Below, you will find a summary of our research staff and their projects (as ordered alphabetically by their surname). Our staff are also available to comment on a wide range of key national and international educational issues and policies. If you are a journalist and would like to interview a member of our staff on a particular issue\/policy, please direct your enquiries to the IoE’s Research Communications Lead (Dr. Natthapoj Vincent Trakulphadetkrai<\/a><\/strong>).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Prof. Bilton is a national and international expert on the outdoor teaching and learning environment for children, in particular young children but older too and also playtime\/recess. Prof. Bilton is writing a series of books detailing the developmental needs of young children when working in the outdoor environment. She is hoping these will make child development accessible to the range of staff found in schools and settings for children under five.\u00a0 She is also concerned about the commodification of the outdoors and as such writing about this. Another research area concerns continuing professional development and in particular the support staff within schools. She has written two on-line courses for such staff: supporting-learning-primary and supporting-learning-secondary. These are on the FutureLearn platform and freely available worldwide. These courses have been analysed in terms of impact on the whole staff group. Further interests include behavioural insight and managing children\u2019s and adult learners\u2019 behaviour when in a teaching situation.<\/p>\n Research interests:\u00a0<\/strong>outdoor teaching and learning environment<\/em><\/p>\n For more information on Prof. Bilton’s research interests, please visit her staff profile page here<\/strong><\/a>. You also can watch her talking about her research by clicking on the video images below.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Prof. Croll\u2019s research interests include inclusion and special educational needs, classroom observation, levels of educational participation, quantitative methods and longitudinal analysis.\u00a0 Recent funded projects include, \u2018Children\u2019s Perceptions of the Value of Education\u2019 (ESRC, \u00a3189,000), \u2018The Formation and Transmission of Educational Values\u2019 (ESRC, \u00a354,000) and \u2018The Education of Excluded and Disaffected Young People\u2019 (Lifelong Learning Foundation, \u00a340,000).\u00a0 He is currently working on a study of continuities in mental health difficulties over time.\u00a0 Professor Croll is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and served for eight years as Editor of the British Journal of Educational Studies<\/em>.\u00a0 He has served on many Economic and Social Research Council panels and committees including the Grants Assessment Panel, the Centres and Large Grants Panel, the Professorial Fellowships Committee and the Research Seminars Panel (Chair).<\/p>\n Research interests:<\/strong> special educational needs, educational values, educational participation, quantitative methods, longitudinal analysis<\/em><\/p>\n For more information on Professor Croll’s research interests, please visit his staff profile page here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Twitter:<\/strong> @ProfAlanFloyd<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Prof. Floyd has taken part in several externally funded research projects. Currently, he is working with Dr. Jacqueline Baxter at the Open University on a \u00a3300k UKRI – ESRC funded project \u2018Leading school learning through Covid-19 and beyond\u2019<\/strong><\/a> which aims to explore how school leaders strategically manage and plan for online provision of learning, through the pandemic and beyond. Prof. Floyd was also a co-investigator on the \u2018\u2018Understandings and formulation of democratic strategy in federated school structures in England\u2019<\/strong><\/em><\/a> project again with Dr. Jacqueline Baxter and Professor Chris Cornforth at the Open University Business School. This project, funded by The Leverhulme Trust \/ British Academy, investigated how governing boards in geographically dispersed groups involve stakeholders within strategic decision-making processes. Prof. Floyd has also been successful in twice gaining funding from the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education allowing him to explore distributed leadership models<\/a><\/strong> with Professor Dilly Fung and lead the first national study of Associate Deans in the UK<\/a><\/strong> with Dr. Diane Preston.<\/p>\n Research interests:<\/strong>\u00a0career trajectories; distributed leadership; higher education leadership; leadership development; Multi Academy Trusts (MATS) and strategic management; perception and experiences of being in a leadership role;\u00a0professional identity<\/em><\/p>\n For more information on Prof. Floyd’s research interests, please visit his staff profile page here<\/strong><\/a>. You also can watch him talking about his research by clicking on the video images below.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dr. Flynn is a primary school English teacher educator with a research specialism in the teaching and learning of children who have English as an additional language (EAL). Her research always involves teachers in one way or another and she is particularly interested in how the profession might be best supported to adapt their practice for EAL learners. To this end, her publications span practitioner-oriented EAL guidance and\u00a0research analysing policy for EAL<\/strong><\/a>. Naomi\u2019s current research is bringing a US-created pedagogy for multilingual learners to UK classrooms. \u00a0Her expertise in this field is recognised through her Fulbright Visiting Scholar Award ($15,000) for research in the US in 2021. Naomi is committed to public engagement through her work as\u00a0<\/strong>Co-Director of Bilingualism Matters @Reading<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>and her role on the national executive committee of\u00a0the National Association for Language Development In the Curriculum (NALDIC)<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0Her successes in building collaborative partnerships with schools and Local Authorities include supervision of two PhD students funded with the highly prestigious ECRC-SeNNS Collaborative Studentship award. Naomi also has expertise in the teaching of phonics and was part of the IoE team delivering Department for Education-funded\u00a0phonics roadshows<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(\u00a347,000) in 2017. She is an Expert Advisor to Oxford University Press for phonics teaching in English Language Teaching contexts.<\/p>\n Research interests:\u00a0<\/strong>English as an additional language; pedagogy in multilingual classrooms; migration and education; policy and practice for the teaching of English; research-informed teaching<\/em><\/p>\n For more information on Dr. Flynn’s research interests, please visit her staff profile page here<\/strong><\/a>. You also can watch her talking about her research by clicking on the video images below.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Prof. Fuller is currently working on a number of research projects, primarily focused on confidence, self-efficacy and empowerment. Her work is strongly framed within a social justice agenda and is increasingly concerned with issue of identity and inequality. Currently, she is co-leading the \u2018Marvellous Mums\u2019<\/em> project<\/strong><\/a> with Dr. Maria Kambouri. Funded by the University of Reading\u2019s Widening Participation Scheme (\u00a379,000), the project is an \u2018outreach\/impact\u2019 activity focusing on aspirations. Specifically, it sets out to raise the confidence and self-efficacy of parents who in turn support the aspirations and confidence of their children. Other current and recent externally funded projects include work with Ufton Court Educational Trust (\u00a314,000), Wiltshire Wildlife Trust (\u00a368,000), Reading and Slough Local Authorities (\u00a312,000), Eton College and the Whitley Community Development Association. Prof. Carol has a growing research interest in \u2018Left-Behind\u2019 Children as well as gender in China.<\/p>\n Research interests:<\/strong> confidence; empowerment; identity; inequality; self-efficacy<\/em><\/p>\n For more information on Prof. Fuller’s research interests, please visit her staff profile page here<\/strong><\/a>. You also can watch her talking about her research by clicking on the video images below.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Prof. Graham is currently part of three big research projects. The first project, ‘Linguistic Creativity in Language Learning’, <\/em>is being led by Prof. Graham in collaboration with the University of Cambridge. It explores the impact of using literary and non-literary texts on the motivation and linguistic development of learners of French and German in secondary schools. This project is the Education Strand of Creative Multilingualism<\/em><\/a><\/strong>, a large interdisciplinary project with several universities headed by the University of Oxford, and is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (\u00a34,000,000). The second project that Prof. Graham is part of is called\u00a0‘Developing the Teaching of Reading in Modern Foreign Languages’.<\/em>\u00a0Funded by the Nuffield Foundation (\u00a3190,000) and led by the University of Oxford, this project investigates whether instruction in phonics and reading strategies can improve progress and motivation for secondary school learners of French. Her third project is ‘The Language Magician<\/strong><\/a>‘.<\/em> Funded by the European Commission (around \u20ac280,000) and in collaboration with several European partners, this project builds on Prof. Graham\u2019s Nuffield Primary Modern Languages<\/em> project in creating an assessment tool for use in primary languages classrooms throughout Europe.<\/p>\n Research interests:<\/strong> foreign\/second language learning in schools; foreign language reading and listening comprehension; language learning motivation<\/em><\/p>\n For more information on Prof. Graham’s research interests, please visit her staff profile page here<\/strong><\/a>. You also can watch her talking about her research by clicking on the video images below.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Prof. Harris is currently leading a research project exploring the school experiences of young people who identify as LGBT+, particular the way in which LGBT+ issues are presented in the curriculum. Prof. Harris has also been working on a project which has explored: the role of risk aversion in teachers\u2019 curriculum decision making; the extent to which history teachers deliberately plan for a disciplinary approach to teaching; and how far history teachers systematic plan to develop a framework of historical knowledge for young people. His\/her recent project (funded by Ufton Court) has been an evaluation of using an outdoor learning approach to teach history to primary school pupils, which has highlighted a positive impact on pupils\u2019 cognitive understanding of history, as well as a positive impact on attitudes towards the subject.<\/p>\n Research interests:<\/strong> action research; curriculum; history education; LGBT issues; teacher decision making<\/em><\/p>\n For more information on Prof. Harris’s research interests, please visit his\/her staff profile page here<\/strong><\/a>. You also can watch Prof. Harris talking about his\/her research by clicking on the video images below.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dr. Jones\u2019 research primarily examines women\u2019s careers and leadership, and she has a strong interest in the learning of leadership. Current projects include a Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives-funded study into the \u2018Underrepresentation of women and BAME staff in professorial and senior leadership roles in UK Higher Education\u2019<\/em><\/strong>. This was supported by funding for two Undergraduate Research Opportunities Project (UROP) students, one of which was selected as the overall winner of the 2020 UROP scheme for the creation of Graphic Art illustrations of the findings from the study. Other current projects include: \u2018Taking a maternity break from academia: the perceptions, implications and experiences of women returning to academia\u2019<\/em><\/strong> <\/a>\u00a0and \u2018<\/em><\/strong><\/a>Academic Career Breaks: post-doctorate hell \u2013 rhetoric or reality\u2019<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0<\/em>These projects involve secondary analysis of data from a global survey on academic career breaks, conducted by piirus.ac.uk, jobs.ac.uk and Research Media. Dr. Jones has led and participated in a range of externally funded projects. Examples include: Eton College and evaluation of an \u00a38 million programme of leadership development, known as \u2018<\/em><\/strong>LEAD Wales\u2019<\/em><\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0funded by the European Social Fund and Welsh Government, with Swansea University and Bangor University.<\/p>\n Research interests:<\/strong>\u00a0women and leadership; gender; identity; feminist and critical perspectives; leadership learning and development.<\/em><\/p>\n For more information on Dr. Jones\u2019s research interests, please visit her staff profile page here<\/strong><\/a>. You also can watch her talking about her research by clicking on the video images below.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dr.\u00a0Joseph\u2019s research examines reading development and difficulties, using eye tracking to monitor exactly where children look while they are reading text, providing a window onto the cognitive processes that underlie developing reading. Recent research projects that she led include novel word learning in children who speak English as an additional language<\/span> (funded by British Academy, \u00a310,000) and the use of specialist fonts to support children with dyslexia<\/span><\/a><\/strong> (funded by Experimental Psychology Society). Dr. Joseph has also hosted a number of recent workshops for academics and practitioners on bilingualism in the classroom and overcoming barriers to literacy. She is Co-Director of Bilingualism Matters at Reading<\/span><\/a><\/strong> and in this role has written opinion pieces on\u00a0educational policy<\/span><\/a><\/strong> and is running an even Multilingual Storytime event as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science<\/span><\/a><\/strong>. She has also been awarded a Royal Society Pairing scheme award<\/span><\/a><\/strong> in which politicians are paired with scientists in order to gain an insight into how research findings can help inform policy making.<\/span><\/p>\n Research interests:\u00a0<\/b>reading; eye movements; English as an additional language; dyslexia; reading comprehension<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n For more information on Dr. Joseph\u2019s research interests, please visit her staff profile page\u00a0here<\/span><\/a><\/strong>. You also can watch her talking about her research by clicking on the video images below.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dr. Kambouri is currently co-leading the \u2018Marvellous Mums\u2019<\/em> project<\/strong><\/a> with Professor Carol Fuller<\/strong><\/a>. Funded by the University of Reading’s Widening Participation Scheme (\u00a370,000), the project is an \u2018outreach\u2019 activity focusing on aspirations. Specifically, it sets out to\u00a0raise the confidence and self-efficacy of parents who in turn support the aspirations of their children. Recently, she has completed the\u00a0\u20184Ps – Project: Practitioners & Parents Play Partnership\u2019\u00a0<\/em>project<\/strong><\/a>, which focuses on identifying the best practices when developing effective partnerships between parents and practitioners in early years education. This project was funded by the Froebel Trust (\u00a319,500).\u00a0Her next steps include building on and disseminating the results deriving from these two projects, but also pursuing further funding to examine how parents and early years practitioners can work together in order to identify the key principles of a pedagogy that is inclusive, celebrate diversity and allows children to holistically develop, free of limitations implied by gender stereotypes.<\/p>\n Research interests:<\/strong> children\u2019s aspirations; gender stereotypes in early years education;\u00a0<\/em>parent-practitioner partnerships in early years education; teaching and learning science in early years education<\/em><\/p>\n For more information on Dr. Kambouri’s research interests, please visit her staff profile page here<\/strong><\/a>. You also can watch her talking about her research by clicking on the video images below.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/education\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2021\/09\/helen-150x150.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nProf. Helen Bilton<\/h3>\n
Professor of Outdoor Learning<\/h4>\n
Twitter:\u00a0@DrHelenBilton<\/strong><\/a><\/h4>\n
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<\/h3>\nEmeritus Professor Paul Croll<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nProf. Alan Floyd<\/h3>\n
Professor of Education<\/h4>\n
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<\/p>\nDr. Naomi Flynn<\/h3>\n
Associate Professor of Primary English Education<\/h4>\n
Twitter:\u00a0@naomiflynn61<\/a><\/h4>\n
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<\/h3>\nProf. Carol Fuller<\/h3>\n
Professor of Sociology of Education<\/h4>\n
Twitter:\u00a0@ProfCarolFuller<\/a><\/h4>\n
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<\/p>\nProf. Suzanne Graham<\/h3>\n
Professor of Language and Education<\/h4>\n
Twitter:\u00a0@SuzanneJaneGrah<\/strong><\/a><\/h4>\n
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<\/p>\nProf. Richard\/Rebecca Harris<\/h3>\n
Professor of History Education<\/h4>\n
Twitter: @Dr_RJHarris<\/a><\/h4>\n
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<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/h3>\nDr. Karen Jones<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n
Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Management<\/b><\/span><\/h4>\n
Twitter:\u00a0@karenjo94388059<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/h4>\n
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<\/p>\nDr. Holly Joseph<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n
Associate Professor of Language Education and Literacy Development<\/b><\/span><\/h4>\n
Twitter:\u00a0<\/b>@drhollyjoseph<\/b><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h4>\n
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<\/p>\nDr. Maria Kambouri<\/h3>\n
Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education and Care<\/h4>\n
Twitter:\u00a0@maria_eva_37<\/a><\/h4>\n
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