pathway: Education

In this research, I will focus on an under-represented group of young people classified as ‘EAL’ (English as an additional language). There are 1.7 million EAL students in our secondary schools in the UK (17.1%).  These students are required to learn the majority language, English, so that they can access the curriculum; they face the double challenge of learning English while learning through English. By investigating students’ writing in GCSE exams, I aim to cut through the socioeconomic and demographic factors and to identify linguistic features that are indicative of higher grades. I will investigate exam corpora to understand what works in highly graded papers and find out the extent to which EAL students’ grades are affected by their linguistic characteristics, after controlling for socio-economic and demographic characteristics.

My research aims to study the inclusion and exclusion of indigenous ways of knowing in the curriculum and pedagogy of formal education. I aim to address the epistemic injustice faced by marginalised communities and the research draws inspiration from literature on decolonizing methodologies. I will be working collaboratively with children and adults from Soliga community in India to make the curriculum epistemically just and develop pedagogies that are relevant for the students.

My research focuses on the understanding of the identification of special educational needs in England, with the aim of facilitating a greater common understanding of special educational needs and so contributing to improving the effective use of limited educational resources.  I am focusing particularly on three categories of special educational need: moderate learning difficulties (MLD), autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) and social emotional and mental health (SEMH) within three English local authorities. I plan to follow an examination of local authority data trends with an exploratory survey of those involved in special educational needs identification.

My research will focus on the emergent concept of ‘metalinguistic modelling’, seeking to conceptualise it theoretically and to explore how it is operationalised pedagogically in the primary classroom. The research has the potential to change teachers’ practice in the management of talk about writing, and through this to make a material difference to children’s achievements in writing.

The principal objectives of my study will be, firstly, to generate a theoretical conceptualisation of the term ‘metalinguistic modelling’, and secondly, to develop effective pedagogical practices in metalinguistic modelling which can be shared across the profession.

Since 2014 all school in England are required to actively promote ‘fundamental British values’ in line with the Counter-terrorism and Security Act and Ofsted inspections. Previous research highlights that the introduction of these “values” has led uncertainty and uneasiness about how they might be actively promoted.

My research will take a bricolage approach and will:

1. Critically examine the values education discourse in its relation to delivering character and moral education in schools in England.
2. Apply Goodlad’s Curriculum framework and empirically explore how schools interpret and implement ‘fundamental British values’.
3. Apply a critical lens to the current values education agenda to highlight the complexity in enacting values in school system and the implications with Ofsted Inspections.

The emphasis on STEM in schools has led to conflicting pressures on science teachers to deliver high-stakes exam performance and to foster enthusiasm and career aspirations by making science relevant and meaningful to pupils. Some teachers run project-based activities spanning weeks or months, generally in addition to the standard curriculum and often in the ‘gaps’ or neglected spaces of the school timetable. I am using cultural-historical activity theory to understand how such activities develop, the various motives teachers and pupils bring to the activities, why difficulties arise and how (if) they are resolved. Agency is a key theme in my research.

The attainment gap between disadvantaged students and their peers is persistent.  Recent research suggests that the gap is largest in rural and coastal schools.  My research explores the attainment gap from three perspectives:

• Secondary analysis of the National Pupil Database;
• The use of Pupil Premium funding in secondary schools in the South West and the strategies schools employ to the close the attainment gap;
• The ways in which students in rural and coastal areas construct and mediate their identities as  learners and young people, drawing on hybridised theories of identity, rooted in the the work of Bauman and Bourdieu.

In collaboration with Bristol City Council’s Gypsy, Roma, Traveller Team, I am investigating the potential benefits of identity discourse between Gypsy Roma Traveller pupils and their teachers through the production of co­authored inclusive literature. Cooperative and creative projects that facilitate identity discourse through story­-sharing could offer an opportunity to develop important cultural understanding between pupil and teacher and, importantly, offer Gypsy Roma Traveller pupils a chance for their voice to be heard in the education system from which they are too often excluded.

Having been a secondary school teacher for about ten years, I am interested in finding ways to meaningfully involve teachers in educational research. My work explores the connection between sustainability, wellbeing and participatory approaches to research. I believe teacher wellbeing is an important area of investigation in and of itself and not only because its cultivation has been linked to improved exam results. I aim to work with and develop methodologies that allow for the meaningful inclusion of stakeholders at each level of the research process. My most recent work involved the use of poetic inquiry

This research will critique the notion of teacher wellbeing in order to yield insights into how teachers can be well in ways that are meaningful to them. It will collaboratively explore, with a small number of teachers of English in England, our conceptualisations of teacher wellbeing, based on our lived experiences. The project will be partly conducted in collaboration with the National Writing Project, through writing workshops with NWP groups, as well as with individual teachers. This is an arts-based inquiry that recognises the importance of teachers’ experiential knowledge.