Meet The Education Researcher Meet The Education Researcher

Academic research is becoming increasingly peripheral to education policy-makers and practitioners.

Prof. Sally Power (Cardiff University) talks about the current shortcomings of our work, and how education research might be reinvigorated through a new ‘politics of method’.

Why did Twitter so quickly fall apart as a place for scholarship? Where are academics now going for their social media buzz? How can you use Chat GPT as a genuinely useful interlocutor?

Mark Carrigan (University of Manchester) joins us to talk about two of his latest books – ‘Social Media For Academics’ (2nd edition) and the forthcoming ‘Generative AI for Academics’.

We talk about how academics can get the best out of digital tools to support their scholarship, and how academia can push back against a looming age of automated research communication.

A/Prof Pontso Moorosi (University of Warwick) joins us to talk about her research on leadership preparation in South African schools, and the varying experiences of Black women school principals around the world.

How can schools tackle issues of sustainability and climate change?

Prof. Lizzie Rushton (University of Stirling) talks about her research around environmental education in England and Scotland.

We discuss the current state of UK sustainability education, teachers' and young people’s views on how environmental issues should be taught, and the benefits of applying a geographical mindset to education research.

Schools are beginning to report a notable change in boys’ behaviour as a result of their increased exposure to the so-called ‘manosphere’ and online extremist influencers like Andrew Tate.

Dr. Stephanie Wescott (Monash University) talks about ongoing research into how women and girls are encountering the consequences of online toxic masculinity in schools, and what steps can be taken to combat the problem.

What relevance does existentialism have for teachers?

Dr. Alison Brady (UCL) uses the existentialist philosophy of Jean Paul Sartre to rethink what it means for teachers to reflect and account for their own practice.

We talk about Sartre’s ideas about the self and freedom, how teaching might be seen as a process of ‘bad faith’, and why teachers need talk candidly and honestly about the vulnerabilities of being in the classroom.

Alison is the author of ‘Being a Teacher: From Technicist to Existential Accounts’ (Springer, 2023).