Education, Work and Social Change Research Group

We research how education affects the broader structures of power that maintain (and/or transform) unequal life chances in contemporary societies.

What is the Education, Work and Social Change Research Group?

With a focus on the interplay between education, economy, and social change, our research explores social inequality, and the polarisation of incomes and educational achievement within and across national contexts.

Key strands of our work cover social class, gender and race within higher education. We also pay attention to the unequal structuring of labour markets, with an interest in academic work and precarity.

Partners and collaborators

We work with different organisations and education providers, including:

National governments
Non-governmental bodies, agencies and charities (Social Mobility Commission, The Sutton Trust)
International NGOs (UNESCO)
The NERUPI Network
TATA Institute of Social Sciences, India
University of Gwadar, Pakistan
University of Cairo, Egypt
University of Newcastle, Australia
University of Ghana
University of Arizona, United States
University of Oulu, Finland
University of the Western Cape, South Africa

A woman stood in front of a blackboard with mathematical equations written on it in white chalk.

Research themes

We engage in theoretically informed critical education policy analysis, concentrating on topics like:

Education, work and labour market outcomes
Access, participation, progression and inequalities in higher education
Academic work, precarity and marginalisation (such as disability, class, gender, LGBTQ+, race)
How shifting labour market conditions, like technological and global shifts, impact on education and skills
The ways education can be used as a lens to see how (dis)advantage is reproduced in broader society
How privilege is (re)produced in contemporary labour markets (in relation to education)
The political economy of place and how this relates to education
Regional geographic divisions within countries and education
Critical sociological perspectives on education policy

Our research is influenced by multiple disciplinary traditions and a wide range of qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods.

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Our members and projects

Find out more about our members and their research activity.

Education, Work and Social Change Research Group members

Find out more about members of the Education, Work and Social Change Research Group.

Education, Work and Social Change Research Group projects

Active research projects from members of the Education, Work and Social Change Research Group.