The higher education sector has been slow to respond to charges of institutional racism, which is reflected in what research is regarded as valid and what is funded. Further, many areas of student provision fall outside of the direct control of higher education institutions, for example, accommodation which may be operated by private landlords.…

There has been increasing interest in understanding the higher education experiences of students who spent time 'in care' as children, who tend to have to overcome strong barriers to educational success. Care-experienced students often thrive in higher education, although little is currently known about those who build on this success to pursue…

This article contributes to discussions surrounding the development of 'analytical tools' sensitive to the fluid nature of collective memory and all its 'varieties, contradictions, and dynamism' (Olick, 2008: 159). It explores the methodological challenges of investigating how young people in New Zealand and the United Kingdom negotiate processes…

Qualitative practitioner research undertaken by teachers in schools is a vital means of developing pedagogy and practice, one that is under-valued in today's educational climate. This essay explores representations of students in qualitative studies, which, I argue, necessarily transform student participants into 'characters' within the…

This paper reports findings from a longitudinal qualitative study that explored the ethnographic learning processes of 10 modern languages students who spent one full academic year abroad, having first completed successfully an "Introduction to Ethnography" course in the UK. It begins from the argument that although significant attempts…

A Doctorate in Education (EdD) is an established alternative to a Doctorate in Philosophy (PhD). However, frameworks in use to support doctoral study in the UK are focused mainly at PhD students and their associated needs and do not address the specific requirements of students who are often working full time and undertaking research into their…

Employability is a complex, contested concept which has tended to be considered in terms of a dominant discourse of skills. This article argues that employability needs to be thought of more holistically, as ongoing, life-long, situated learning, whilst acknowledging that the contested language of skills and the need to demonstrate competency…

Although there is increasing interest in how learning to become a researching professional is understood by students undertaking a professional doctorate of education (EdD), the topic remains under-researched and under-theorized. In this article, we provide a set of theorizations, starting with the purpose and distinctiveness of the professional…

The principle that research should demonstrate impact is now a central driver in UK research policy, with some describing the UK as having undergone a 'culture change' in regards to evidencing the value and contribution of academic research (Watermeyer, R. 2012. "From Engagement to Impact? Articulating the Public Value of Academic…

This article explores some implications of plurilingualism and translingual practice for teaching and learning in higher education. Research in this area tends to focus on the undergraduate experience whereas our focus is on doctoral supervision, a less-discussed but rich site for studying plurilingual and translingual practice. We consider…

This paper considers how, in the process of positioning that is implicit in every interaction, all of us employ multiple and often competing narratives when we talk about cultural identity and our relationships with new cultural environments. In interviews with newly arrived postgraduate students about their experience of travelling to study…

This paper reports the development and empirical testing of a model of the factors that influence the teaching-research nexus. No prior work has attempted to create a measurement model of the nexus. The conceptual model is derived from 19 propositions grouped into four sets of factors relating to: rewards, researchers, curriculum, and students.…

Interviews with a small group of doctoral students at a British university indicate that the students feel that the programme provides an environment within which they develop interculturality through reflexive engagement with the PhD community and in some cases with the participants in their research. Significant here is that they are…

Increasingly, research staff positions rather than lectureships are the reality for social sciences PhD graduates wishing academic work. Within this context, our longitudinal study examined how social science doctoral students and research staff in two UK universities imagined their futures in and out of academia. The variation over time in how…

Connecting schools with cutting edge research and researchers can inspire and motivate young people. There is evidence that bringing contemporary research into the classroom is of key importance, as researchers can act as positive role models for young people and expose students to exciting future study and career options, motivating students to…