School of Education

The People, Place and Social Change (PPSC) Research and Teaching Group explores how education is experienced and shaped by individual and groups of learners and the diverse political, socio-economic, and geographic contexts in which they learn. All staff contribute to working towards eradicating disadvantage locally and globally. Key themes in the group include: connections with people, places and communities, especially in urban settings; obstacles and facilitators of lifelong education; and transitions in education and to employment. The group also explore the role of cognition, agency and wellbeing in formal and informal educational settings. The group have specific expertise in utilising innovative and participatory methodologies to connect with communities and individuals who are often deemed marginal or disadvantaged.

 

PPSC is the home of the Centre for Research and Development in Adult and Lifelong Learning (CR&DALL) (Director: Osborne), conducts inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary research in the core themes of adult and youth transitions, and urban and place-based learning in post-compulsory settings. PPSC has won multiple awards from the ESRC as well as from EPSRC, AHRC, MRC, British Academy and European Commission, notably the Education component of the ESRC-funded Urban Big Data Centre (Co-Is: Lido, Osborne, Mason and Houston). Its GCRF projects have been included work concerning the contribution of HEI systems to regional development, and community engagement using arts-based and public pedagogies and conflict and Peacebuilding in the Global South (Co-I: Gormally).  Through its leadership of the PASCAL Observatory (Director: Osborne), a global alliance of academics working in collaboration with city and regional and leaders, and with UNESCO, it contributes internationally to place-based learning city strategies that locate learning at the centre of urban policy.

 

People, Place and Social change also houses research within the theme of Adult Learning and Youth Transitions investigating the impact of learning opportunity on the life courses of both young and older adults, including those who are most vulnerable in labour markets and at risk of social exclusion. In all our research, we put emphasis on work that contributes to sustainable social and economic development from local to global levels. Our work in Urban and Place-based Learning seeks to better understand the relationship between place and educational disadvantage in the Glasgow City Region, and also in other regions in the world, in particular in the global south.