School of Education

We are one of the leading Schools of Education in the United Kingdom. Guiding the School of Education’s research activity is our vision of a more equitable world in which education, informed by innovative high-quality research, plays a vital role in enabling individuals, communities and societies to flourish. To this end, our research and impact strategy has enabled us to undertake research over the course of the REF period that: 1) positively impacts on regional, national and global policy and practice; and 2) shapes and develops educational research, research methodology and research capacity in the UK and internationally.  

We have succeeded in meeting these objectives by: maintaining a vibrant, intellectually inclusive research environment, in which staff are passionate about their research and the difference it can make; securing prestigious research funding to enable us to pursue boundary-pushing research in a sustainable way; publishing innovative and distinctive high-quality open access outputs; further embedding world-leading impact (through our impact case studies); and developing research collaborations and partnerships within and beyond education.  

As a leading School of Education, we will continue to conduct internationally excellent research which both advances the state-of-the-art and has a positive impact on individuals, organisations, and society. We will continue to ; create a knowledge-base that provides evidence to facilitate effective decision-making in education, both in terms of policy and practice, ; develop all staff (experienced academics and Early Career Researchers/ECRs) across the full range of research skills and competencies, while ensuring that they continue to work in a flourishing, nurturing research environment; and continue to build a sustainable research environment (e.g. by investing in new research centres, and supporting the development of international projects and partnerships). As an international group of researchers and educators, we embody equality, diversity, and inclusion (evidenced in our Athena SWAN Bronze Award). We link our international research perspectives and collaborations to our teaching to inspire our students (both postgraduate and undergraduate) to become the future architects of an equitable, socially just, and sustainable world.