in the United Kingdom: Statehood and Citizenship in Transition
Kippin & Cairney	2021	The COVID-19 exams fiasco across the UK: Four nations and two windows of opportunity
Kisby & Sloam	2012	Citizenship, democracy and education in the UK: Towards a common framework for citizenship lessons in the four home nations
Kuhn, Bradshaw, Donkin, Fletcher, Liht & Wheater	2021	PISA 2018 additional analyses: What does PISA tell us about the wellbeing of 15 year olds?
Leat, Livingston & Priestly	2013	Curriculum deregulation in England and Scotland: Different directions of travel?
Longhurst, Stone, Dulohery, Scully, Campbell & Smith	2020	Strength, weakness, opportunity, threat (SWOT) analysis of the adaptations to anatomical education in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland in response to the COVID-19 pandemic
Machin, McNally & Wyness	2013	Educational attainment across the UK nations: Performance, inequality and evidence
Maguire	2021	Early leaving and the NEET agenda across the UK
Major, Eyles & Machin	2021	Learning loss since lockdown: Variation across the home nations
McCluskey, Cole, Daniels, Thompson & Tawell	2019	Exclusion from school in Scotland and across the UK: Contrasts and questions
McKie & Jackson	2006	Reflections on teacher education in the four nations of the United Kingdom
Mitchell	2006	Evolution and devolution: Citizenship, institutions and public policy
Mooney & Williams	2006	Forging new ‘ways of life’? Social policy and nation building in devolved Scotland and Wales
Munoz-Chereau & Ehren	2021	Inspection across the UK: How the four nations intend to contribute to school improvement
Murphy, Neil & Beggs	2007	Primary science teacher confidence revisited: Ten years on
Paterson & Iannelli	2007	Social class and educational attainment: A comparative study of England, Wales and Scotland
Phillips	2003	Education policy, comprehensive schooling and devolution in the disUnited Kingdon: An historical ‘home international’ analysis
Raffe	2005	Learning from ‘home international’ comparisons: 14–19 curriculum and qualifications reform in England, Scotland and Wales
Raffe, Brannen, Fairgrieve & Martin	2001	Participation, inclusiveness, academic drift and parity of esteem: A comparison of post- compulsory education and training in England, Wales, Scotland and NI
Reid	2010	Management of school attendance in the UK: A strategic analysis
Reynolds	2008	New labour, education and Wales: The devolution decade
Ross & Hutchings	2003	Attracting, developing and retaining effective teachers in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Shattock & Horvath	2020	The decentralisation of the governance of UK higher education: The effects of devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and on England
Sibieta & Cottell	2020	Education policy responses across the UK to the pandemic
Sibieta & Cottell	2021	Education re-opening and catch-up support across the UK
Sibieta & Fullard	2021	The evolution of cognitive skills during childhood across the UK
Simkins	2014	Governance of education in the United Kingdon: Convergence or divergence?
Wiggins & Tymms	2002	Dysfunctional effects of league tables: A comparison between English and Scottish primary schools
Woods, Torrance, Donnelly, Hamilton, Jones & Potter	2021	Constructs and purposes of school leadership in the UK
Wyse & Ferrari	2015	Creativity and education: Comparing the national curricula of the states of the European Union and the United Kingdom

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