Dr Susan James[back]

Susan James is a SKOPE Research Fellow and Associate Fellow at Pembroke College, Oxford and St. Anne’s College, Oxford. She held a Leverhulme Early Career Development Fellowship for 2006-2008. Susan’s entire career has been in education in various forms: she taught in secondary schools in Australia and England before starting her academic career. Susan completed a B. Ed. in her native Queensland and read for a M. Sc. in Comparative and International Education and a D. Phil in Education at the University of Oxford.

Susan’s research interests are varied including theories of learning, school-to-work transitions, VET systems and policy, work-based learning, on-the-job and off-the-job training, pedagogy in formal and informal settings, and low skill and low wage occupations. Her interest in vocational education developed while teaching in secondary schools where she recognised the need and importance of vocational subjects for students not interested in a purely academic route. Since completing her D. Phil. and joining SKOPE she has worked on the Russell Sage Foundation project looking at low skill, low wage occupations in the food processing and hotel industries, which culminated in the publication of Low Wage UK. Susan was subsequently part of the European team working on phase 2 of the project comparing the five European countries (Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK) involved in Phase 1 of the food processing industry aspect of the project with the situation in the United States, the research of which was published in Low Wage America. Alongside this, she has been working with Ewart Keep on a project to try to understand the interplay between recruitment and selection practices and government policy. In 2006, Susan was awarded a 2-year Leverhulme Early Career Development Fellowship to undertake her own research. This research involves a comparative analysis of vocational education and training policy of England and South Africa, highlighting the similarities although delivered in completely different social, political and cultural environments.

Caroli, E.; Gautié, J.; Lloyd, C.; Lamanthe, A.; James, S., (2010), Delivering flexibility: contrasting patterns in the French and the UK food processing industry in British Journal of Industrial Relations Special Issue.

James, S. (2009), The Skills Training Levy in South Africa: Skilling the Workforce or Just Another Tax?, SKOPE Issues Paper 19, May 2009.

Grunert, K.; James, S.; Moss, P. (2009), Tough Meat, Hard Candy: implications for low wage work in the food processing industry in Low Wage Europe, New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

James, S. (2008), Learning to Cook: Analysing Apprentice’s Knowledge and Skill Construction in the Workplace in Rauner, F. and Maclean, R. (eds.), Handbook of Technical and Vocational Education and Training Research, Germany: Springer.

Lloyd, C.; James. S. (2008), Too much pressure? Retailer power and occupational health and safety in the food processing industry in Work, Employment & Society, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 713-730. 

James, S; Lloyd, C. (2008), Supply chain pressures and migrant  workers: deteriorating job quality in the UK food processing industry in Low Wage UK, New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

Dutton, E.; Warhurst, C.; Lloyd, C.; James, S.; Commander, J.; Nickson, D. (2008), Just like the Elves in Harry Potter: Room Attendants in UK hotels in Low Wage UK, New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

James, S. (2007), Adding new ingredients to an old recipe: NVQs and the influence of CATERBASE, SKOPE Issues Paper, Oxford.

James, S. (2007), To Cook or not to Cook: Participant observation as a data collection technique in Methodological Developments in Ethnography, 12, Oxford: Elsevier.

James, S. (2006), Learning to Cook: Production learning environment in kitchens in Learning Environments Research., 9, pp 1-22.

Hayward, G.; James, S. (Eds.) (2004), Balancing the Skills Equation: key issues and challenges for policy, Bristol: The Policy Press.

Hayward, G.; James, S. (2004), Producing Skills: conundrums and possibilities in Balancing the Skills Equation: key issues and challenges for policy, Bristol: The Policy Press.

James, S.; Hayward, G. (2004), Becoming a chef: the politics and culture of learning in Balancing the Skills Equation: key issues and challenges for policy, Bristol: The Policy Press.

Hayward, G.; James, S. (2004), Diversity in Learning: Establishing the Cognitive Styles and Learning Strategies of Young People in the Youth Justice System, Oxford: Department of Educational Studies.

James, S. (2003), Qualifications, Professional Identity and Work-based Learning, Paper presented for RWL Conference, Tampere, Finland, 25^th – 27^th July.

James, S. (2003), Learning to Cook: the Dichotomous Nature of Modern Apprenticeships, Paper presented for AERA, Chicago, U.S.A., 21^st – 25^th April.

Oh, S-A.; Hayward, G.; James, S. (2002), Alternative Models of Provision Project Working Paper No. 3: Work-related Learning, Oxford: Department of Educational Studies.