Steve Vainker
@stephenvainker.bsky.social
Primary teacher and the lowest profile 'high profile sleuth' https://open.substack.com/pub/stephenvainker?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=695xb6
Editors note: Arday in no way 'quoted & cited sources appropriately'.
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
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...
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 👇
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.
Times Higher Education (THE)@timeshighered.bsky.social · 5mo agoWithdrawal of education papers by British Education Research Association is long overdue, says integrity campaigner who argues more retractions are needed to clean up “AI slop” https://ow.ly/XvvL50YWb6O
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.
Steve Vainker@stephenvainker.bsky.social · 5mo agoLess 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...
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.
Steve Vainker@stephenvainker.bsky.social · 5mo agoLess 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...
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...
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
open.substack.com
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. 🧵👇
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...
Steve Vainker@stephenvainker.bsky.social · 5mo agoBERA'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. 🧵👇
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. 🧵👇
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...
If BERA has confidence in these impossible articles, why should we have confidence in BERA?
10 ridiculous articles BERA is still supporting
open.substack.com
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...
Greg Ashman's journey to misrepresenting Hattie case
The empty authority of the social media edu-celebrity
open.substack.com
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)👇
Pedro De Bruyckere@thebandb.bsky.social · 5mo agoThis morning: a wave of BERA retractions in my RSS feed. Reassuring and unsettling at the same time. What does this tell us about academic publishing? theeconomyofmeaning.com/2026/04/27/t...
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 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 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...
#SciComment The state of sleuthing, in a nutshell 🥜
Steve Vainker@stephenvainker.bsky.social · 5mo agoBritish 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.
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.
Steve Vainker@stephenvainker.bsky.social · 5mo agoBERA 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...
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...
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...
John Hattie reportedly being investigated by University of Melbourne for academic misconduct. Every teacher right now 🤣🤣🤣
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...
Steve Vainker@stephenvainker.bsky.social · 6mo agoBERA 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...
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...
BERA, please retract these 48 indefensible articles
A true change in leadership means admitting huge mistakes
open.substack.com
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...
BERA, please retract these 48 indefensible articles
A true change in leadership means admitting huge mistakes
open.substack.com
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...
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'...
Tes magazine@tesmagazine.bsky.social · 6mo agoDon’t look at the Ofsted grade ‘needs attention’ as a sign of failure, says @reach2trust.bsky.social's Cathie Paine – this new inspection system can help school improvement, but only if we avoid falling into the same old traps
I can't be the only one who is done with pseudish insider bloggers in education? open.substack.com/pub/stephenv...
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.
open.substack.com
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...
