Fang Xu is a doctoral student in education at University of Oxford. Her research interests are in equity, social class and socioeconomic status gaps in educational outcomes. Her research is motivated by a theoretical interest in the production and reproduction of social inequalities.
She aims to use empirical data and longitudinal datasets to understand how youth developmental outcomes are shaped by families with a particular focus on populations in the Greater China region. She is also interested in the role of individual decision-making mechanisms in shaping educational inequality by social origins and school segregation, comparative studies of education system characteristics, and big data and machine learning in education.
Fang Xu obtained her BA degree in Chinese Language and Literature (Teacher Education) at South China Normal University. During her undergraduate study, she was selected into the Class of Sinology and obtained the qualification certificate for teachers in senior high school Chinese teaching in China. She completed her MA degree in Sociology of Education at the Institute of Education, University College London in 2019, conducting quantitative research on adolescents’ educational aspirations in China for her dissertation. Prior to her DPhil study, she worked as a research assistant at Shenzhen Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics for Society (AIRS) at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen.
Margaret Mulholland is a specialist in inclusivity and Special Educational Needs. She is advisor on SEND policy for the Association of School and College Leaders and Whole School SEND Project Director leading an evaluation for the Education Endowment Foundation.
A leading advocate for the role SEND settings play in improving understanding of inclusive teaching and learning, Margaret brings over 20 years experience in ITT innovation and practice. She spent seven years as Director of Development & Research at a leading Special School and thirteen years at the Institute of Education, where she was responsible for innovative employment based routes to QTS, PGCE secondary partnerships and a Challenge Partners school leadership programme. Margaret sits on the Universities’ Council for the Education of Teachers, is an advisor to the UK Government on ITT curriculum development and works with local authorities as an external advisor for NQTs, ITT and leadership development. She is also writes a column on research and inclusivity for the Times Educational Supplement.
Marja’s research to date has focused on female leaders in education.
Her doctoral research focuses on OECD countries with a strong educational system as according to the programme for international student assessment (PISA).
Marja works as a Deputy Head at Tallinn English College and a visiting lecturer at Tallinn University in Estonia. She holds an MA in Education Management and a BA in Psychology.