Oxford Centre for Socio-cultural and Activity Theory Research (OSAT)

The Oxford Centre for Socio-cultural and Activity Theory Research is led jointly by Professor Anne Edwards, Dr Geoff Hayward and Dr Viv Ellis. It focuses on research of organisations and professional practices and collaborates with researchers across the Department's research groups to bring insights from Socio-cultural and Activity Theory (SAT) to bear on research projects. We see ourselves as a departmental resource and to that end run regular meetings and informal seminars for colleagues and research students; and offer advanced research training for doctoral students and staff. These events are open to people from outside the Department.

Our Work

Socio-cultural Activity Theory (SAT) has at least three features that make it useful in examining practices and individual and organisational learning involved in changing practices.

• SAT looks at the relationship between individual learning and the social situations in which that learning occurs. The focus helps us to see teaching and learning, whether in the workplace or in more formal settings, as a process through which we take on what is valued in a culture and in turn begin to contribute to that culture.

• SAT's approach to understanding learning views action as object-oriented, i.e. purposeful. SAT therefore provides useful ways of understanding why and how people engage with tasks and problems.

• SAT frameworks allow us to focus simultaneously on individual learning and changes in the system or systems in which learning is occuring.

As well as a long-term focus on pedagogy, our current theoretical work includes developing an understanding of distributed expertise and the nature of collaborative work including inter-professional collaborations. Projects drawing on OSAT currently include knowledge in schools; organisational development; ICT mediated learning; structures and processes aimed at preventing social exclusion; and parental involvement in early education.

To contact OSAT for further details of meetings and other events click on the links on the left or email Phil Richards, Research Secretary at philip.richards@education.ox.ac.uk

OSAT
Department of Education
University of Oxford
Oxford
OX2 6PY 

phone (0)1865 284898