Raising Learning Outcomes in Developing Countries

David Johnson, Reader in Comparative Education and Director of the Centre for Comparative and International Education in the Department of Education has been appointed as Programme Research Lead for the ERSC-DFID funded £20 million Raising Learning Outcomes in Educational Systems Research Programme.

The position was advertised by the ESRC last year.

The Research Programme is made up of 29 world-class interdisciplinary research teams. Principal Investigators are based in higher education institutions in the UK, USA, Australia, South Africa, and India.  The body of the research is organised under three themes that combine to examine the complex relationships between the elements that define education systems, the contexts in which the systems are embedded, and the dynamics operating within these systems, and is directed at a diverse range of countries including Honduras, Lebanon, Niger, Ethiopia, Malawi, South Africa, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.

A wide range of social science research designs including panel studies, quasi experiments, and randomised control trials runs through the programme and there are strong commonalities in theoretical framing and methods for data collection.

The function of the Programme Research Lead is to support and provide evidence of the scientific, conceptual, and methodological contributions of the programme; maximise scientific quality between research grants within and across the three programme research themes; and enhance the value of the programme by promoting and supporting opportunities for collaboration and building synergies across the portfolio of grants through a coordinated programme of activities.

The Programme Research Lead is supported in this function by two Research Fellows: Dr Bronwen Magrath and Dr Monazza Aslam.

To view Dr Johnson’s full academic profile see here.