Research

Learn more about our research strands and find out how to get involved.

CTLR research strands

CTLR members have a diverse range of research interests and approaches. Some are involved in national and international projects while others are (also) closely involved in local research networks and active in the development of critical and reflexive practitioner-led research.

A common theme in all our work is an interest in creating the conditions in which good practice can be identified and shared – to the benefit of those currently in (all stages and forms of) education but also those involved in its delivery and development.

Our current research strands (and Research Practice networks) are:

  • educational inclusion and inequalities: (School exclusions and alternative provision network)
  • pedagogy and practice: (Pedagogy+ network)
  • language, digital and poliliteracies: (Literacy/reading network)
  • Educational inclusion and inequalities

    This research theme encompasses a diverse range of research activities relating to inclusive education and inequalities. It spans work across the life course and includes both formal and informal settings and learning opportunities. Researchers working within this theme are engaged in reflexive exploration of fundamental questions such as:

    • What needs do education systems need to be developed to support?
    • How do we understand the relationship between education and future life chances?
    • What evidence is there of differences in outcomes?
    • What part does policy play in promoting and resourcing positive change?
    • How can teachers at all levels be supported, including through professional development opportunities?

    Examples of work include:

    This strand is led by Professor Louise Gazeley and Postgraduate Researcher, Hannah Olle and includes The School Exclusions and Alternative Provision Network, designed to ensure that research, policy and practice perspectives are brought closer together.

  • Pedagogy and practice

    This research theme encompasses a broad range of research and scholarship on teaching methods and practices across the breadth of education, ranging from early years to post-compulsory education. A specific concern is the relationship between theory, policy and practice to ensure research meets the needs of learners, teachers and leaders.

    Research within this theme asks questions such as:

    • What constitutes effective pedagogies across different contexts?
    • How can teachers and lecturers be supported to lead engaging and transformative practice?
    • Who are our learners, and how might we, as educational professionals, understand and meet their needs?
    • What methods support meaningful, inclusive and ethical research and scholarship about education?
    • What is the future of educational practice set against a complex and continually evolving social world?
    • How can practice inform theory and theory inform practice to complicate, change and influence the education sector?

    Examples of work include:

    • Dr Emily Danvers and Abigail Wells’ research on the role of home learning for students in higher education. This explores the intensification of the home environment as a place to both live and study in post-Covid higher education.
    • Dr Christina Hancock, Alka Townend and Karen Hall’s research on playful pedagogies in Higher Education.  An exploratory investigation was conducted to consider the conceptualisation, application, and impact of playful pedagogies across Initial Teacher Education across England. 
    • This research theme also includes the work of a group of active and recently completed doctoral researchers and we welcome new enquiries.

    This strand is led by Dr Christina Hancock and Dr Emily Danvers and includes the Pedagogy Plus Network research network, designed to ensure that research, policy and practice perspectives are brought closer together.

  • Reading, digital and poliliteracies

    This research theme encompasses a broad range of research on reading, oracy, digital and poliliteracies in curricula and pedagogy across educational contexts, from early years to primary, secondary and higher education, including initial teacher education.

    Our interests relate to the role of literacies, including digital literacies and oracy, in supporting children and young people to express themselves, become engaged, critical readers and to flourish, contributing, as democratic, global citizens, to forging a more equitable, sustainable world.

    Our interests relate to the role of literacies, including digital literacies and oracy, in supporting children and young people to express themselves, become engaged, critical readers and to flourish, contributing, as democratic, global citizens, to forging a more equitable, sustainable world. Our research also includes investigating professional learning, development and mentoring for trainee and experienced teachers, with a focus on social justice, also supporting students in disadvantaged contexts and with marginalised intersectional identities. Additionally, we seek pedagogic and curricula responses to the opportunities and challenges that Generative AI poses all engaged in education. 

    Research within this theme asks questions such as:

    • How do young people become engaged, successful readers?
    • How can teachers collaborate to support adolescent readers and deepen their own knowledge of engaging, culturally diverse, YA novels?
    • What does it mean to be literate in a digital world?
    • What is the role of drama in developing interpretation of fictional texts?
    • Why is an oracy curriculum important and how might schools achieve this?
    • What does critical AI literacy mean at university or school levels?
    • What are the roles of critical reflection and mentoring in developing English and Literacy teachers?
    • How can teachers and schools enact literacy pedagogies and curricula that enable all students to thrive, for social justice?
    • How can education support meaningful citizenship?

    How can you get involved with our Literacies group?

    Teen Reads

    This group meets for monthly ‘book club’ discussions with secondary English teachers to share excellent, culturally diverse new YA fiction, to support their students’ engagement with reading. The group is linked to the UKLA Children’s Book award, the only book award judged by teachers. We are celebrating our eleventh year of running this book group and always welcome new members – teachers, librarians, trainee teachers, university students and all those interested in YA fiction and keen to promote young people’s reading.

    The Faster Read Network

    The Faster Read pedagogy aims to develop the reading comprehension, interpretation and engagement of KS2-KS4 students, including ‘struggling readers’. This innovative approach combines immersive, whole-text reading of culturally diverse, engaging novels; dialogic class and peer talk; and reading strategies, with teachers knowledgeable about reading theories. It stems from original research by Professor Julia Sutherland, Professor Jo Westbrook and Professor Jane Oakhill.

    Find out more about the Faster Read, including guidance for teachers and details of how to join our teacher network to collaborate with other Faster Reads teachers.

    Examples of current innovative research by Faculty, PhD and MA students, include:

    • Sue Pinnick’s PhD research on embodied forms of reading pedagogy: How might the use of drama-based pedagogy in the English classroom (11-14 years) support reading interpretation? Sue is currently Vice-Chair, National Association for the Teaching of English (NATE)
    • Prof. Julia Sutherland and Prof. Jo Westbrook’s 10-year ‘Faster Read’ research and impact studies, developing the reading engagement and comprehension of secondary students, including struggling readers in disadvantaged contexts
    • Dr Keith Perera and Dr Charlie Crouch’s research on Sixth Form student attitudes towards generative AI
    • Jo Tregenza, PhD: How are Primary Schools located in areas of high social disadvantage achieving better-than-expected reading development? (Jo is currently Chair of the United Kingdom’s Literacy Association, UKLA)
    • Kevin Holland, PhD: A phronetic, comparative case study of primary schools’ use of ‘Mantle of the Expert’ as part of a wider school democratic ethos, to enable pupil agency and address teacher/pupil power dynamics to enhance learning
    • Lucy Bruen, MA: research investigating English mentoring in a local secondary school
    • Deborah Upchurch, Reclaiming reading: exploring the pedagogic potential of young readers’ relationships, talk and sociocultural diversity, to raise reader engagement
    • Kay Tinsley, PhD: Towards a transformative pedagogy for poetry in the secondary school classroom
    • Jon Waite, PhD:  The role of Ed Tech in supporting access to the curriculum for Year 7 students with Dyslexia
    • Andy Lowe, PhD: De-normalising classrooms - Learning Spaces Explored. An investigation into the design, space and experience of space, through an eco-social spatial system lens
    • Joe Minden, using Action Research to explore the value of using journaling and exploratory writing to support students’ thinking and response to literature

    This theme is led by Sue Pinnick: s.a.j.pinnick@sussex.ac.uk Keith Perera: k.perera@sussex.ac.uk and Julia Sutherland: j.c.sutheland@sussex.ac.uk

Visiting research fellows

CTLR welcomes applications from Visiting Research Fellows. Fellowships are available to all scholars who wish to spend time with CTLR, form links with its membership and contribute to its research culture.

There is no deadline for applications and fellowships can run for any length of time - from two weeks to three years. Applicants should contact director, Christina Hancock (C.L.Hancock@sussex.ac.uk), who will liaise with you and help you complete the visiting fellowship fees and workspace application form [DOC 102.50KB] and the request to award or extend honorary title [DOC 49.50KB].

Visiting Fellows should agree in advance what is expected of them during the duration of their fellowship. Commitments would usually include one or more of the following:

  • giving seminars to faculty and students of the University of Sussex, or guest lectures for CTLR-related activities
  • producing working papers, or equivalent
  • advising or engaging in knowledge exchange with students, faculty and research staff working within the school
  • producing a collaborative research proposal with a member of faculty.

CTLR offers Visiting Fellows a vibrant, interdisciplinary context within which to undertake their programme of study or activities. In each term, the centre will host a variety of research-related events, including open papers and lectures by internal and external speakers, workshops and lunchtime seminars. Visiting Fellows will be appointed to a sponsor who can facilitate their integration into the life of the centre and that of the School of Education and Social Work.

Visiting Fellows will have access to the University's Library, their own email account, University stationery and postal facilities. Depending on individual requirements and the availability of School resources, they may also have office space and the use of a PC. The University and School's infrastructure and environment will support Visiting Fellows' research activity.

See the School policy [DOC 34.50KB] for more information.

Visiting Fellowships incur a fee to cover administration and resource costs, although the cost is subject to variation depending on the funding available to, and the perceived/expected contribution of the applicant. Contact us for more details.

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