Policy, Education and Societal Transformation Research Group
The Policy Education and Societal Transformation Research Group (PEST) seeks to bring together individuals who have an interest in the societal impact and affordances of educational policy. The group aims to create a safe, collaborative and creative space to share ideas, experiences, projects, and more. We strive to share openly in a respectful way, bringing challenges carefully and sensitively. In this sense it is conceived as an eclectic assembly, comprising not only academics, but also education professionals, political leaders, civil society organisations, and anyone with an interest in thinking critically and challenging current trends and the status quo in field of education policy.
The group, co-lead by Sarah Cole and Jonathan Doney facilitates one ‘open’ meeting each term in which we invite one member of staff and one member of the PGR community to present their work for discussion and dissemination. These meetings provide a lively and supportive space in which to share ideas and beliefs and to compare them with those from other disciplines and backgrounds, and to explore new syntheses and emerging understandings of how policy in the educational sphere can lead to societal transformation.
In addition to the termly meetings, we may also facilitate ‘Policy Jam’ events in response to significant policy announcements in the educational sphere.
Projects undertaken and co-ordinated under previous iterations of the group include:
- Initial investigation of the role played by Church of England Diocesan Boards of Education (CoEBoE) in the expansion of Multi- Academy Trusts in the South-west of England. (Jonathan Doney and Alison Pearson)
- White Paper discussion group led by students on Education Policy Module of Masters in Education. Responding to the 2022 White Paper Opportunity for all: strong schools with great teachers for your child. (Led by Jonathan Doney)
- Barriers and challenges of the Academies and Free Schools programme in Devon – (Internally funded IAA project, led by Ono Olmedo).
TBA