Dr Rachel Wilder

The aim of my research is to explore how decision makers negotiate what ‘knowledge’ contributes to sex and relationships education (SRE) policy for a selection of primary schools in Bristol. ‘Decision makers’ refers to governors, head teachers, SRE teachers, external consultants and others who contribute to decision-making about SRE. This will involve looking at what criteria decision makers, as individuals and as a potential collective, use to assign value to different kinds of information (including technical information, historical pathways, community values, personal attitudes, etc.) and how decision makers use these knowledge(s) to create a case and to negotiate with other decision makers to advance their political persuasion and preferences with regards to SRE policy.