School of Education and Childhood

Our academics engage in a range of research and knowledge exchange which seeks to challenge and advance existing knowledge and practice in Initial Teacher Training and in early years, primary and secondary school settings. Research and knowledge exchange (RKE) are central to the School’s vision and ambitions, evidenced by our submission to the Research Excellence Framework (REF), the development of research groups, a regular research seminar series, RKE training and mentoring, and developing our postgraduate researchers.

Colleagues bring a wide range of subject-specific and age-phase-specific expertise, creating an engaging portfolio involving collaborations with regional, national and international partners including those in Scandinavia, Germany, Singapore, the USA and New Zealand.

Research themes include:

• Wellness and Wellbeing
• Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
• Faith Education and Spirituality
• Teacher and trainee identity(ies) and resilience
• Climage Change Education
• Curriculum and Pedagogy

Read more about our research

Academics and researchers within ‘Children, Young People and Families’ or our ‘Philosophy, Ethics and Religion’ provision's research portfolio is varied and underpinned by regional, national or international partnerships and collaborations with corresponding reach and significance.

Research themes include:

• Social Inclusion and Wellbeing
  • The theme of social inclusion and wellbeing underpins much of the research within Children, Young People and Families. 
• Philosophy, Ethics and Religion
  • Topics such as metaphysics; causation; moral theology; social justice; theology of indigenous religion; contemporary paganism; Christian theology; ecofeminism; and religious education are explored within Philosophy, Ethics and Religion.
• The Catherine of Alexandria Research Group
  • Academic Leads
    • Dr Richard Playford: Philosophical anthropology and exophilosophy (i.e., the philosophy of extraterrestrial life)
    • Dr Dave Ellis: Wittgensteinian scholarship predominantly in philosophy of religion
    • Dr Suzanne Owen: Specialism in Indigenous religious traditions and British nature-based traditions.