Institute for Education Policy Research
Staff and students' work, research interests and publications
Professor Nick Adnett
E-mail:
n.j.adnett@staffs.ac.uk
Nick is Professor of Economics at Staffordshire University Business School. His research background is in labour economics with a particular interest in policy analysis. His work in the economics of education concentrates upon developing an economic analysis of schooling market behaviour to complement the existing UK reliance upon a sociological analysis.
Professor Peter Davies
E-mail: p.l.davies@staffs.ac.uk
After 8 years spent teaching in secondary education, Peter joined the Education Faculty at the University of Manchester. His publications include a wide range of resources for teaching as well as research articles in Economics and Business Education. His particular interests are in the development of Economics and Business Studies in the Curriculum, the use of Information Technology in Teaching, Market Forces and Education Policy and Formative Assessment.
Recent Publications
- Davies, P., Bentham, J. Cartwright, S. and Wilson, J. (2002) Using reciprocal teaching to develop students' language and understanding: a franchising case study, Teaching Business and Economics (forthcoming)
- Davies P. (2002) Levels of Attainment in Geography, Assessment in Education (forthcoming).
- Davies, P. (2002) Principals or Agents? Developing Citizenship through Business, Economics and Financial Education, On-line Journal of Social Sciences and their Didactics (forthcoming).
- Davies, P., Howie, H., Mangan, J. and Telhaj, S. (2002) Economic aspects of citizenship education: an investigation of students' understanding, The Curriculum Journal (forthcoming).
- Davies, P. (2001) Citizenship and Economic Understanding in England, submitted to Journal of Education Policy paper presented at the Association for European Economics Education Conference in Milan, August 2000 and as invited lead presentation at the German Economics Educators' Conference, Potsdam, February, 2001.
- Davies,
P. (2000) Differentiation: Processing and Understanding in Teachers' Thinking
and Practice, Educational Studies 26(2), 191-203.
Richard Dunnill
E-mail: R.C.Dunnill@staffs.ac.uk
Richard Dunnill is Head of Education in the Faculty of Business and Law, coordinating Foundation Degree, Certificate in Education, PGCE and Masters Programmes for trainee teachers and education professionals in schools and colleges. His research interests currently centre on learning-focused approaches to Education Leadership, Strategic Planning and School Improvement and in setting-up and evaluating different approaches to e-Learning.
Heather Eggins - Visiting Professor
E-mail: h.eggins@staffs.ac.uk
Heather is Editor of Higher Education Quarterly and Visiting Professor at the University of Strathclyde. Her career has spanned teaching in schools, in colleges of education and in universities both in the UK and abroad. She was until recently Director of the Society for Reseach into Higher Education.
Her research interests are in higher education policy and strategy and she has edited a range of books, examining aspects of these topics, notably Restructuring Higher Education (Open University Press), Arts Graduates, Their Skills and Their Employment (Falmer), Women as Leaders and Managers in Higher Education, and, in December 2003, Globalization and Reform in Higher Education (both Open University Press).
David Galbraith
E-mail: d.galbraith@staffs.ac.uk
David is a Senior Lecturer in the Psychology Department. His main research interest is in the cognitive and social processes involved in writing, and in how research into these can be applied to the use of writing as a tool for learning and to the teaching of writing. He is also interested in the relationship between students' explanatory styles and their academic motivation and performance.
Andrew Graham
Andrew is Head of Economics at New College, Telford and makes a substantial
contribution to the teaching of the PGCE Programme.
Ardiana Gashi - Full-time Research Scholar
E-mail address: A.Gashi@staffs.ac.uk
Ardiana is pursuing a
PhD research focusing on workforce development in EU countries. Her thesis
investigates causes of differences between EU countries in firm-sponsored
workforce training. Objectives of the thesis are to analyse the implications
of the Lisbon Strategy 2010 for firm-based training, to critically assess
the economic theory of firm's provision of training and extend existing training
models on multiple equilibrium.
Dr
Linda Hammersley-Fletcher
E-mail:
l.j.fletcher@staffs.ac.uk
Linda
is a Senior Lecturer within the IEPR. Her research background is in the Leadership
and Management of Primary Schools. She has recently completed a research project
commissioned by the National College for School Leadership looking at distributed
leadership practices in primary schools. Linda is also involved with research
on the processes of Peer Observation within Higher Education.
Jonathan Hughes - Part-time
Research Scholar
Jonathan is a post-graduate part-time student who works
at a further education college in the West Midlands. Having completed a Masters
degree in education with the Open University, Jonathan is keen to pursue his interest
in widening participation especially as this agenda relates to older learners
in their fifties. To do this, Jonathan is pursuing PhD research that focuses on
the interactions between older learners and computer based education. Foucault's
concepts around discourse provides the theoretical framework for the study which
will consider what varieties of discourse are located in relevant government policies
and how educational institutions and older learners themselves respond to and
interpret these policies.
Dr. Julie Hulme
Email: j.a.hulme@staffs.ac.uk
Julie is a Senior Lecturer in the IEPR. She is involved in subject specialist training for Basic Skills tutors and support workers, with the PDC in Stafford. Julie has a background in psychology, with research interests in teaching and learning in higher education, widening participation and student support, and adult basic skills learning.
Jean Mangan
E-mail: j.t.mangan@staffs.ac.uk
After a brief spell in industry, Jean joined the Economics Division of Staffordshire University where she is currently Head of Field. At the present, she is researching in the areas of house price determination, schooling markets and the use of ONS data for business studies.
Dr.
Geoff Pugh
E-mail: g.t.pugh@staffs.ac.uk
Geoff studied at the University of Kent (BA and PhD) as well as at London University (Postgraduate Certificate in Education and MSc in Economics). He has seven years experience as a teacher in London comprehensive schools. In Higher Education, as an applied economist, Geoff has specialised in international and European economics, taking a particular interest in Germany's social-market economy. Comparative work on productivity and competitiveness links with his experience and interests in education.
Kim Slack
E-mail: k.b.slack@staffs.ac.uk
Kim entered higher education as a mature student via an Access Course, and has
a personal as well as a professional interest in the field. She has been involved
in the work of the Institute since its inception and is currently engaged in evaluation
research on a number of projects aimed at widening participation in post-16 education
amongst non-traditional learners, especially school-based research. Some of her
recent research has included working with primary and secondary school pupils
investigating attitudes towards school and knowledge of work, and the impact of
work-based learning on support staff within schools.
Kim is currently involved
in a HEFCE funded research project to evaluate the collaboration between higher
education institutions and further education colleges to widen participation.
She is working on a doctoral thesis relating to aspirations and attitudes towards
higher education in young people in North Staffordshire.
Dr. Mark Torrance
E-mail: m.torrance@staffs.ac.uk
The main focus of my research is in the cognitive and educational psychology of text production. I am particularly interested in the ways in which writers decide and structure and content for their text. Currently (Spring 2004) I'm developing research exploring the relationship between writing performance and the writer's belief in his or her writing ability, co-editing two books of recent writing research, contributing to projects exploring school students' motivation and knowledge change through writing, and trying to write a chapter about writing and working memory. I am a senior lecturer in Psychology.
Go to Mark's webpage to learn more about his work
Katy Vigurs
E-mail address: k.vigurs@staffs.ac.uk
A
post-graduate student, Katy is being funded by BT to carry out extensive research,
which aims to assess the impact of community learning, focusing on the role of
communication. Initially, the research will be based around the development of
a community-learning project, located in the village of Audley, Stoke-on-Trent.
Katy completed a Joint Honours degree in English Literature and Cultural
Criticism (1999), before completing an MProf. in Leadership for Sustainable Development
(2000).
Noshin Flynn - Research Scholar and part-time Research Officer
E-mail address: n.flynn@staffs.ac.uk
Noshin graduated in 1987 with BA (Hons) Combined Studies, (Sociology, Law, Psychology), and completed an MA (Criminology) in 1990. She has worked for the past thirteen years in the local Voluntary Sector for a variety of service providers.
Noshin is funded to work part-time for the Learning Brokers Project, an LSRC-funded project examining the role and strategies of 'intermediaries' in building bridges between learners and learning providers. She is also studying for her PhD the field of Lifelong Learning.
John D. Noble - Research Scholar and part-time Research Officer
E-mail
address: J.D. Noble@staffs.ac.uk
John joined Madeley College of Higher
Education in 1973 following a 12 year engagement in the RAF and graduated from
Keele in 1977 with B.Ed (Hons). He then went on, in 1984, to do a part-time MSc
in Education Management (CNAA). John joined the Institute for Access Studies in
January 2004 following a 26 year teaching career.
John is working on the Joseph Rowntree Project, researching reasons why students leave Higher Education courses before completion.
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