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Jill Porter

Honorary Research Fellow

About me

Jill Porter was formerly Professor of Education at the Institute of Education, University of Reading where she co-convened the research group “Improving Equity and Inclusion through Education”.

She has undertaken a wide range of research in the field of disability and special educational needs. A core theme that unites her research is the relationship between the way we conceptualise disability, the practices of identification and assessment and the organisational and pedagogic responses that result. She was principal investigator on a series of government funded projects to develop key identifiers of disability and produced a tool kit that schools can use to understand the barriers to participation and learning. The toolkit has also been utilised by researchers and has been translated into Spanish and Russian. It continues to be developed with colleagues Jenni Ingram and Harry Daniels to understand pupils’ experiences of learning relating and belonging in a Fell Fund project “Pedagogic and Organisational Mediation of Experience in School.” Jill is co-investigator on an ESRC funded multidisciplinary project developing an understanding of the political economies and consequences of school exclusion across the UK, bringing the perspective of SEN and disability to bear on data collection and analysis throughout the 4 year project.

Her expertise on Inclusive Design contributed to the Impact Acceleration Account Project as a follow-up to an AHRC project “Design Matters”. She has undertaken a series of projects, originally funded by the AHRC to work with creative partners and software designers to develop and evaluate mathematical games for children with Down syndrome.

Publications
  • Porter. J. (2025) Conceptions of vulnerability amongst pastoral leaders: care, control and relationships, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties, DOI: 10.1080/13632752.2025.2487414
  • Porter, J., Bridgeman, J., Robinson, G., Tawell, A., & Taylor, A. (2025). Trajectories of young people at risk of exclusion across the UK (Excluded Lives Series ). Excluded Lives, Department of Education, University of Oxford.
  • Porter, J., Robinson, G., Tawell, A., & Taylor, A. (2025).Staff Conceptualisations of Risk and Vulnerability and Young People at Risk of Exclusion: Comparisons within the UK. Excluded Lives Series Editor Ian Thompson. University of Oxford. ISBN 978-1-0686969-2-3
  • Porter, J., & Tawell, A. (2024). At-risk or a risk? SENCOs’ conceptualisations of vulnerability and risk in relation to school exclusion. Oxford Review of Education, 50(6), 834–853. https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2024.2392170
  • Daniels H., Porter J., & Thompson I. (2022) What counts as evidence in the understanding of school exclusion in England? Frontiers in Education 16 doi.org/10.3389/feduc2022.929912
  • Daniels, H., Thompson, I., Tse, H. M., & Porter, J. (2022). Learning lessons from the collaborative design of guidance for new build schools. European Educational Research Journal, 21(4), 585-601. https://doi.org/10.1177/14749041221080892
  • Porter J. (2022) Evaluating performance on a bespoke maths game with children with Down syndrome. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 38, 5, 1394-1407
    DOI: 10.1111/jcal.1268
  • Porter, J. . McDermott, T. Daniels H. & Ingram, J. (2021) Feeling Part of the School and Feeling Safe: Further Development of a Tool for Investigating School Belonging, Educational Studies, DOI: 10.1080/03055698.2021.1944063
  • Porter J. & Ingram J. (2021) Changing the exclusionary practices of mainstream secondary schools: the experience of girls with SEND. ‘I have some quirky bits about me that I mostly hide from the world’, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties, 26:1, 60-77, DOI: 10.1080/13632752.2021.1900999
  • McDermott T., Porter J. Ingram J. and Daniels H. (2020)  The Development of a Tool for Investigating the Barriers and Supports to Participation in School Life and Feelings of Belonging: Part 1 European Journal of Special Needs Education https://doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2020.1823164
  • Porter  J. (2020) Can Children with Down Syndrome Judge Relative Quantity? International Journal of Disability, Development and Education 10.1080/1034912X.2020.1830952
  • Porter, J. (2019) Discriminating quantity: new starting points for teaching children with Down syndrome about number? International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 66 (2). pp. 133-150. ISSN 1034-912X doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/1034912X.2019.1569208
  • Coupe J. & Porter, J. (2019) The Education of Children with Severe Learning Difficulties. Routledge Library Edition. (first published 1986 Croom helm)
  • Porter, J. (2018) Inclusive design and schools. In: Tse, H. M., Daniels, H., Stables A. and Cox, S.(eds.) Designing Schools for the Future of Schooling: Contemporary Visions for Education. Routledge, London.
  • Tse, H.M., Daniels, H., Porter, J., Thompson, I. and Cox, S. (2018) Designing for practice: Pedagogic implications of creating new schools : School building guidance for head teachers, school building commissioners, teachers and the wider school community, Oxford University Department of Education.
  • Chawla-Duggan, R., Milner, S. and Porter, J. (2018) Reflexivity and visual technology in research: young children’s perspectives of paternal engagement in the home environment. Qualitative Research, 18 (4). pp. 471-491. ISSN 1741-3109 doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794117728412
  • Porter, J. (2018) Entering Aladdin’s cave: developing an app for children with Down Syndrome.Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 34 (4). pp. 429-439. ISSN 1365-2729 doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12246
  • Porter, J. (2016) Time for justice: safeguarding the rights of disabled children. Disability and Society, 31 (8). pp. 997-1012. ISSN 1360-0508 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2016.1223605
  • Porter, J. (2015) Using number in everyday life. In: Lacey, P., Ashdown, R., Jones, P., Lawson, H.and Pipe, M. (eds.) The Routledge Companion to Severe, Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties. Routledge, London, U. K., pp. 316-323. ISBN 9780415709972
  • Porter, J. (2015) Engaging with research. In: Lacey, P., Ashdown, R., Jones, P., Lawson, H. and Pipe, M. (eds.) The Routledge Companion to Severe, Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties. Routledge, London, U. K., pp. 399-410. ISBN 9780415709972
  • Porter, J. (2015) Understanding and responding to the experience of disability. Routledge, Abingdon Oxon, pp162. ISBN 9780415822909
  • Moyse, R. and Porter, J. (2015) The experience of the hidden curriculum for autistic girls at mainstream primary schools. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 30 (2). pp. 187-201. ISSN 0885-6257 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2014.986915
  • Porter, J. (2014) ????? ????????? ????? ???????? ??? ????? ????? ? ???.??????????????? ????? ? ???????????. (Psychological Science and Education), 19 (1). pp. 82-89. ISSN 2311-7273 doi: https://doi.org/10.17759/pse
  • Georgeson, J., Porter, J., Daniels, H. and Feiler, A. (2014) Consulting young children about barriers and supports to learning. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 22 (2). pp. 198-212. ISSN 1752-1807 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293X.2014.883720