Research Institute for Social Sciences

I hold a dual honours degree in Educational Studies and English, and a research Masters investigating the construction of learner identities for socio-economic disadvantaged pupils in relation to Conservative Coalition neoliberal educational reforms. I undertook both degrees at Keele University.

My doctoral thesis aims to investigate how neoliberal discourses of economic value impact upon education for ‘disadvantaged’ and ‘advantaged’ youth groups through a comparative study of two schools in North Staffordshire. Specifically, I aim to explore how forms of ‘capital’ and the ability to produce ‘capital’ enables freedom in education, learning and identity construction against the larger rooted discourses of neoliberal capitalism.