About me:

I read Theology and Religious Studies at Bristol University and completed both my Masters (educational research) and PhD in Education (funded by a 1+3 ESRC Studentship) at the University of Exeter. My main research interest is in education policy, methodological and analytical innovation.

My recent Fellowship project (English Religious Education: A story of indoctrination, Instrumentalization and Ideology) focused on contemporary uses of historical insights, specifically in relation to the policy of compulsory Religious Education in English schools since 1944. My earlier doctoral work investigated the ways in which pedagogical innovation has been undertaken historically, developing Statement Archaeology as a new method for interogating policy development processes. This work is methodologically innovative, setting out an operationalization of methods described in Foucault’s historical work, and has an international purview, considering how the insights from the main study inform histories of RE in other national contexts. The work is being internationally recognised, and I have delivered invited lectures on the methodology in Spain and Norway.

I am currently a Senior Lecturer in education, specialising in Education Policy, history of education, research methods and academic practice. I am also Faculty Director of Post-graduate Research for HASS

I have previously made methodological and analytical contributions to a number of projects,including acting as: Research Fellow on the Novel training through virtual reality research project funded by National Aerospace Technology Programme (NATEP); Research Fellow on the Face to Faith educational programme research project funded by the Tony Blair Foundation; Research Fellow on the Group thinking measures and collaborative learning in mathematics in the UK and Japan (funded by the British Academy); and as a Consultant to the East Devon Character Building Project, funded by DFE.

Formerly, I was involved in a number of historical projects including The Hidden History of Curriculum Change in Religious Education in English Schools, 1969-1979, an investigation into the history of the Girls’ Day School Trust, and Exe Libris: on-line Bibliography. I have also been involved in contemporary research projects including RE-Flect, The Art of Narrative Theology and RE-Searchers.

Study with me

I am actively seeking PhD students in the fields of education policy development and implementation, history of education, and theoretical and philosophical projects relating to education. Please get in touch if your proposal is in any of these areas.

Qualifications:

BA(Hons) (Bristol), PGCE (Exeter), PGDip (Exeter), MSc (Exeter), PhD (Exeter), FHEA, PCAP