Brian, a Rhodes scholar from Kenya, doctoral research explores teachers’ identities and professionalism under the influence of performance-based accountability systems. He holds an MSc in Education (Comparative and International Education) from the University of Oxford (UK), Honours in Education from the University of Cape Town (South Africa) and Bachelor of Education from Chuka University (Kenya). His research interests are in the areas of teacher education and professional learning, teacher beliefs and practices, teacher identity and professionalism.
Kason is a Titular Clarendon Scholar, a Hong Kong Jockey Club Oxford Graduate Scholar and a DPhil student at Department of Education, University of Oxford. He is currently a MSc tutor (Science Stream) in Learning and Teaching.
He was awarded a distinction in both his PGCE/QTS at Durham University and MPhil in Educational Research at the University of Cambridge. His MPhil was fully funded by Doris-Zimmern HKU-Cambridge Hughes Hall Scholarship and received Raffan Prize In Education from Hughes Hall, the University of Cambridge.
Kason has extensive secondary teaching experience in state schools in England. He is an academic working in the field of nature of science, multimodal representations, visualization and reading and writing in science. His research has been published in a range of journals in the areas of science communication, public health and science education. These journals include Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (Nature Portfolio), Studies in Science Education, Public Health, Transaction in GIS, Science and Education, Research in Science and Technological Education and International Journal of Science Education.
He is currently serving as an editorial board member of Research in Science and Technological Education. He is also a peer reviewer for a range of journals in the fields of science communication, science education, research method and applied linguistics such as Public Understanding of Science, Field Methods, Journal of Mixed Methods Research, Journal of Biological Education, Science and Education, Research in Science and Technological Education, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, and Asia-Pacific Educational Researcher.
Amelia is passionate about access to and the effects of environmental education globally, particularly in the Galápagos Islands of Ecuador.
Because she experienced a wealth of informal and non-formal environmental education from her parents and from explorations growing up in Southern Oregon, she is interested in researching how environmental education manifests in global communities. She fell in love with the Galápagos on a structured university-led trip during her undergraduate studies and realized that there was a dearth of research on social aspects of the communities living on the islands. Because of this, she pursued research in the Galápagos in 2014 on the prevalence of and access to both formal and informal (provided by numerous NGOs and government agencies) environmental education for students on the islands, and on the level of student environmental literacy in 28 schools.
Her Dphil research focus, under the supervision of Dr. Ann Childs and Dr. Steve Puttick, is on access to and effects of Experiential Environmental Education for students living in the Galápagos Islands, and on the production of research on the social sphere in Galápagos.
Prior to starting her Dphil at Oxford, she worked in alliances and partnerships at tech companies in the San Francisco Bay Area. Most recently, she was the Director of Global Partnerships at Conversica, a conversational AI platform, and cultivated, trained, and drove pipeline with select international resellers in APAC, EMEA, and LATAM, and with regional resellers in the United States. She also assisted with the design and construction of the Conversica partner program.
In her free time, she is a free-lance food photographer, food stylist, food blogger, recipe developer, and gluten free baker for her online blog and social handle, Sisters Sans Gluten (www.sisterssansgluten), which she created with her sister in 2018. She also continues to sing informally and takes voice lessons remotely with instructor Corey Head of San Francisco.
She holds a BA in both Anthropology and Music (vocal performance), and an MA in Latin American Studies from Stanford University. Highlights from Stanford include: playing and touring as a performing member of Stanford Taiko (Japanese ensemble drumming) for four years; singing with the Stanford Chamber Chorale led by Professor Steve Sano; studying voice with Wendy Hillhouse; participating in music department operas; performing in self-organized recitals showcasing western art songs, western musical theater, and Latin American art songs; studying abroad in Santiago, Chile; and learning Quechua during her masters program with Marisol Necochea.
Cindy works at the intersection of learning, design, and technology, with a keen interest in the orchestration of future-ready tech-enabled learning.
She is curious how the deployment of adaptive learning systems to schools will impact classroom learning and hopes to learn more about the human-machine partnership in education. Specifically, her research is concerned with the implications that the use of such systems has on teacher-student interactions, as teachers grapple with balancing personalised learning and learning in community, as well as curriculum demands and student interests. These are some tensions which could potentially be exacerbated by affordances of adaptive learning systems.
Prior to embarking on the DPhil in Education at Oxford, Cindy worked as the Lead Specialist in Technologies for Learning at the Educational Technology Division of Ministry of Education, Singapore. She had previously completed graduate studies at the National University of Singapore and Stanford University where she was awarded Master of Arts in English Studies and Master of Arts in Education.
Alexa Muse is a DPhil student in the Education Department. With eight years of English teaching experience (ages 11-17) both in the United States and abroad (Turkey and Russia), Alexa is interested in the intersection of equity-oriented education, teacher agency, and subversive curricular techniques. Other interests of hers include Cultural Historical Activity Theory, Figured Worlds, and narratology. Her undergraduate degree (BS Middle/Secondary English Education) is from Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana (USA). Her Master’s degree (MSc Learning and Teaching) is from Oxford University; her dissertation has since been abridged and published in the English in Education journal.
Publications
Alexa Muse (2019): “Whilst I learn and live”: a comparative case study analysing the identity formation of seventh grade Turkish and International students via self-narratives in an English class, English in Education, DOI: 10.1080/04250494.2019.1621160
Bhabesh’s research Inquire into the systemic practices in a school to understand the implications of already existing classification of roles, and regulations based on power and control dynamics within the school. Also, focusing on the systemic apparatuses existing in a schooling system, wherein there is a categorical divide between the students
that are the academically poor and the administrative personnel who pose authority.
Szilvi’s main research interest lies in student religiosity. She completed her BA in Theology in Budapest (summa cum laude). After working in a number of ministry and teaching settings, she completed her PGCE in Religious Education at the Department, followed by an MSc in Research Design and Methodology (distinction).
She has been working as a project manager on a large-scale science-religion project at the University of Oxford before starting her DPhil. Szilvi lives in Oxford with her husband and 3 children.
Prior to starting his DPhil, Eddy worked as a primary school teacher in Bristol, where he also completed his MSc in Educational Research.
He is particularly interested in the culture of high stakes, standardised testing, and how this might perpetuate existing inequalities in schools. His research focuses specifically on the interaction between knowledge, policy and pedagogy in the context of Literacy education.
Amanda is completing a part-time DPhil, alongside working in Initial Teacher Education at Leeds Trinity University.
Her research is focused on understanding tensions, contradictions and conflicts that teachers in disadvantaged schools may experience when they engage in research activity. Her research focus is influenced by her own experiences of working as a research-active teacher in disadvantaged schools, and recent work in teacher education to support experienced and beginning teachers in developing their own research activities.
One of the aims of Amanda’s research is to construct a framework to support teachers in pursuing research activity and critical scholarship work which articulates with wider social movements to address issues of poverty and disadvantage in schools.
Title of Thesis
Teachers’ perspectives on tensions between policy, practice and research in disadvantaged schools
Publications
Beckett, L. and Nuttall, A. (2017) A ‘usable past’ of teacher education in England: history in JET’s anniversary issue. Journal of Education for Teaching: International research and pedagogy, 43 (5), pp.616-627.
Nuttall, A. (2016) The ‘curriculum challenge’: Moving towards the ‘Storyline’ approach in a case study urban primary school. Improving Schools, 19 (2), pp. 154-166.
Nuttall, A. (2016) Learning {Re}imagined: A review. Primary First, 15, pp. 17-18.
Nuttall, A. and Doherty, J. (2014) Disaffected boys and the achievement gap: the ‘wallpaper effect’ and what is hidden by a focus on school results. The Urban Review, 46 (5), pp.800-815.
Conference Papers and Presentations
Beckett, L. and Nuttall, A. (2018) “No child is pre-ordained to fail” Teachers questioning policy assumptions. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the British Educational Research Association, Newcastle, 11-13 September.
Nuttall, A. and Tobbell, C. (2017) Trainee teachers’ perspectives on practitioner enquiry. Paper presented at the 8th TEAN Conference: Thinking Deeply about Education, Birmingham, 11-12 May.
Nuttall, A. (2017) Assessment at primary level: quality, comparability and improving secondary readiness. A perspective from ITE. Speech at the Westminster Education Forum Keynote Seminar: Next steps for reforming primary education: effective teaching practices, assessment and accountably, London, 18 January.
Nuttall, A. (2016) Deficit narratives and lived realities: whose poverty is it? Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education, Melbourne, 27 November – 1 December.
Nuttall, A. (2016) Disenfranchised boys’ reflections on their urban schooling experience: “What a Waste!”. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the British Educational Research Association, Leeds, 13-16 September.
Nuttall, A., Philpott, C., Beckett, L. and Wrigley, T. (2016) Collaborative practitioner inquiry: making a difference to urban schools. Innovation session (school visits and symposium) presented at the Annual Conference of the British Educational Research Association, Leeds, 13-16 September.
Nuttall, A., Finn, B. and Beckett, L. (2015) Teachers’ constructions of poverty effects: Their research evidence. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the British Educational Research Association, Belfast, 15-17 September.
Nuttall, A. (2014) Teachers’ voice on disengaged boys: the role of one teacher-researcher in an English primary school. Paper presented at the Joint Australian Association for Research in Education and the New Zealand Association for Research in Education Conference, Brisbane, 30 November – 4 December.