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Steve Vainker

@stephenvainker.bsky.social
423 followers 690 following 250 posts

Primary teacher and the lowest profile 'high profile sleuth' open.substack.com/pub/stephenvainke…

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Reposted by Steve Vainker
Philippe Dessus @pdessus.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Very convincing inquiry of Hattie's scientific misconduct by @stephenvainker.bsky.social!
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Editors note: Arday in no way 'quoted & cited sources appropriately'.
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
You're lying. The first instances are on pages 17 and 18 of the thesis, but Zwozdiak-Myers isn't mentioned until page 35. If you make a bad faith defence of plagiarism (even if you're motives are noble) you are committing a form of academic misconduct
until.page
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
The ed establishment prides itself on being evidence-based. But their position on the purpose of education - that we need a stock of common knowledge to communicate effectively as a society - is as flimsily evidenced as any learning style. open.substack.com/pub/stephenv...
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Today the British Educational Research Journal published another article with a fake reference. That's the 22nd from a BERA journal, and their 3rd since they began retracting their AI-authored articles. The reference in this paragraph completely fake 👇
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
It's wonderful that Times Higher Ed are covering this (just need to sign up). The spotlight will mean that BERA can't just continue publishing articles with fake references while taking the moral high ground.
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
BERA have begun retracting AI-authored articles and will need to retract many, many more. But still they publish more. They keep making the story bigger, while taking away their own room for manoeuvre. It increasingly looks like this will not end well.
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
BERA have begun retracting AI-authored articles and will need to retract many, many more. But still they publish more. They keep making the story bigger, while taking away their own room for manoeuvre. It increasingly looks like this will not end well.
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Less than two weeks ago BERA published a retraction notice for 19 articles. They sounded confident and rigorous. But that was a lie. Since then they've published two further articles with fake references. They are in a complete mess, with many retractions ahead. open.substack.com/pub/stephenv...
open.substack.com
BERA continues to publish articles with fake references
Within two weeks of a ludicrously triumphant retraction statement, BERA has published two further articles with fake references
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Reposted by Steve Vainker
Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
BERA's 19 retractions are generating some interest but there's a lot more to the story than people realise. There are many more retractions to come across the four journals, & more papers still will face question marks. Their response so far has merely dug a deeper hole. 🧵👇
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Just to underline the points I make in this thread, barely a week after announcing it has tightened its policies, it has published another article containing fake references, this time in the Journal of Curriculum Studies. That takes the number of articles with fake refs to 20...
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
BERA's 19 retractions are generating some interest but there's a lot more to the story than people realise. There are many more retractions to come across the four journals, & more papers still will face question marks. Their response so far has merely dug a deeper hole. 🧵👇
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
BERA has no idea of the danger it is in. Wiley has informed me it is still supporting these 10 articles with clear major errors. BERA needs to retract these articles or it will lose all credibility, and fast. This would be a disaster entirely of its own making. open.substack.com/pub/stephenv...
open.substack.com
If BERA has confidence in these impossible articles, why should we have confidence in BERA?
10 ridiculous articles BERA is still supporting
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
John Hattie himself has thanked me for finding a non-existent reference in his work. So why is Greg Ashman proclaiming that the case consists solely of unproven 'allegations'? Well, the demands of the attention economy win out over a genuine search for truth. open.substack.com/pub/stephenv...
open.substack.com
Greg Ashman's journey to misrepresenting Hattie case
The empty authority of the social media edu-celebrity
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Any impression BERA are giving of being on top of things is wrong. They're misrepresenting their role in the retractions (claiming to have 'independently uncovered' what I told them about) and are retracting FAR too few papers (based on a misrepresentation of COPE guidelines)👇
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
BERA makes two serious, glaring errors about COPE guidelines in retraction statement. This misrepresentation of the guidelines is used to justify its failure to retract dozens more low-quality, AI-authored educational research articles. The scandal is deepening. open.substack.com/pub/stephenv...
BERA's version of COPE guidelinesActual COPE guidelines
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
BERA makes two serious, glaring errors about COPE guidelines in retraction statement. This misrepresentation of the guidelines is used to justify its failure to retract dozens more low-quality, AI-authored educational research articles. The scandal is deepening. open.substack.com/pub/stephenv...
BERA's version of COPE guidelinesActual COPE guidelines
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
BERA has begun retractions - 19 from the British Educational Research Journal. Hilariously, they are trying to claim that the issues were 'uncovered independently' by them, amongst other delusionally self-serving claims. Sadly, they will learn nothing. open.substack.com/pub/stephenv...
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Jay Patel @infotainment.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
#SciComment The state of sleuthing, in a nutshell 🥜
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
British Educational Research Association: - receive complaint from me about a dodgy special issue - investigate, agree it’s dodgy - take all credit, say the problem was ‘uncovered independently’ by them - Call me ‘ethically problematic’ Only academia can be this much of a joke.
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
BERA has begun retractions - 19 from the British Educational Research Journal. Hilariously, they are trying to claim that the issues were 'uncovered independently' by them, amongst other delusionally self-serving claims. Sadly, they will learn nothing. open.substack.com/pub/stephenv...
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
John Hattie has produced fake references in four different publications where he was either sole, lead, or one of two authors. That's not remotely normal. But the University of Melbourne is refusing to investigate any of the four publications. A scandal. stephenvainker.substack.com/p/john-hatti...
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Reposted by Steve Vainker
Eko @ekoanarchist.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
John Hattie reportedly being investigated by University of Melbourne for academic misconduct. Every teacher right now 🤣🤣🤣
Reddit screenshot "He must have forgotten to write a learning invention on the board"
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
BERA today published another article (the 19th) with a hallucinated reference. The journal referenced? COVID-19 Vaccine. The Overview, 2, 1–30. Of course, it will continue to claim it has the highest editorial standards...
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
BERA has a huge role to play to get schools thriving. But in the past few years it has published 48 undeniably AI-authored articles (i.e. they've manifest flaws, inc. fake references, that could only be AI). To become relevant again, it must retract them all ASAP. open.substack.com/pub/stephenv...
open.substack.com
BERA, please retract these 48 indefensible articles
A true change in leadership means admitting huge mistakes
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
BERA has a huge role to play to get schools thriving. But in the past few years it has published 48 undeniably AI-authored articles (i.e. they've manifest flaws, inc. fake references, that could only be AI). To become relevant again, it must retract them all ASAP. open.substack.com/pub/stephenv...
open.substack.com
BERA, please retract these 48 indefensible articles
A true change in leadership means admitting huge mistakes
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
John Hattie has produced fake references in four different publications where he was either sole, lead, or one of two authors. That's not remotely normal. But the University of Melbourne is refusing to investigate any of the four publications. A scandal. stephenvainker.substack.com/p/john-hatti...
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Given the 'hey fellow educators' tone of the article (written by AI), it should have been acknowledged that Cathie Paine is a DfE advisor. Although she writes as 'we' she is as much 'them'...
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
I can't be the only one who is done with pseudish insider bloggers in education? open.substack.com/pub/stephenv...
open.substack.com
Pseudish insider bloggers can't replace academics
Maybe it’s stating the obvious to say that a lot of the content of a blogging platform is intensely pseudish.
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Reposted by Steve Vainker
Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Whatever it's doing, BERA is not doing peer review. Summarising the key findings of the field, this review paper published last week put 'showed', 'lack', 'chatbot', and 'high'. This was much better than the 'perceptions & attitudes' section (mostly prepositions). open.substack.com/pub/stephenv...
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
If you're defending the indefensible, you might as well get AI to write it for you. The message of this is that the problem is not the Ofsted framework, but our 'habits'. 4 lots of 'not x but y' and the bizarre caution to not 'romanticise' the inspection framework. Not even Gribbell would do that!
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Whatever it's doing, BERA is not doing peer review. Summarising the key findings of the field, this review paper published last week put 'showed', 'lack', 'chatbot', and 'high'. This was much better than the 'perceptions & attitudes' section (mostly prepositions). open.substack.com/pub/stephenv...
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
BERA seems to be having something of a leadership crisis. On 31st March Marlon Moncrieffe announced that from that day he would no longer be president. He was meant to stay until end of year. But BERA haven't announced anything and he's still listed as president on the website?!
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
I'm delighted that Times Higher Ed have covered the BERA story. Less delighted that in their response BERA demonstrates it doesn't understand the issue (at all) and doesn't take it seriously. open.substack.com/pub/stephenv...
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
A number of journalists have contacted me following the recent Retraction Watch article into John Hattie's plagiarism & hallucinated references, but none have yet run a story. Why - I suspect because of his empty legal threats, bolstered by a corrupt university. open.substack.com/pub/stephenv...
open.substack.com
How empty legal threats and a corrupt university protect John Hattie
It is only brave journalist that will ultimately hold him to account
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Does the identity construction of 1970s German accountants explain video-based instruction? A new LLM-written BERA article would have you believe it does. open.substack.com/pub/stephenv...
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Reposted by Steve Vainker
Robert Macmillan @robfmac.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
A profession that fell for the snake oil of Vi$ible £earning will likely fall for that of AI.
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
How a BERA call for papers is made: get AI to produce a 'gap' in the field. Here, the claim, without support, is that AI literacy research lacks: a) student-centred research ❎ b) post-GenAI studies❎ Neither is close to true. Why are academics happy to be led by AI slop?
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Isaac Gottesman @ihgottesman.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
As of a couple of weeks ago, it's been 10 years since I published my book The Critical Turn in Education: From Marxist Critique to Poststructuralist Feminism to Critical Theories of Race. www.routledge.com/The-Critical...
routledge.com
The Critical Turn in Education: From Marxist Critique to Poststructuralist Feminism to Critical Theories of Race
The Critical Turn in Education traces the historical emergence and development of critical theories in the field of education, from the introduction of Marxist and other radical social theories in the...
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
Five calls for papers in a BERA journal strongly appear to be AI written. One rests on absurd, unsubstantiated claims. In education academia an LLM leadership class is emerging and no one appears willing to challenge it. stephenvainker.substack.com/p/llm-calls-...
stephenvainker.substack.com
AI-authored calls for papers and the rise of the LLM leadership class
No doubt when it comes time to account for all the AI slop that BERA has published over the last few years, it will point to the unprecedented challenge of receiving massive numbers of LLM-authored pa...
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Reposted by Steve Vainker
Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Even the leading figures at the University of Manchester's Institute of Education appear to be publishing AI slop in the British Educational Research Journal. open.substack.com/pub/stephenv...
open.substack.com
In the BERJ, leading lights from the University of Manchester publish LLM slop
At what point will BERA and education academics recognise the crisis?
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Even the leading figures at the University of Manchester's Institute of Education appear to be publishing AI slop in the British Educational Research Journal. open.substack.com/pub/stephenv...
open.substack.com
In the BERJ, leading lights from the University of Manchester publish LLM slop
At what point will BERA and education academics recognise the crisis?
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
Forgot to include this astute psychological commentary...
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Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
Another university getting rid of things you could only ever do at a university and replacing them with stuff a 13-year-old can do on a phone
Post from Andrew A.N. Deloucas
@aandeloucas.com:

In line with discussion about the job market, the latest majors being closed at Syracuse University:

Nine majors "sunsetting":
• Classical civilization
• Classics (Greek and Latin)
• Digital humanities
• Fine arts
• German
• Latino-Latin American studies
• Middle Eastern studies
• Modern Jewish studies
• Russian
ALTThe First University in the Nation to Build a Center Dedicated to the Creator Economy
Syracuse University is creating something that doesn't exist anywhere else in higher education.
The Center for the Creator Economy is the first academic center of its kind on a U.S. college campus. Led jointly by the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and the Martin).
Whitman School of Management, the center reinforces Syracuse University's commitment to bold, forward-looking academic leadership.
By aligning strengths in entrepreneurship, media, communications, athletics and digital infrastructure, the University is charting how higher education can prepare students for the 21st-century economy.
14451731636
Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
Posing as the AI expert when you have four separate publications with hallucinated references is quite something. You have to admire it, in a way...
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
Why are teachers in Australia so gleeful at the news that John Hattie is being formally investigated by the University of Melbourne? Because they are tired of living under the rule of administrators who have bought a 'scientific' fantasy. open.substack.com/pub/stephenv...
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PL Thomas EdD @plthomasedd.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
My first post warning folk about John Hattie was 2013 ... Beware edu-gurus ... they are always selling first and foremost
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Reading this I realise how hungry I am for stuff pitched between 'what works' student-directed managerialism and abstruse academic abstractions. Maybe there's lots of it about, but I can't find it...
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Another BERA article with a hallucination in a reference today: creating a volume, issue, and year for a non-existent journal. Armstrong, P. (2010). Bloom's taxonomy. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching, 12(5), 2023. See also this repetitive and chaotic paragraph: doi.org/10.1002/curj...
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Today's BERJ article is again pure AI garbage. Most tellingly, it can't get its story straight about informed consent: the methods section and the ethical statement completely contradict each other. An entirely false ethics statement isn't human error. doi.org/10.1002/berj...
doi.org
<em>British Educational Research Journal</em> | BERA Journal | Wiley Online Library
Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping learning in higher education, particularly within the global shift towards sustainable education and human-centric visions. However, as traditional human men....
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