Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR)

We are an interdisciplinary research centre, committed to using research to inform national and international public policy debate and to support professional practice. As well as conducting research, we organise seminars and research meetings, and run innovative policy-relevant teaching programmes. We are also interested in promoting and supporting research by, and in collaboration with, our students.

Scholarship in CPPR draws on a range of humanities and social science perspectives and methodologies. With particular strengths in sociology and applied philosophy, our work critically analyses and illuminates policy processes and effects in a range of global and local contexts and policy and practice settings. These include education, health and social care, youth work and the cultural sector.

Our research is organised around four overlapping programmes of research and knowledge exchange:

Equality and social justice
Knowledge, values and ethics at work
Governance, accountability and public service quality
Children, youth and society

Members

L. Philip Barnes

Emeritus Reader in Religious and Theological Education

Nuala Burgess

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Bob Burstow

Visiting Research Fellow

Simon Christmas

Visiting Senior Research Fellow

Alan Cribb

Professor of Bioethics and Education

Antonia Dawes

Lecturer in Social Justice

Tania de St Croix

Lecturer in the Sociology of Youth and Childhood

Louise Doherty

Research Associate

Jenny Driscoll

Senior Lecturer in Child Studies Programme Director, MA Child Studies

Maren Elfert

Lecturer in Education and Society

Imogen Feld

Visiting post-doctoral fellow

Sharon Gewirtz

Professor of Education

Eleanor Gurney

Lecturer in International Education

Yen-Hsiang Huang

PhD candidate

Aisha Hutchinson

Lecturer in the Social Sciences

Chae-Young Kim

Visiting Research Fellow

Gerard Lum

Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and Education Management

Meg Maguire

Professor of Sociology of Education

Pat Mahony

Visiting Professor

Ayo Mansaray

Lecturer in Sociology of Education & Policy

Ada Mau

Research Associate

Francesca Meloni

Lecturer in Social Justice

Mili

Postdoctoral Fellow in Education

Polly Mitchell

Post Doctoral Research Fellow in Bioethics and Public Policy

John Owens

Lecturer in Ethics and Public Policy

David Pepper

Lecturer in International Education

Duna Sabri

Visiting Research Fellow

Diego Santori

Senior Lecturer in Education and Society

Beatrice Szczepek Reed

Head of School and Professor of Language and Education

Anwar Tlili

Senior Lecturer

Emma Towers

Teaching Fellow

Thornchanok Uerpairojkit

PhD candidate

Christopher Winch

Professor of Educational Philosophy and Policy

'But why is that better?'

''But why is that better?' An investigation of what applied philosophy and ethics can bring to quality improvement work in healthcare'.

Opportunity, equality and agency in England's new VET landscape: a longitudinal study of post-16 transitions

How England's vocational education and training (VET) system could better support the school to work transitions of young people who don’t go to university.

Rethinking Impact, Evaluation and Accountability in Youth Work

The project investigates how impact tools and processes are experienced and enacted by young people and practitioners in youth work settings.

The History of Educational Planning in Developing Countries Through the Lens of the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP)

This study traces the history of educational planning in developing countries through the lens of the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP).

Reconceptualizing mirroring: Sound imitation and rapport in naturally occurring interaction
Szczepek Reed, B., 28 May 2020, (Accepted/In press) In : JOURNAL OF PRAGMATICS. Research output: Contribution to journal - Article
Navigating justice in practice: An exercise in grounding ethical theory
Cribb, A. & Gewirtz, S., 1 Nov 2005, In : Theory and Research in Education. 3, 3, p. 327 342 p. Research output: Contribution to journal - Article
The learning outcome approach to European VET policy tools: Where are the arguments and the evidence?
Winch, C., Apr 2020, Comparative Vocational Education Research : Enduring Challenges and New Ways Forward . Pilz, M. & Li, J. (eds.). Wiesbaden: Springer, p. 81-96 15 p. (Internationale Berufsbildungsforschung). Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding - Chapter
The role of para social workers in rural communities in Uganda: strengthening community resilience for the protection of children
Driscoll, J., 11 May 2020, (Accepted/In press) In : Child Abuse Review. Research output: Contribution to journal - Article
Socioeconomic inequality and adjustments in children's perceptions of their agency as they age in South Korea
Kim, C. Y. & Gewirtz, S., 30 Mar 2020, In : Children and Society. Research output: Contribution to journal - Article. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12372
Requests by Chinese EFL learners and native speakers of English: the case of formulaic expressions
Meng, J. & Szczepek Reed, B., 4 May 2020, (Accepted/In press) In : East Asian Pragmatics. 6, 1 Research output: Contribution to journal - Article
The felicific calculus strikes back
Cribb, A., 1 Jan 2018, Ageing, Autonomy and Resources. Taylor and Francis Ltd., p. 188-200 13 p. Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding - Chapter. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429459467-13
Can teachers still be teachers?: The near impossibility of humanity in the transactional workplace
Gewirtz, S. & Cribb, A., 1 Apr 2020, Knowledge, Policy and Practice in Education and the Struggle for Social Justice: Essays Inspired by the Work of Geoff Whitty. Brown, A. & Wisby, E. (eds.). London: UCL Press, p. 217 232 p. Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding - Chapter
What works? Academic integrity and the research-policy relationship
Gewirtz, S. & Cribb, A., 17 Mar 2020, (Accepted/In press) In : British Journal of Sociology of Education. Research output: Contribution to journal - Article
Mediating 'school direct': the enactment of a reform policy by university-based teacher educators in England
Ellis, V. & Spendlove, D., 10 Feb 2020, (Accepted/In press) In : British Educational Research Journal. Research output: Contribution to journal - Article

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CPPR Lunchtime Seminar Series

A new set of lunchtime seminars is coming up for the academic year 2019/20.

View the events in the CPPR Lunchtime Seminar Series

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Radical Education Group

The Radical Education Group (REG) is for anyone and everyone with an interest in radical education. We meet monthly to discuss issues of radical educational theory and practice, and the challenges involved in bringing about radical educational change. For further information about REG please contact: Freya Aquarone: freya.aquarone@kcl.ac.uk, Nuala Burgess: nualaburgess@gmail.com, or Peter Burgess: peter.burgess@kcl.ac.uk

Theory and Methods Workshops

This group provides an opportunity for CPPR doctoral students and staff to come together in an informal and supportive atmosphere to grapple with methodological and theoretical issues of common interest. Each meeting is usually based on a methodological or theoretical topic or the ideas of one thinker. A relevant text is circulated in advance, with the participants taking turns to choose the reading and introduce the topic or thinker and possible themes for discussion. As far as possible we aim to choose texts and themes that have widespread relevance and significance. For further information, please contact: Alan Cribb: alan.cribb@kcl.ac.uk, or Sharon Gewirtz: sharon.gewirtz@kcl.ac.uk