Questions asked about researchED’s governance, following furore about conference in Israel

The governance arrangements of researchED, the high-profile organisation owned by opinion-dividing government adviser Tom Bennett, have been placed under the spotlight again after a furore around its decision to hold a conference in Israel.

Many users of the social network x, formerly twitter, expressed outrage after a post on Saturday morning highlighted the fact that the organisation planned to hold a “launch conference for researchED Israel” in Tel Aviv on December 30^th.

In reaction, the organisers of a conference due to take place under the researchED banner, called researchED Primary, next month, announced that they were cancelling it.

That conference’s tweet said: “We have decided to cancel researchED primary. As three primary teachers who care deeply about teaching and learning, we are so disappointed to have to do this. If you have purchased a ticket, you will get a refund from [researchED].”

ResearchED itself then issued a statement in which it said it would remove its branding from the event in Israel