Group members

Professor Kate Hoskins Kate is a Professor in Education with a focus on policy. Her research interests rest on the intersections between education and social policy, identity and inequalities in relation to early years, further and higher education. Her current funded Froebel Trust project with Professor Emma Wainwright, Dr Utsa Mukherjee and Dr Yuwei Xu examines how low income families engage with Froebelian principles. She has published extensively on inequalities in ECEC, with a focus on the role of policy in exacerbating these. Kate's most recent research on social mobility with Professor Bernard Barker examines the role of the family in intra and inter-generational social movement. They take a unique genealogical approach to researching social mobility, using a university chemistry department as a case study to explore participants’ motives for pursuing a STEM undergraduate degree and the influences that have shaped them. Kate has recently completed a British Academy funded research project with Professor Marie-Pierre Moreau and Dr Ellen McHugh to examine the precarious transitions undertaken by doctoral researchers negotiating the shift to an academic post. Kate is a Co-Editor of the British Educational Research Journal (BERJ). Education policy, early years, social mobility, identities, inequalities and social justice. My expertise lies in three areas of research: a) comparative social and education policy, b) equalities and c) social justice. I am particularly interested in the intersection of these areas in early years settings, further and higher education. In a number of projects with Early Years practitioners I have explored their constructions and perceptions of their professional identities with a focus on their education pathways and training experiences. Projects funded by the Froebel Trust have involved life history interviews with Early Years Teachers. This work has provided policy recommendations for the early years sector with a focus on improving social justice and addressing equality issues for women working with young children who are a marginalized group. I have a long-standing interest (theoretically and empirically) with critical, comparative social and education policy analysis that started when I was a member of the ‘Policy enactments in the secondary school’ (RES-062-23-1484) ESRC project (Ball and Maguire) for four years. This policy study compared the teaching and enactment of mathematics, science and English as well as behaviour and personalisation in four secondary schools, analysing the difference in enactments in each school. We spent a great deal of time working from the data to construct a theoretically robust account of policy enactment, which I have subsequently exported to my own projects on social mobility and early years. My scholarship on social mobility policy has culminated in analysis of school-based policies in England aimed at improving intragenerational progression. My work has provided methodological innovation through advancing a genealogical, qualitative approach to examine individual, group and family employment trajectories, and making sense of these in terms of stratified occupations over time and across generations. My publications in this area combine and connect arguments for social mobility within a critical comparative policy analysis frame that recognises the differences between local, regional and national labour markets. I convene and teach a year 3 BA Education module 'Growing up in 21st Century Britain' and a year 1 study block 'Education and Society'. I supervise BA and MA Education students on a range of topics related to education studies. I teach on the EdDoc programme and contribute sessions on, for example, policy analysis and policy report writing. I supervise PhD students on topics including education policy analysis, identities, inequalities and higher education.

Professor Emma Wainwright Emma is a Professor and interdisciplinary social scientist with a background in Human Geography. She is co-lead of the Human Geography: Space, Place and Society research group (with Nicola Ansell and Monica Degen) and the Education, Identities and Society research group (with Utsa Mukherjee). Emma studied Geography at the University of Aberdeen and, after completing her PGCE (Secondary) at the University of Edinburgh and a brief period of secondary teaching, was awarded a scholarship by the University of St Andrews to undertake her PhD in Social and Historical Geography. Prior to working at Brunel, Emma was a Research Executive in the Social Research Institute at MORI (now Ipsos MORI). Emma's research interests focus on the geographies of education, training and welfare, and social and educational inequalities. In particular her works explores higher education and student experience; social housing and resident engagement; family, parenting and home-school engagement; embodiment, body work and emotional labour. Emma's work engages low-income, marginalised and 'hard to reach' groups. Research has been funded through external grants awarded by the ESRC, the British Academy, the City of London Corporation, Barclays, the Froebel Trust, the Learning and Skills Council, and the Money Advice Service. Emma has successfully collaborated with various social housing providers across London and the South East including A2Dominion, Catalyst and East Thames (now L&Q) to deliver research and evaluation projects. The impact of this research was captured in a REF 21 case study. For six years, Emma was editor of the British Educational Research Journal (Jan 2018- Dec 2023). She has recently been external examiner at the University of Hertfordshire (BSc Geography), University of Newcastle (BSc Geography) and Cardiff University (MSc Education and MSc Childhood and Youth), and acts as a regular reviewer for various academic journals. In 2006 Emma was awarded the Newbigin Prize by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society for her paper published in the Scottish Geographical Journal. Recent work has been published in Area, Educational Review, Education 3-13 and Population, Space and Place. Emma has worked at Brunel for 20 years, nine years as part time. She currently works 4-days a week (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday). Qualifications PhD, Geography, University of St Andrews PGC in Higher Education, Brunel University London PGC in Secondary Education (Geography and Modern Studies), Moray House, University of Edinburgh MA (Hons) Geography (1st Class), University of Aberdeen Awards and Prizes BERA Conference Award for Best Paper in the Educational Policy and Educational Research SIG, 2023 BERA Conference Commendation for Best Paper in the Alternative Education SIG, 2021 Brunel Teach Award for Innovative Assessment, 2018 University's Student-Led Teaching Award for Outstanding Feedback, 2017 Royal Scottish Geographical Society, Newbigin Prize, 2006 Current research interests include: HE participation, student success, commuter students, student poverty Early years, play and inclusion Social housing, welfare provision, training and financial inclusion Embodied learning and professionalism Home-school engagement and policy enactment Engaging low-income families in research REF 21 Case Study based on resident engagement in education, training and welfare support REF21 Case Study - Education, Training and Welfare-to-Work Through a geographical lens, my research focuses on social and educational inequalities. In particular, my work explores: Higher education, student experience, widening access, poverty and precarity Family, parenting and home-school engagement Further education, lifelong learning and training for work Embodiment, body work and emotional labour Social housing and resident engagement Current teaching I currently teach on the following programmes: BA Education, Department of Education BSc Geography, Department of Social and Political Sciences Modules led: ED1705 Human Development ED2700 The Social Study of Children and Young People ED1802 Education and Society 1 ED2800 Education and Society 2 Focusing on Geography, Sociology, Social Policy and Research Methods I have previously taught on the following programmes: MA Children, Youth and International Development; MA Education; Doctorate of Eduction; BA and MA Social Work. Teaching awards: 2017 recipient of the University's Student-Led Teaching Award for Outstanding Feedback 2018 recipient of Brunel Teach Award for Innovative Assessment

Mrs Gail Waite Gail is a qualified youth worker and accredited restorative practitioner and trainer with over 15 years experience working in the field prior to joing Brunel. She currently teaches on the BA Education programme

Miss Ammal Gillani Ammal is a Lecturer in Education and part of the English teaching team on Brunel’s Primary PGCE programme. Prior to joining Higher Education, Ammal worked for tweleve years in various inner London primary schools. During her time working in primary education, Ammal has experience of being a KS1 borough moderator, subject and senior leader, and a school-based mentor to BA and PGCE students. Ammal’s passion and expertise lie in phonics, intervention and catch up learning across all key stages in reading, writing and maths. Ammal has also previously been employed to work with children in KS1, and specifically focused on teaching reading, writitng and maths due to the major loss of learning encountered during the pandemic. Her role there involved supporting disadvantaged pupils and those who required extra support and provision. Before joining Brunel, Ammal was an Associate Lecturer on the PGCE Primary programme at Goldsmiths University. Education policy, educational inequality, social justice, social mobility, culture and identity. Why family engagement is crucial for schools and children | BERA Ammal's MA dissertation research study describes and outlines the impact COVID-19 had inflicted on the attainment of disadvantaged pupils. It also explored the continuing decline in the disadvantage gap, which had been exacerbated due to the pandemic. The goal of the study was to understand the lived experiences of teachers working at the coalface during the pandemic. The use of intersectionality as a theoretical framework for the study further enabled the analysis of the categories of: gender; class; race; and language in relation to educational inequality. PGCE Primary General Professional Studies (ED5617) PGCE Primary English (ED5618) PGCE Primary Curriculum Enhancements (ED5619)