Research Groups

Research in the School of Education is structured around core research groups and networks, which between them summarise the main research interests of our academic staff.

The core research groups are: CREATE: Creativity Research in Education AT Exeter; Educational Futures Research Group; Research in Language and Literacy; SEN/Disabilities in Education; Educational Dialogue; and Policy Studies.

In addition we have a number of active networks: Community Identities – Marginalisation Network; Spirituality, Religion and Education; Early Career Researcher Network; TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages); and Living with Difference reading group.

Members of staff can join whichever groups best match their interests, and the arrangement and types of groups are flexible, allowing for the ebb and flow of educational research interest. At present our groups cover:

Community Identities - Marginalisation Network

The Social / Community Identities network has an interest in wider identities, in minority and marginal groups, and generally, in the interface between education, culture and identity.

CREATE: Creativity Research in Education AT Exeter

This research cluster provides a flexible space in which researchers engaged in creativity in education research and development activity can explore and develop shared interests.

Early Career Researcher Network

This network is aimed towards early-career researchers (to include those studying for a PhD).

Educational Dialogue

This group aims to provide an area for discussion about the theory of dialogue and ‘dialogic’ in education in relation to the affordances of different media.

Educational Futures Research Group

This research group brings together researchers engaged in educational futures research and development activity. Together we are seeking to establish the Exeter Institute for Educational Futures, working in the areas of Futures Curriculum, Futures Capabilities and Futures Experiments.

Living with Difference - Reading Group

The aim of this group is to provide a platform for discussion about contemporary and theoretical issues related to social constructionist, postconstructionist, pragmatist, deconstructionist and Marxist frames.

Policy Studies

This group brings together researchers with an interest in policy-related research and methodology. A specialist focus of the group is institutions of education (from nurseries to lifelong learning, including government and its agencies).

Research in Language and Literacy

This group is interested in all aspects of literacy and language development across the lifespan, including both first and second language development; intercultural communication; language and identity; and how language policy is implemented in professional contexts.