Lucy is a fourth year DPhil student, funded by an ESRC Grand Union DTP studentship.

Service children are identified by virtue of their parent’s (or parents’) occupation. Their lives are shaped by the occupational requirements of the Armed Forces. Service children are more likely to move (home and school) than their civilian peers and parental separation (such as weekending and deployment) is common amongst service families. Alongside these experiences of mobility and separation, being part of an Armed Forces family results in the creation of a distinct identity, which further sets them apart from their peers. As a result of this, service children have unique educational experiences, associated needs and a distinctive identity which are not fully understood, or supported, in an educational context.

Lucy’s doctoral research aims to engage in a meaningful and creative way with service children to explore how service life has shaped their experiences of education and sense of self. By choosing this focus, the research seeks to widen and nuance current understanding of service children’s educational experiences in addition to furthering knowledge into how service children see themselves. As a result of this, it is hoped that the research will support in developing the professional body of knowledge and understanding of this group of children in schools and help inform the Service Pupil Premium (SPP) funding choices in addition to wider school practice.

Before embarking on her DPhil at Oxford, Lucy completed her PGCE and MEd in Primary Education at the University of Cambridge. In addition to her DPhil work, Lucy is a Trustee for the Armed Forces Education Trust (AFET) – a grant-giving charity for service children – and a volunteer for the Oxford based charity, Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Research/other:

 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucygbrobinson
X/Twitter: @LucyGBRobinson (1) Lucy Robinson (@LucyGBRobinson)