Staff profile

I am an ethnographer of education. I am interested in several different aspects of educational practice, including vocational and workplace learning, professional learning, and higher education. I use ethnography to describe and make sense of these: that is to say, I do research that sets out to describe and then explore the 'everyday' lives of people and things who are involved in learning and education within these different contexts.

I am interested in the people who are involved in learning in the broadest sense, and I have written about learners/students, teachers/instructors, and technicians/support workers, amongst others. I am equally interested in the material objects and resources involved in learning, and I have written about lecture halls, technicians' workshops, and online courses, amongst other things.

In order to think about how people and things come together to make learning happen, I draw on actor-network theory alongside the wider work of the French anthropologist and philosopher Bruno Latour. I have written both empirical and theoretical papers informed by as well as exploring Latour's work for different journals, including Social Epistemology, Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale, and Higher Education Research and Development.

In order to think about learning, which I understand as a social practice, I draw on Communities of Practice theory alongside the wider work of Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger. I have written a number of articles and books about Communities of Practice in further education colleges, in universities, and in workplaces.

I am also interested in different ways of thinking about professional knowledge, professional expertise, and professionalism, specifically within the further, adult and vocational [FAVE] or post-compulsory education and training [PCET] sector, where I worked for several years as a teacher educator before moving to universities and where I continue to run workshops in colleges if asked. My FAVE/PCET research has been cited by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD] and used by the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills [Ofsted].

I am deputy editor of the Routledge journal Ethnography and Education. I also sit on the organising committee for the Oxford Ethnography and Education conference and am happy to hear from anyone who is interested in presenting their work there.

Completed supervisions

‘Fish out of water?’ A case study exploring low-income students’ experiences of an elite university.

The Study of Teacher Written Feedback: The Effectiveness of Electronic Feedback on Student Writing Revisions.

Graduating from care: A narrative study of care leavers' journeys into and through university

The Formative Potential of Standards-Based Grades and Report Cards.

An Examination of How Teachers Operationalise Formative and Summative Assessment.

Student learning experiences in higher education in Hong Kong:An investigation of students’ experiences of academic engagement in relation to the affective dimension of learning.

The difficulties of conceptualising and operationalising critical thinking through assessment practices: a case study of academics in a UK business school.

Tracing translation of an education policy initiative (Maths Mastery) into primary school teachers' classroom practices: an actor-network theory ethnography.

The Apparatus of Queer Inclusion in English Primary Schools: a Foucauldian insight into policy and teachers' discourse.

Commuting to class: an ethnography of commuter students' experiences of UK Higher Education.

Information for prospective doctoral research student supervisions

I would be pleased to hear from potential research students with an interest in conducting research in matters relating to learning, teaching and/or assessment in further, higher or adult education; I am also interested to hear from prospective students who are interested in employing communities of practice, literacy as social practice or actor-network theory approaches within these or other subject areas.

• Actor-Network Theory
• Communities of Practice
• Further, Higher and Adult Education
• Modes of Existence
• Professional learning and development

• 2025: On the meaning and possibilities of ethnographic research in education:
• 2000: Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy:
• 2000: Invited Conference Papers: Curriculum as Accomplishment: Tracing human and non-human actors in the delivery of educational curricula. Presented at Le Sujet de L’Acteur. An anthropological outlook on Actor Network Theory. Centre for Advanced Studies, Univeristy of Cologne, 2013. The papers from this symposium were published in 2014 and details are available here.

  Breaking Boundaries? Interdisciplinary perspectives on using technology for learning and participation in society [ESRC-funded seminar series]. Department of Education and Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, 2014.

  ICTs and the Internet as Field and Framework. Presented at Rethinking Educational Ethnography. University of Borås, 2015. Selected papers from this conference were published in 2017 and details are available here.

  Learning and Pedagogy in Digital Times: platforms, inclusion, and social justice. Presented at Inclusive Practices of Creative and Innovative Teaching. University of Zaragoza, 2023. Details of the conference are available here.

• 2000: External Examining and Advising: During the last few years, I have examined PhD and EdD theses at the universities of East Anglia, Exeter, Huddersfield, Lancaster, Leicester, Newcastle, Plymouth, for Zaragoza [Spain] and for Canberra and Griffith [both Australia]. Other external roles have included: University of Central Lancashire (external examiner for Doctorate in Education); Universities of Derby and Greenwich (external examiner for PGCE (PCET)); Open University (external advisor for Childhood and Youth qualifications).
• 2000: Peer reviewing: Studies in Higher Education; Higher Education Research and Development; International Journal of Educational Research; Ethnography and Education; Culture, Pedagogy and Society; Research in Post-Compulsory Education; Medical Education; Critical Studies in Education; International Journal of Lifelong Education; Social Epistemology; Critical Studies in Education; Education for Primary Care; British Educational Research Journal; Studies in the Education of Adults.
  
• 2000: Editing: I am the deputy editor of Ethnography and Education and am an associate editor for Higher Education Research and Development.

  I am also a member of the editorial boards for Higher Education Quarterly, Research in Post-Compulsory Education and Studies in the Education of Adults.

Authored book

• Tummons, J. (2022). Exploring Communities of Practice in Further and Adult Education: Apprenticeship, Expertise and Belonging. Routledge
• Tummons, J. (2018). Learning Architectures in Higher Education - Beyond Communities of Practice. Bloomsbury
• Tummons, J., & Ingleby, E. (2014). The A-Z of Lifelong Learning. McGraw-Hill
• Tummons, J., Orr, K., & Atkins, L. (2013). Teaching Higher Education Courses in Further Education Colleges. SAGE/Learning Matters
• Curzon, L., & Tummons, J. (2013). Teaching in Further Education: an outline of principles and practice. (7th ed). Continuum
• Tummons, J., & Duckworth, V. (2012). Doing your research project in the Lifelong Learning Sector. McGraw-Hill
• Duckworth, V., Flanagan, K., McCormack, K., & Tummons, J. (2012). Understanding Behaviour 14+. McGraw-Hill
• Powell, S., & Tummons, J. (2011). Inclusive Practice in the Lifelong Learning Sector. Learning Matters
• Tummons, J. (2011). Assessing Learning in the Lifelong Learning Sector. (3rd). Learning Matters
• Duckworth, V., & Tummons, J. (2010). Contemporary Issues in Lifelong Learning. McGraw-Hill
• Tummons, J. (2010). Becoming a Professional Tutor in the Lifelong Learning Sector. (2nd ed). Learning Matters
• Tummons, J. (2009). Curriculum Studies in the Lifelong Learning Sector. Learning Matters

Chapter in book

• Tummons, J. Online, offline, hybrid, or blended? Doing ethnographies of education in a digitally-mediated world. In M. Ward, & S. Delamont (Eds.), Handbook of Qualitative Research in Education (178-189). (2). Edward Elgar Publishing
• Tummons, J. Constructing Ethnographic Data in Medical Education. In P. Hackett, & C. Hayre (Eds.), Handbook of Ethnography in Healthcare Research. Routledge
• Tummons, J. Ethics and Ethnographies of Education: Current Themes and New Directions. In Ethics, Ethnography and Education. https://doi.org/10.1108/s1529-210x20220000019009
• Tummons, J. (in press). The Many Worlds of Ethics: Proposing a Latourian Investigation of the Work of Research Ethics in Ethnographies of Education. In Ethics, Ethnography and Education. https://doi.org/10.1108/s1529-210x20220000019002
• Tummons, J. (2019). Ethnographies of Higher Education and Modes of Existence: using Latour's philosophical anthropology to construct faithful accounts of higher education practice. In J. Huisman, & M. Tight (Eds.), Theory and method in higher education research (207-223). Emerald. https://doi.org/10.1108/s2056-375220190000005013
• Tummons, J. (2019). Teaching the new professionals: a recent history of teacher education and teacher professionalism in the further education sector in England. In S. Loo (Ed.), Professional Development of Teacher Educators in Further Education: Pathways, Knowledge, Identities, and Vocationalism. Routledge
• Cameron, P., MacLeod, A., Tummons, J., Kits, O., & Ajjawi, R. (2019). Unpacking practice: the challenges and possibilities afforded by sociomaterial ethnography. In J. Lynch, J. Rowlands, T. Gale, & S. Parker (Eds.), Practice Methodologies in Education Research (187-205). Routledge
• Tummons, J. (2017). Institutional Ethnography, Theory, Methodology, and Research: Some Concerns and Some Comments. In J. Reid, & L. Russell (Eds.), Perspectives on and from Institutional Ethnography (147-162). Emerald. https://doi.org/10.1108/s1042-319220170000015003
• Tummons, J. (2014). Using Software for Qualitative Data Analysis: Research outside paradigmatic boundaries. In M. Hand, & S. Hillyard (Eds.), Big Data? Qualitative approaches to digital research (155-177). Emerald. https://doi.org/10.1108/s1042-319220140000013010
• Tummons, J. (2014). Learning architectures and communities of practice in higher education. In J. Huisman, & M. Tight (Eds.), Theory and Method in Higher Education Research II (121-139). Emerald. https://doi.org/10.1108/s1479-3628%282014%290000010012
• Tummons, J. (2014). Curriculum as Accomplishment. Tracing Human and Non-human Actors in the Delivery of Educational Curricula. In G. Kapriev, M. Roussel, & I. Tchalakov (Eds.), Le Sujet De L'Acteur: an anthropological outlook on Actor-Network Theory (163-180). Wilhelm Fink

Conference Paper

• Kits, O., Angus, C., Macleod, A., & Tummons, J. (2013, December). Open access to qualitative grant data in an interdisciplinary Canadian ethnographic research study. Presented at 19th Qualitative Health Research Conference, University of Alberta

Edited book

• Russell, L., Barley, R., & Tummons, J. (Eds.). Ethics, Ethnography and Education. Emerald
• Tummons, J. (Ed.). (2020). PCET: Learning and Teaching in the Post Compulsory Sector. Sage/Learning Matters
• Tummons, J. (Ed.). (2018). Professionalism in Post-Compulsory Education and Training: Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives. Routledge Taylor & Francis Group

Journal Article

• Tummons, J. (online). Theorising the everyday work of cycle mechanics. Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 28(3), 313-329. https://doi.org/10.1080/13596748.2023.2206712
• Tummons, J. (online). Learning, instruction and assessment in the workplace: applying and augmenting Communities of Practice theory. Studies in Continuing Education, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/0158037x.2024.2372490
• Tummons, J. (2024). “What’s he writing in there?” Reciprocal field relations and relational curiosity in ethnographies of education. Ethnography and Education, 19(4), 319-332. https://doi.org/10.1080/17457823.2024.2368032
• Tummons, J. (2024). Knowledge, expertise, craft, and practice: becoming and being a cycle technician. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 76(4), 928-945. https://doi.org/10.1080/13636820.2022.2132527
• Tummons, J. (2023). “I’ve got a mountain of paperwork to do!” literacies and texts in a cycle technicians’ workshop. Journal of Education and Work, 36(5), 381-392. https://doi.org/10.1080/13639080.2023.2226076
• MacLeod, A., Cameron, P., Luong, V., Kovacs, G., Patrick, L., Fredeen, M., Kits, O., & Tummons, J. (2023). Negotiating humanity: an ethnography of cadaver-based simulation. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 28(1), 181-203. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-022-10152-4
• Tummons, J. (2023). Mapping academic practice: a Latourian inquiry into a set of lecture slides. Higher Education Research & Development, 42(7), 1748-1761. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2023.2174086
• MacLeod, A., Luong, V., Cameron, P., Kovacs, G., Fredeen, M., Patrick, L., Kits, O., & Tummons, J. (2022). The Lifecycle of a Clinical Cadaver: A Practice-Based Ethnography. Teaching and Learning in Medicine, 34(5), 556-572. https://doi.org/10.1080/10401334.2022.2092111
• Hillyard, S., Tummons, J., & Winnard, S. (2021). Atrocity stories and access to elite universities: chickens at the station. Symbolic Interaction, 44(3), 533-554. https://doi.org/10.1002/symb.513
• Tummons, J. (2021). On The Educational Mode of Existence: Latour, Meta-Ethnography, and the Social Institution of Education. Social Anthropology, 29(3), 570-585. https://doi.org/10.1111/1469-8676.13087
• Tummons, J. (2021). Ontological pluralism, modes of existence, and actor-network theory: upgrading Latour with Latour. Social Epistemology, 35(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1080/02691728.2020.1774815
• Tummons, J. (2021). Higher education, theory, and modes of existence: thinking about universities with Latour. Higher Education Research & Development, 40(6), 1313-1325. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2020.1804337
• Unsworth, R., & Tummons, J. (2021). Reassembling teachers' professional practice: an ethnography of intertextual hierarchies in primary mathematics. Ethnography and Education, 16(1), 109-126. https://doi.org/10.1080/17457823.2020.1788405
• Tummons, J., & Beach, D. (2020). Ethnography, materiality, and the principle of symmetry: problematising anthropocentrism and interactionism in the ethnography of education. Ethnography and Education, 15(3), 286-299. https://doi.org/10.1080/17457823.2019.1683756
• Tummons, J. (2020). Education as a mode of existence: a Latourian inquiry into assessment validity in higher education. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 52(1), 45-54. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2019.1586530
• MacLeod, A., Cameron, P., Ajjawi, R., Kits, O., & Tummons, J. (2019). Actor-network theory and ethnography: Sociomaterial approaches to researching medical education. Perspectives on Medical Education, 8(3), 177-186. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40037-019-0513-6
• MacLeod, A., Cameron, P., Kits, O., & Tummons, J. (2019). Technologies of Exposure: Videoconferenced Distributed Medical Education as a Sociomaterial Practice. Academic Medicine, 94(3), 412-418. https://doi.org/10.1097/acm.0000000000002536
• Kits, O., Angus, C., MacLeod, A., & Tummons, J. (2019). Progressive research collaborations and the limits of soft power. Perspectives on Medical Education, 8(1), 28-32. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40037-019-0496-3
• Tummons, J., Fournier, C., Kits, O., & Macleod, A. (2018). Using technology to accomplish comparability of provision in distributed medical education in Canada: an actor–network theory ethnography. Studies in Higher Education, 43(11), 1912-1922. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2017.1290063
• Atkins, L., & Tummons, J. (2017). Professionalism in Vocational Education: International Perspectives. Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 22(3), 355-369. https://doi.org/10.1080/13596748.2017.1358517
• Ingleby, E., & Tummons, J. (2017). Imitation is not always flattery! The consequences of academy schools in England for further education policy. Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 22(2), 237-251. https://doi.org/10.1080/13596748.2017.1314682
• Tummons, J. (2017). ICTs and the internet as a framework and field in ethnographic research. Acta paedagogica Vilnensia (Spausdinta), 39, 132-143. https://doi.org/10.15388/actpaed.2017.39.11488
• Tummons, J. (2016). ‘Very positive’ or ‘vague and detached’? Unpacking ambiguities in further education teachers’ responses to professional standards in England. Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 21(4), 346-359. https://doi.org/10.1080/13596748.2016.1226589
• Tummons, J., Fournier, C., Kits, O., & Macleod, A. (2016). Teaching without a blackboard and chalk: conflicting attitudes towards using ICTs in higher education teaching and learning. Higher Education Research & Development, 35(4), 829-840. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2015.1137882
• MacLeod, A., Kits, O., Mann, K., Tummons, J., & Wilson, K. (2016). The Invisible Work of Distributed Medical Education: Exploring the Contributions of Audiovisual Professionals, Administrative Professionals and Faculty Teachers. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 22, 623-638. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-016-9695-4
• Macleod, A., Kits, O., Whelan, E., Fournier, C., Wilson, K., Power, G., Mann, K., Tummons, J., & Brown, A. (2015). Sociomateriality: A Theoretical Framework for Studying Distributed Medical Education. Academic Medicine, 90(11), 1451-1456. https://doi.org/10.1097/acm.0000000000000708
• Tummons, J., MacLeod, A., & Kits, O. (2015). Ethnographies across virtual and physical spaces: a reflexive commentary on a live Canadian/UK ethnography of distributed medical education. Ethnography and Education, 10(1), 107-120. https://doi.org/10.1080/17457823.2014.956229
• Tummons, J. (2014). Professional standards in teacher education: tracing discourses of professionalism through the analysis of textbooks. Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 19(4), 417-432. https://doi.org/10.1080/13596748.2014.955634
• Tummons, J. (2014). The textual representation of professionalism: problematising professional standards for teachers in the UK lifelong learning sector. Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 19(1), 33-44. https://doi.org/10.1080/13596748.2014.872918
• Tummons, J. (2012). Theory, reflectivity and communities of research practice in Higher Education
• Tummons, J., & Ingleby, E. (2012). The problematics of mentoring, and the professional learning of trainee teachers in the English further education sector. International Journal of Adult Vocational Education and Technology, 3(1), 29-39
• Ingleby, E., & Tummons, J. (2012). Repositioning professionalism: teachers, mentors, policy and praxis. Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 17(2), 163-178
• Tummons, J. (2011). 'It sort of feels uncomfortable': problematising the assessment of reflective practice. Studies in Higher Education, 36(4), 471-483
• Tummons, J. (2011). Deconstructing Professionalism: an actor-network critique of professional standards for teachers in the UK lifelong learning sector. International Journal of Actor-Network Theory and Technological Innovation, 3(4), 22-31
• Dixon, L., Jennings, A., Orr, K., & Tummons, J. (2010). Dominant discourses of pre‐service teacher education and the exigencies of the workplace: an ethnographic study from English further education. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 62(4), 381-393. https://doi.org/10.1080/13636820.2010.529501
• Tummons, J. (2010). Institutional ethnography and actor–network theory: a framework for researching the assessment of trainee teachers. Ethnography and Education, 5(3), 345-357. https://doi.org/10.1080/17457823.2010.511444
• Tummons, J. (2010). The assessment of lesson plans in teacher education: a case study in assessment validity and reliability. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 35(7), 847-857. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602930903125256
• Tummons, J. (2009). Higher Education in Further Education in England: an actor-network ethnography. International Journal of Actor-Network Theory and Technological Innovation, 1(3), 55-69
• Tummons, J. (2008). Assessment, and the literacy practices of trainee PCET teachers. International Journal of Educational Research, 47(3), 184-191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2008.01.006