Learning for Life

Primrose Paskins graduated with a First Class honours Degree from Canterbury Christ Church University in 2004 before undertaking a Master's degree at the University of Kent. Her research was focused on the response of regionalist political parties in France to European Integration. She has since worked on Franco-British projects funded by the European Union in the field of Higher Education, with a particular focus on life-long learning, student mobility and the promotion of cross-border research collaboration.

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 to promote 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, 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 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 its UK and overseas operations. Tom is also the chair of the curriculum committee and governor at a primary school.

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 Robinson was previously 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 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.

Dr. Ray Godfrey is an epistemologist with degrees in a range of subjects from philosophy to statistics. His PhD thesis was on Abilities and Justifications in Education. He taught for thirteen years in lea and church comprehensive schools, mostly mathematics and a little RE. The rest of the career has been with Canterbury Christ Church and the Open University. He has taught mathematics, history and philosophy of mathematics, mathematics education, professional judgement and decision making, primary education, statistics and research methods.

Ray has carried out, collaborated in, or supported research projects in a wide range of fields: evaluating a project for the resettlement of young offenders, SureStart projects; insect predation, crime reporting in 18th century newspapers, accuracy of radiographers reports; moral values of pupils in French and English schools; the early mathematical development of children in England, Finland, China and five other countries; the fish population of the North Sea; teaching foreign languages in primary schools, preparing mental ill students for further education, the long term consequences of permanent exclusion from primary schools, permanent exclusion of minority ethnic pupils from schools and the coding of ethnicities in school returns to DfES; Special Educational Needs; school improvement. With NICER has researched evidence for the impact of faith schools on pupil attainment. Ray has also published philosophical papers on imposing autonomy, the atomism of Democritus, Russell’s paradox, research ethics review, effect-size and meta-analysis; the role of research compared with professional experience; misinterpretation of the difference between qualitative and quantitative research.

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’.

Dr. Benjamin Gray has conducted extensive research in the education, health and social care sectors, paying special attention to the social exclusion and perspectives of disadvantaged or marginalized groups. Ben has researched, published and lectured most successfully in the area of emotion in organisations, with particular reference to student nursing and nursing care. He has presented at conferences and seminars on this subject as well as guiding a doctoral candidate in this area. Ben’s doctoral thesis studied the social exclusion and stigma attached to mental illness. He has researched the education and return to practice of nurses and allied professionals, the views of managers and stakeholders in multiple sclerosis, leadership and transformational education in the RCN, issues involving ultrasound/ sonography professionals, and children with SENs and learning disabilities. Ben’s work in Tower Hamlets studied the poverty, social exclusion, mental health issues and disadvantage particularly of Bangladeshi and Somali families. This piece of research was very successful and was disseminated as a final report and three substantive articles in major journals.

Ben has just completed a project involving carers for people with mental health problems. All of his work in the education, health and social care sectors builds a rich evidence base that feeds into services to improve practice, training and policy as well as multiple publications in national and international journals.

Dr. Robert Harding has worked in inner city schools and colleges since 1997, teaching English at secondary level at 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.

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.

Dr. Catherine Knowles is a Senior Research Fellow at Canterbury Christ Church University. Following the completion of her PhD. in 2005 she worked in the faculty of education at Canterbury Christ Church University, initially as a lecturer in Primary science education and latterly as a research fellow on various DCSF funded projects, Teach First, CitiZED and on programme development with a university in France for undergraduate and post graduate students of education.

Dr. Sacha Powell is a Principal Research Fellow in the Department of Educational Research. 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).

Dr. Paul Warwick is a lecturer within the School of Education 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.