Biography

Colleen McLaughlin is a Professor of Education. She worked at the University of Cambridge prior to coming to Sussex, where she was a Deputy Head of Faculty and Director of International Initiatives. She has also worked as a school teacher, counsellor and Local Authority Adviser. Her professional and academic interests lie in the following areas: the counselling and care of young people, this particularly includes issues around vulnerable children and exclusion; school-university partnerships for educational research and practice improvement; sexuality education and the consultation and collaboration with young people on this topic; and educational reform with a particular emphasis on teacher development. 

Her recent research projects include:

- Bullying of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities in collaboration with the National Children's Bureau and the Anti Bullying Alliance

- A systematic review of counselling interventions that are effective with children and young people for the British Association of Counselling and Psycotherapy

-  The educational reform of the schooling system in Kazakhstan – a scoping study. 

- ASKAIDS - African Sexual Knowledges of AIDS,  which engaged in consulting pupils, teachers and stakeholders about HIV/AIDS education and was also concerned with understanding pupils’ acquisition of sexual knowledge. The tool developed as a result was used to develop and research a curriculum development process in six Sub Saharan Countries - Botswana, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Swaziland and South Africa.

-  School Experiences and Mental Health Outcomes Amongst 10-14 Year Olds: A Review of the Effects of School Transfers, Transitions and Other Potentially Relevant School-Related Factors for the Nuffield Foundation.

- The Sustainability and Development of Practitioner Research and Enquiry. 

Role

Professor of Education.