Education Policy, Leadership and Management

The field of education policy, leadership and management in the School of Education is research led. Those who work within the field have national and international reputations for excellence and impact of their work with practitioners, policymakers and fellow researchers.

The focus of the work within the School is around educational improvement and effectiveness, and how policymakers, practitioners, and researchers inter-relate to examine issues of teaching and learning, and the role of policy and leadership within this process. The key features of the work are:

The interplay between practice, research and policy;
Leadership within institutions (schools, colleges, universities local and national agencies and governments) and between institutions (partnerships, consortia, and networks);
The practice and theorising of leadership as distributed and integrated with learning and learners;
The development and valuing of the public sector and the workforce;
Critical evaluations of policy and practice within the educational system;
The development of insights into policy and practice through the use of the social sciences and theories of power.

The team as individuals and in collaboration work on: teaching and supervision of postgraduate students from the UK and internationally; small and large scale projects funded by a range of agencies and funding councils; and, undertake consultancy both in the UK and internationally. The team has a range of publications in professional and academic journals, and books have been published or are being written that connect with the key concerns of educational professionals and policymakers.

Within this area there are three main strands of research activity: