EducationSocial Justice, Culture, and Policy

Our research theme Social Justice, Culture, and Policy investigates the relationships between education as a fundamental human right and various social justice issues, such as poverty and multiple disadvantages, disability, ethnicity, race, diversity, gender, sexuality, environmental justice, digital inequalities, and global citizenship. It uses interdisciplinary approaches to connect education to cultural, political, social, and economic contexts.

The core of our research theme lies in the development of social justice pedagogies and policies. These are designed to not only enable children, young people, and adult learners facing multiple disadvantages to succeed in education and the labour market, but also to empower them. We strive to give them the agency to shape their own futures, both individually and collectively. Our research has already influenced policy and pedagogical reforms, promoting educational equity and inclusion for all, both locally and globally. 

Co-leads

Subthemes

As a persistent feature of the Scottish, UK and international education systems, educational inequality has been understood and addressed in different ways. Policy initiatives have tended to focus on institutional, predominantly school-based interventions. Underpinning much of this work is the intention to find and deliver interventions that will develop measurable impact and so provide ‘scalable’ responses. Research informing this landscape has sought to inform this ambition. However, it has grappled with finding suitable interventions within the complex social, cultural and economic environments that shape the lives of those experiencing poverty, from working-class backgrounds or other marginalised groups. The result? Not a lot of change.

The work of this sub-theme is focused on exploring how our understanding of different aspects of educational inequality can usefully inform new forms of policy and practice. It explores how educational inequality has been addressed, the strengths and weaknesses of new forms of practice and the potential for significant systems change. The work is collaborative and blends research with innovative forms of practice that are present in schools and communities.

As a potential new member of this subtheme, you will be unhappy, discontent and preferably angry at the extent and persistence of the different aspects of educational inequality. But you will be interested in educational inequality, how it is created, and experienced and, most importantly, how it can be more effectively addressed. While current members reflect a core focus on aspects of social class and poverty the research designs, intended collaborative approaches and theoretical positionings will be of interest to those researching and shaping interventions with other marginalised groups.

Leads
Subtheme members

Engaged Scholarship allows university staff to work from within the local community. Rather than visiting communities to collect data or to share the work of the university, this kind of scholarship positions marginalised communities at the heart of the partnership process. Research, knowledge exchange and teaching can all take place in Engaged Scholarship hubs. However, there is a strong ethical element to this engagement where the gain from projects must be bi-directional.

The focus of this subtheme would be to work with interested staff to run small projects that allow the SIoE to offer outreach activities to the local community and to work from within the local community to conduct research. This theme provides the opportunity to create impact in teaching, research and knowledge exchange, while contributing to the broadening of the research environment in the SIoE.

There is one hub already established in the East End of Glasgow. Based within walking distance of the university, the hub sits in an area of the city where life expectancy is lower than the city average and where participants live within the most deprived postcodes in the country. Addiction, low literacy rates and unemployment are all issues to be considered in the development of activities.

Leads

This subtheme is concerned with disability studies and inclusive education. We aim to take an asset-based approach by celebrating diversity, fostering belonging, advocating for dignity, agency, and children's rights.

Researchers in this sub-theme are interested in listening to, affirming and amplifying the ‘voices’ and lived experiences of children, families and communities who experience disability.

The research vision is to facilitate evidence-based approaches to inclusion whilst working towards dismantling ableism and barriers in environments, systems, curricula, pedagogies, policies, research and practice.

Leads
Subtheme members

This subtheme brings together researchers and scholars with an interest in language(s) in education and explores what is required for education in multilingual contexts to be considered ‘socially just’.

The multilingual contexts in which we work include school and university classrooms in Scotland and other parts of the UK where learners are increasingly diverse and multilingual, and education in multilingual societies around the world where decisions about language-in-education policy and practice are shaped by complex historical, political, and economic forces (e.g. postcolonial countries in Africa and Asia).

We investigate the intersections of education, social justice, and multiple forms of diversity. We believe that, for education to be ‘socially just’, there must be a space in which all aspects of learners’ identities, experiences and knowledge can be included. In multilingual contexts, we believe this requires approaches to curriculum and pedagogy that explicitly acknowledge and celebrate the multilingual resources of learners, including through multilingual practices. In this subtheme, we research and develop these approaches in ways that are relevant to their contexts, and with a range of groups of learners, practitioners and policy-makers.

Leads
Subtheme members