The Team

James Arthur

Director

Professor James Arthur MSc, D.Phil (Oxon) FRSA is Professor of Education and Civic Engagement at the University of Birmingham. He has written on the relationship between theory and practice in education, particularly the links between communitarianism, social virtues, character, religion, citizenship and education. His publications include; ‘John Henry Newman’ (Continuum 2007), ‘Citizenship and Democracy’ (Sage 2008), ‘The Professional Values of Teachers’ (Routledge 2005), ‘Faith and Secularisation of Religious Colleges and Universities’ (Routledge 2006), ‘Education with Character: The Moral Economy of Schooling’ (Routledge 2003), ‘Schools and Community: The Communitarian Agenda in Education’ (Falmer Press 2000), ‘Social Literacy, Citizenship, and the National Curriculum’ (Routledge 2001), ‘The Thomist Tradition in Education’ and ‘The Ebbing Tide’ (both Gracewing). He continues to serve on a number of government and voluntary sector national committees and has been a member of the National Forum on Values in Education and the Community, The History Task Group, The Citizenship Working Party, and many more. He is currently directing a national project on teacher education and citizenship which is substantially funded by the government (www.citized.info) and he is Director of the National Institute of Christian Education Research (www.nicer.ac.uk).

Elizabeth Melville

Administrator

Elizabeth comes from a commercial background of global marketing and has worked in the HE sector for the past five years.

Kenneth Wilson

Deputy Director

Dr. Kenneth Wilson OBE, FRSA read History and then Theology at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He pursued research in ethics in the University of Bristol and lectured in philosophy and ethics at Wesley College and Bristol University. He was Principal of Westminster College, Oxford (1981-96) and a member of the Faculty of Theology in the University. In 1996, he established the research centre at The Queens Foundation, Birmingham whose focus was the relationship of theological enquiry and the social sciences. From 1982-1993, he was a member of the Council of National Academic Awards and Chair of its Education and Teacher Education Committee. From 1991-1996, he was a member of Council of the Institute of Education, London University (Chair 1993-1996) and from 1992-1994, a member of the Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education. Other interests have included being an advisor on education to the Victorian and Albert Museum, and membership of an EEC Consultative Committee on the relationship between social and economic policy. He is currently the Chair of the Ammerdown Trust, concerned with promoting public conversation on controversial matters. Since 2004, he has been Visiting Fellow of the University of Chichester and Senior Research Fellow of Christ Church University, Canterbury. Publications include most recently ‘Learning to Hope’ (2006).

David Lorimer

Deputy Director

David Lorimer, MA, PGCE, FRSA is a writer, lecturer and editor and is also the programme director of the Scientific and Medical Network. Originally a merchant banker, then a teacher of philosophy and modern languages at Winchester College, he is the author and editor of twelve books, most recently ‘Radical Prince – The Practical Vision of the Prince of Wales’, ‘Thinking beyond the Brain and Science, Consciousness and Ultimate Reality’. He is Executive Vice-President of Wrekin Trust, Vice-President of the Swedenborg Society and of the Horizon Foundation. He has a long-standing interest in the perennial wisdom and has translated and edited books about the Bulgarian sage Peter Deunov. He is also a member of the International Futures Forum and has been editor of its digest, ‘Omnipedia – Thinking for Tomorrow’.

Tom Harrison

Director: Teaching and Learning

Tom Harrison is a director of the Learning for Life project and also works as a consultant for several other educational organisations. His current roles include being a tutor for the University of Leicester on their Citizenship masters course, Director of the cross curricula and community strands for the citizED programme and running various citizenship and community development projects for CSV, the UFA and the ASC. Previously, Tom was the programme manager at CSV for the NCSL Student Leadership Programme, as well as head of the citizenship development, training and services team at CSV. He is regularly consulted on policy by various government agencies and also has given numerous papers and presentations at various national and international conferences. Tom also set up an international volunteering and educational development charity, called VESL, five years ago. He is currently the Programme Director for VESL and manages all of its UK and overseas operations. Tom is also the chair of the curriculum committee and governor at a primary school.

Ronnie Davidson

Awards Programme: Administrator

Ronnie Davidson is a Career and Enterprise Education Consultant based in Scotland; a qualified Career Guidance practitioner; member of the Institute of Career Guidance and a professional certified internet Webmaster. Ronnie worked for five years with Career Scotland, most recently with responsibility for delivering professional development programmes for teachers and college tutors and developing career and enterprise education projects in Scottish schools.

Catherine Robertson

Awards Development

Catherine Robertson was a Director of Marketing and Operations of a professional services organisation, prior to joining Learning for Life. Before that, she held a global marketing communications position for a technology multinational. She has also been chairperson of a professional advisers’ press group. Catherine was educated in Dundee and has an honours degree in Business Studies.

John Caton

Awards Website Manager

John Caton graduated from Reading University with a BSc Hons in Physical Chemistry and then joined the Research Department of ICI Plastics Division. After four years, he moved to the engineering sector of the industry with Bone Bros Ltd of Wembley. Directorships with Melville Plastics Engineering, Kirkcaldy and Clayton Goodfellow, Blackburn followed. Moving to education, he took a PGCE at Reading and subsequently taught physics and mathematics in a Blackburn comprehensive. After several years teaching, John returned to the plastics industry, joining Edinburgh Plastics Ltd, Cowdenbeath, as a director and, ultimately, Managing Director. After early retirement, John gained Accreditation with the Society of Indexers. He joined the Scientific and Medical Network where he became the Network’s webmaster and, subsequently took on design and maintenance of other websites. He designed and developed the Learning for Life website and took part in the project launch in 2005. John also doubles as Regional Organiser for Central Scotland.

David Carr

Research Consultant
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Professor David Carr’s research interests include philosophy of education, ethics, virtues and moral education. He is well known for his work on ‘The Nature of Professionalism and Professional Ethics’; ‘Knowledge, Education and Curriculum Theory’; ‘Aesthetics, Arts, Education’ and ‘Education of the Emotions’. Recent publications have included: ‘Virtue Ethics and the Influence of Aristotle in Philosophical and Psychological Perspectives on Moral Development and Education’, ‘Problems of values education in Values’, ‘Education and the Human World: Essays on Education, Culture, Politics, Religion and Science’ (The Victor Cook Lectures), ‘St Andrews’s Studies in Philosophy and Public Affairs,’ ‘Personal and moral selfhood in Personal and Moral Identity’, ‘The significance of music for the cultivation of moral and spiritual virtue in Philosophy of Music Education Review’, ‘Professional and personal values and virtues in education and teaching in Oxford Review of Education’, ‘Character and moral choice in the cultivation of virtue in Philosophy’.

Robert Harding

Research Fellow

Dr. Robert Harding has worked in inner city schools and colleges since 1997, teaching English at secondary level in Brixton and Camden, in London, and English, Communications and Media Studies at Southwark College. He has also worked as a support worker for excluded and ‘at-risk’ pupils in the London Borough of Westminster. Whilst studying for his PhD, he ran seminars in writing skills at Manchester Metropolitan University. Non-academic research experience includes working in the think tank Demos and for the non-departmental public body Investors in People.

The main focus of his PhD research was the impact of contemporary capitalism on the individual, as reflected in literature and in wider culture. Other research interests include the politics of globalization and of technology.

Jon Davison

Research Project Leader

Professor Jon Davison taught in inner London secondary schools before becoming a teacher educator. He has been Professor of Teacher Education in four universities including the Institute of Education, University of London, where he was also Dean. His research interests include the professional formation of teachers, teacher education, the teaching and learning of English, socio-linguistics and Citizenship Education. He was co-director of the KITE project researching the professional knowledge and identity of teacher educators in the UK and is deputy director of the citizED professional resource network for citizenship teacher education. Jon has lectured on teacher education throughout Europe – from Finland to Portugal, as well as in the USA, Canada, South Africa, China and Japan. He has authored and edited more than seventy publications (including seven books) on teaching and learning and teacher education. He serves on the editorial boards of the British Journal of Educational Studies and the Journal of Citizenship Teaching and Learning. Jon is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and of the Higher Education Academy, consultant to the Training and Development Agency for Schools, Chair of the Society for Educational Studies and a member of the Executive of the Universities Council for the Education of Teachers.

Sacha Powell

Principal Research Fellow
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Dr. Sacha Powell is a Principal Research Fellow in the Department of Educational Research, Canterbury Christ Church University. Her research interests are within the field of childhood studies, particularly early childhood. Her experience is strongly aligned to qualitative approaches to research, but she regularly employs mixed methods. Sacha has a long-standing interest in China and has worked with Beijing and Shanghai Education Commissions, developing early childhood provision and integrating play for the youngest children in the two cities.

Current research activities include; ‘We All Do Good Things’ – an exploration of children’s constructions of pro-social behaviours in school communities (with People United, Kent); ‘Learning Beyond the Classroom’ – development of an evaluation framework and toolkit for ITE and SOTS providers (Creative Partnerships); ‘Teachers as Readers’ – a research and development project building communities of readers, promoting children’s literature and children’s reading for pleasure (Esmee Fairbairn and the UK Literacy Association); ‘Childcare Survey and Policy Review’ – development of a childcare strategic plan (University College for the Creative Arts); Children’s understandings of participation in research and their ‘informed consent’ (CCCU).

Paul Warwick

Dr. Paul Warwick is a lecturer within the School of Education, University of Leicester, and course leader for the PG Certificate in Education for Citizenship. He has a background of working in the subject areas of Citizenship Education and Education for Sustainable Development. He has developed a number of innovative educational programmes for working with marginalised and disaffected young people and served as a consultant to schools and Development Education Centres with regard to the effective implementation of Citizenship Education. His research interests are centred on aspects of educational reform such as student voice, service learning, social inclusion, practitioner research, and the incorporation of the global dimension in education.

Hsing-Chiung Lin

Research Fellow

Dr. Hsing-Chiung Lin has worked on the Primary Review Project at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, and has also been consulted on the development of a programme for children’s emotional learning at St John’s College Primary School. Her doctorate was focused on the teaching and learning of emotions in primary schools within a Confucianism-influenced context. Dr. Lin has a particular interest in children’s emotional learning from socio-cultural perspectives, as well as curriculum development, teacher education and action research. Dr. Lin has also organised a number of research seminars and conferences for the post-graduate students at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge and presented her work through a variety of conferences and written articles.

Eduardo Fonseca

Associate
University of Lisbon

Emanuela Chiapparini

Associate
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Universität Zürich

Beng Huat See

Researcher

Beng Huat See has been actively involved in research work on a number of projects, the most recent of which are a pilot study of argumentative skills in first-year undergraduates, a QCA project on the baseline evaluation of the 14-19 reform, a review of widening participation research sponsored by HEFCE and a review of the impact of SES on participation and attainment in science education commissioned by The Royal Society. Her PhD thesis is an analysis of teacher recruitment, supply and retention in England and Wales. She also has experience in medical sociology research, being involved in a project investigating health issues among Chinese in the UK. Beng Huat has several publications to her name, including, refereed journal articles, books and book chapters and official reports, as well as conference papers and working papers. She has expertise in sampling, questionnaire design, secondary data analysis, documentary analysis and statistical analysis, including factor analysis and logistic regression modelling using SPSS statistical package, systematic review of literature using EndNote, as well as large scale analysis of interview data using NVivo and working with large datasets.

Andrew Peterson

Senior Researcher

Aidan Thompson

Research Administrator

Aidan is a Learning for Life project administrator. He holds a BA (Hons) degree in English, obtained at Loughborough University, and has a number of years experience in banking and finance. He works at the University of Birmingham as a Research Administrator in the School of Education.