Staff

Dr Andrew J. Davis

Contact Dr Andrew J. Davis (email at a.j.davis@durham.ac.uk)

Biography

Andrew Davis’s career includes eight years in primary schools, six at Cambridge University and over twenty at Durham University where he is a Research Fellow. He has worked for the Quality Assurance Agency as a Subject Specialist Reviewer and directed Argument Matters, a strand of the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth Durham summer school for four years. He is Assistant Editor of the Journal of Philosophy of Education and secretary of the Durham Branch of the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain.

He contributes to Combined Social Sciences, Combined Arts, Education Studies, Primary PGCE, Secondary PGCE and MA.

Research Groups

• Methods and Critical Approaches

Research Interests

• Assessment
• Philosophy and psychology of mathematical learning
• Primary mathematics

Publications

Journal papers: academic

• Davis, A.J. (Published). Neuroscience and Education: At Best a Civil Partnership: A Response to Schrag. Journal of Philosophy of Education 47(1): 31-36.
• Davis, A.J. (2012). A Monstrous Regimen of Synthetic Phonics: Fantasies of Research-Based Teacing 'Methods' versus Real Teaching. Journal of Philosophy of Education 46(4): 560-573.
• Davis, A.J. (2011). Interpreting Student Responses in High Stakes Standardized Quantitative Learning Assessment. Philosophy of Education Archive 186-189.
• Davis, A. (2010). Defending Religious Pluralism for Religious Education. Ethics and Education 5(3): 189-202.
• Davis, A. (2009). Examples as Method? My Attempts to Understand Assessment and Fairness (in the Spirit of the Later Wittgenstein. Journal of Philosophy of Education 44(3): 371-389.
• Davis, A. (2008). Effective Teaching: some contemporary mythologies. Philosophy of Mathematics Education Journal 23.
• Davis, A.J. (2006). High Stakes Testing and the Structure of the Mind: A reply to Randall Curren. Journal of Philosophy of Education 40(1): 1-16.
• A.J. Davis (2005). Learning and the Social Nature of Mental Powers. Educational Philosophy and Theory 37(5): 635-647.
• A.J. Davis (2005). Social Externalism and the Ontology of Competence. Philosophical Explorations 8(3): 297-308.
• A.J. Davis (2004). The Credentials of Brain-based Learning. Journal of Philosophy of Education 38(1): 21-36.
• A.J. Davis & J. White (2001). Accountability and School Inspection: In Defence of Audited Self-Review. Journal of Philosophy of Education 35(4): 667-681.
• A.J. Davis (2001). Do Children Have Privacy Rights in the Classroom?. Studies in Philosophy and Education 20(3): 245-254.
• A.J. Davis (2001). Teaching for Understanding in Primary Mathematics. Evaluation & Research in Education 15(3): 136-42.
• A.J.Davis (1999). Prescribing Teaching Methods. Journal of Philosophy of Education 33(3): 387-401.
• A.J. Davis (1997). Understanding Mathematics. Journal of Philosophy of Education 31(2): 355-364.

Books: authored

• Suggate, J., Davis, A. & Goulding, M. (2010). Mathematical Knowledge for Primary Teachers. Routledge.
• Davis, A. (2008). Educational Assessment and Accountability: a critique of current policy. Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain.
• Suggate, J., Davis, A. & Goulding, M. (2006). Mathematical Knowledge for Primary Teachers. David Fulton.
• Suggate, J., Davis, A. & Goulding, M. (2001). Mathematical Knowledge for Primary Teachers. David Fulton.
• A.J. Davis (1999). Educational Assessment: a critique of current policy. Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain.
• Suggate, J., Davis, A. & Goulding, M. (1998). Mathematical Knowledge for Primary Teachers. David Fulton.
• A.J. Davis (1998). The Limits of Educational Assessment. Blackwell Publishers.

Books: edited

• Cigman, R. & Davis, A. (2009). New Philosophies of Learning. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

Books: sections

• Davis, A.J. (2012). Interpreting Student Responses in High Stakes Standardized Quantitative Learning Assessment. In Philosophy of Education Archive. 186-189.
• Davis, A. (2009). Ian Hacking, Learner Categories and Human Taxonomies. In New Philosophies of Learning. Cigman, R. & Davis, A. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. 83-97.
• Davis, A. (2009). Learning. In The SAGE Handbook of Philosophy of Education. Bailey, R., Carr, D., Barrow, R. & McCarthy, C. London: Sage Publications.
• Davis, A. (2008). Lookism', Common Schools, Respect and Democracy. In The Common School and the Comprehensive Ideal. Halstead, M. & Haydon, G. (eds) Wiley-Blackwell. 306-321.
• Davis, A. (2007). Consistency, Understanding and Truth in Educational Research. In Philosophy, Methodology and Educational Research. Bridges, D. & Smith, R. (Eds) Blackwell. 75-88.
• A.J. Davis & K. Williams (2003). Epistemology and Curriculum. In The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Education. N. Blake, P. Smeyers, R. Smith & P. Standish Oxford: Blackwell.
• A.J. Davis (2003). The Measurement of Learning. In The Companion to the Philosophy of Education. Curren, R. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. 272-283.

Media Contacts

Available for media contact about:

• General policy: assessment, inspection, tracking standards
• Subject specialists: maths in primary schools