School of Education

Dr Barbara Read

Reader (Educational Leadership & Policy)

ORCID iD https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8125-8550

Biography

Career

I am a sociologist of education, with an interdisciplinary background in history, social anthropology, and women's studies. Currently Reader in Gender and Social Inequalities at the School of Education, University of Glasgow, I was previously Senior Lecturer at the Department of Education, Roehampton University (2007-12) and Research Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies in Education, London Metropolitan University (2001-2007).

Qualifications include a PhD in Sociology from the University of Bristol and an MA in Women's Studies from the University of Kent at Canterbury, and BA (Hons) in Ancient History and Social Anthropology from University College London.

Research interests

Research Interests

My main research interests are:  gender and educational cultures (in both compulsory and post-compulsory settings); gender and student experience in school and HE; academic culture and work, particularly inequalities of experience and the issue of casualisation; and children's and adults' peer group/friendship cultures at school and university. I am also currently working on issues of gender and academic knowledge - particularly in relation to gender and STEM subjects at HE and leading to HE entry - in international contexts.

 I have particular expertise in:

gender and educational 'cultures'
gender and knowledge - particularly gender and STEM
the construction and 'performance' of gendered identities (in particular students, young people, teachers and academics)
identities and intersectionality
the student experience
academics and the world of academic work
gender, friendship and 'popularity'
gender, class and 'race' in relation to academic achievement
widening participation, inequalities and academic cultures
students’ experiences and perceptions of HE
the ‘social world’ of the university
social inequalities and social justice
gender, language and communication
classroom observation, visual and textual analysis
critical and poststructuralist theory, especially Foucault and Butler

Grants

Economic and Social Research Council Grant: Examining Gender and Higher Education: STEM and Beyond. A UK-African Countries Network (PI) (Award: £82, 109). 2017-2018.

University of Glasgow Competitive Award: Directorship of 2-Year research programme, Social Precarity, for the Adam Smith Research Foundation (Award: £50,000). 2014-2016.

British Academy Grant: Playing the ‘Fall Guy’: classed, gendered and ‘raced’ friendship dynamics in the context of academic achievement (PI) (Award: £7,492.78). 2009.

University of Roehampton Competitive Award: Research grant to support the Playing the 'Fall Guy' project (Award: £4,000). 2009.

British Educational Research Association: Meeting of Minds Fellowship (mentor: Prof. Diane Reay). (Award: £585). 2008.

London Metropolitan University Competitive Award: to support creation of a seminar series on ‘Examining Assessment in Higher Education’ (2003), with Becky Francis. (Special Issue of Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education Journal commissioned as a result of this series). (Award: £1,440). 2002-2003.

London Metropolitan University Competitive Award: to fund an administrator for Becky Francis and Barbara Read (2001-2002) (Lead applicant) (Award: £3,518). 2002.

Economic and Social Research Council Grant: University Lecturers’ Constructions of Undergraduate Writing (R000239187) Co-applicant. (PI – Becky Francis). 2002-2004.

Supervision

PhD Doctorate Students completed:

Louise Sheridan, ‘Youth Participation in Scotland: Key Features and Influences on Practice and Participation. Awarded July 2018. University of Glasgow.

Yue Song, Children of Migrant Workers in Urban High Schools: an Analysis of the Dual Role of Education. Awarded July 2018. University of Glasgow.

Yuwei Xu The Performance of Gender: A cross-cultural analysis of gender and teaching in early childhood settings. Awarded July 2018. University of Glasgow.

EdD Doctorate Students completed:

Julie Alderton, ‘Pedagogical Discourses and Subjectivities in Primary Mathematics Initial Teacher Education’. Awarded 2013. University of Roehampton.

PhD students supervising:

Tahsina Akbar (2019- present): Gendered Interpretations of Curriculum Texts in Bangladesh in the Context of UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals for Women’s ‘Empowerment'.

Nuramira Anwar (2014-present): Do You Speak Your Gender? An Investigation of Malaysian Male and Female Writers’ Interactions in a Computer Mediated Communication Environment.

Louise Couceiro (ESRC 1+3 scholarship, MRes 2018-2019, PhD from 2019). A New Wave of Non Fiction Feminist Children’s Literature: Children’s Responses and Perceptions.

Nicola Dickson (2016-present) Art as a Tool of Empowerment for Vulnerable Groups.

Oisin Kealy (LKAS Scholarship, 2018-present). Human Rights Films Festivals.

Angeliki Pepponi (2017-present) Internationally Educated Teachers in Scotland’s Schools: Included for Inclusion?

Ali Sameer (2014- present) The Securitization of Pakistan and its impact on primary girl’s education.

Emily Thomson (2018-present) Gender and Care: Modern Apprenticeships in Scotland.

Yijie Wang (2019-present) The pursuit of belonging and coherence within a divided space: How do Chinese female students reconcile ‘being qualified citizens’ with ‘being proper girls’.

Keyu Zhai (2016-present) Social Mobility and Undergraduates in China.

EdD Doctorate Students supervising:

Penny Anderson (2018-present): A Time to Care? Temporality and its Relationship to Care Values as Viewed Through the Lived Experiences of Women in the Scottish School-Aged Childcare Workforce.

Rosalie Doherty (2013-present): The Broken Triangle: Women's Gender Based Oppression, Community Development and the Promotion of Women's Health and Wellbeing in Ireland.

Teaching

I teach on a variety of undergraduate and postgraduate courses, including:

2016-present Equity, Social Justice and Change, MSc in Education, Public Policy and Equity (Course Leader)

2017-present Higher Education: Research Policy and Practice, MSc Programmes (Course Leader)

2016-present Museums as a Source for Learning, MSc in Museum Education

2017- present Educational Enquiry 4, MEduc Programme (Year 4)

2013 –present Modern Educational Thought, MSc Programmes

Additional information

I am on the Editorial Board of International Studies in Sociology of Education, and served two terms on the editorial board of Gender and Education (2009-2014). I was also UK and Ireland Editor of Women's Studies International Forum journal from 2008-2010. I review articles for a wide range of journals, as well as book proposals for Routledge and grant proposals for the ESRC. I am also currently a book series editor for the series Policy and Practice in the Classroom published by Palgrave Macmillan.

In 2012 Becky Francis, Christine Skelton and I won 1st Prize for books published in 2012 from the Society for Educational Studies (for The Identities and Practices of High Achieving Pupils).

From 2017-18 I was the lead facilitator of the Examining Gender in Higher Education (EGHE) Network : a partnership between academics at the University of Glasgow, University of Rwanda, Kenyatta University (Kenya), Gambia College, Makerere University (Uganda), and NGO partners the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE). This network was established and funded for 18-months via an ESRC GCRF Networks Grant. The Network had an interest in all aspects of academic culture, practices and experience for students and staff in HE in our network countries, and an interest in subject/disciplinary issues including gender and the study of STEM subjects. We have produced two policy briefings as part of our outputs for the network which can be downloaded from the project webpage (see above).

I also regularly speak on gender issues nationally and internationally, including invitations from the British Embassy in Estonia and from the British Council to speak on UK issues relating to gender and girls' education at an event in Karachi, Pakistan.

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2019 | 2018 | 2016 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 1996

Number of items: 43.

2019

Hermannsson, K. , Odena, O. and Read, B. (2019) Link Community Development Interventions in Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi and Uganda: Review of Evidence 2008-2018. Project Report. Robert Owen Centre for Educational Change, School of Education, University of Glasgow.

2018

Read, B. , Burke, P. J. and Grozier, G. (2018) ‘It is like school sometimes’: friendship and sociality on university campuses and patterns of social inequality. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, (doi:10.1080/01596306.2018.1457626) (Early Online Publication)

EGHE Network, (2018) Policy Briefi 2: Participating and Succeeding in STEM subjects: a focus on Gender Dynamics. Initial Findings of the EGHE Network for Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, The Gambia and the UK. Project Report. EGHE Network.

EGHE Network, (2018) Policy Briefing 1: Gendered Patterns of HE Participation and Success: Initial Findings of the EGHE Network for Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, The Gambia and the UK. Project Report. EGHE Network.

Read, B. (2018) Truth, masculinity and the anti-elitist backlash against the university in the age of Trump. Teaching in Higher Education, 23(5), pp. 593-605. (doi:10.1080/13562517.2018.1457636)

Read, B. and Bradley, L. (2018) Gender, time and ‘waiting’ in everyday academic life. In: Taylor, Y. and Lahad, K. (eds.) Feeling Academic in the Neoliberal University: Feminist Flights, Fights and Failures. Series: Palgrave studies in gender and education. Palgrave Macmillan: Cham, Switzerland, pp. 221-242. ISBN 9783319642239 (doi:10.1007/978-3-319-64224-6_10)

Read, B. and Leathwood, C. (2018) Tomorrow’s a mystery: constructions of the future and ‘un/becoming’ amongst ‘early’ and ‘late’ career academics. International Studies in Sociology of Education, 27(4), pp. 333-351. (doi:10.1080/09620214.2018.1453307)

2016

Read, B. (2016) Gender and higher education. In: Shin, J. C. and Teixeira, P. (eds.) Encyclopedia of International Higher Education Systems and Institutions. Springer: Berlin. ISBN 9789401795531 (doi:10.1007/978-94-017-9553-1_44-1)

Read, B. and Kehm, B. M. (2016) Women as leaders of higher education institutions: a British-German comparison. Studies in Higher Education, 41(5), pp. 815-827. (doi:10.1080/03075079.2016.1147727)

2014

Francis, B., Burke, P. and Read, B. (2014) The submergence and re-emergence of gender in undergraduate accounts of university experience. Gender and Education, 26(1), pp. 1-17. (doi:10.1080/09540253.2013.860433)

Read, B. (2014) Review of: Tice, K. (2012) Queens of academe: beauty pageantry, student bodies, and college life. Gender and Education, 26(7), pp. 812-814. (doi:10.1080/09540253.2014.973230) [Book Review]

2013

Leathwood, C. and Read, B. (2013) Research policy and academic performativity: compliance, contestation and complicity. Studies in Higher Education, 38(8), pp. 1162-1174. (doi:10.1080/03075079.2013.833025)

2012

Francis, B., Skelton, C. and Read, B. (2012) The Identities and Practices of High Achieving Pupils: Negotiating Achievement and Peer Cultures. Continuum: London, UK. ISBN 9781441199232

2011

Read, B. , Francis, B. and Skelton, C. (2011) Gender, popularity and notions of in/authenticity amongst 12-year-old to 13-year-old school girls. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 32(2), pp. 169-183. (doi:10.1080/01425692.2011.547304)

Read, B. (2011) Britney, Beyoncé, and me - primary school girls' role models and constructions of the 'popular' girl. Gender and Education, 23(1), pp. 1-13. (doi:10.1080/09540251003674089)

2010

Francis, B., Skelton, C. and Read, B. (2010) The simultaneous production of educational achievement and popularity: how do some pupils accomplish it? British Educational Research Journal, 36(2), pp. 317-340. (doi:10.1080/01411920902919265)

Skelton, C., Francis, B. and Read, B. (2010) "Brains before 'beauty'?" High achieving girls, school and gender identities. Educational Studies, 36(2), pp. 185-194. (doi:10.1080/03055690903162366)

2009

Skelton, C., Carrington, B., Francis, B., Hutchings, M., Read, B. and Hall, I. (2009) Gender 'matters' in the primary classroom: pupils' and teachers' perspectives. British Educational Research Journal, 35(2), pp. 187-204. (doi:10.1080/01411920802041905)

2008

Leathwood, C. and Read, B. (2008) Gender and the Changing Face of Higher Education: A Feminised Future? SRHE / Open University Press: London. ISBN 9780335227136

Francis, B., Skelton, C., Carrington, B., Hutchings, M., Read, B. and Hall, I. (2008) A Perfect Match? Pupils' and teachers' views of the impact of matching educators and learners by gender. Research Papers in Education, 23(1), p. 15. (doi:10.1080/02671520701692510)

Hutchings, M., Carrington, B., Francis, B., Skelton, C., Read, B. and Hall, I. (2008) Nice and kind, smart and funny: what children like and want to emulate in their teachers. Oxford Review of Education, 34(2), pp. 135-157. (doi:10.1080/03054980701663959)

Read, B. (2008) 'The world must stop when I'm talking': gender and power relations in primary teachers' classroom talk. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 29(6), pp. 609-621. (doi:10.1080/01425690802423288)

2007

Carrington, B., Francis, B., Hutchings, M., Skelton, C., Read, B. and Hall, I. (2007) Does the gender of the teacher really matter? Seven- to eight-year-olds’ accounts of their interactions with their teachers. Educational Studies, 33(4), pp. 397-413. (doi:10.1080/03055690701423580)

Hutchings, M., Carrington, B., Francis, B., Read, B. , Skelton, C. and Hall, I. (2007) 'Nice and kind, smart and funny': what children like and want to emulate in their teachers. Oxford Review of Education, 34(2), pp. 135-157. (doi:10.1080/03054980701663959)

2006

Maylor, U., Read, B. , Mendick, H., Ross, A. and Rollock, N. (2006) Diversity and Citizenship in the Curriculum: Research Review. Other. Department for Education and Skills, Nottingham, UK.

Read, B. (2006) Gendered constructions of cooperation and competition by pupils. In: Pergar-Kuscer, M.P., Ross, A. and Fulop, M. (eds.) Teachers' and Pupils' Constructions of Competition and Cooperation: A Three-Country Study of Slovenia, Hungary and England. University of Ljubljana Press: Ljubljana, Slovenia. ISBN 9788677351113

Skelton, C. and Read, B. (2006) Male and female teachers’ evaluative responses to gender and the implications of these for the learning environments of primary age pupils. International Studies in Sociology of Education, 16(2), pp. 105-120. (doi:10.1080/09620210600849802)

2005

Read, B. and Francis, B. (2005) Examining assessment in higher education: assessment as a socially situated practice. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 30(3), pp. 209-213. (doi:10.1080/02602930500063777)

Read, B. , Francis, B. and Robson, J. (2005) Gender, ‘bias’, assessment and feedback: analyzing the written assessment of undergraduate history essays. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 30(3), pp. 241-260. (doi:10.1080/02602930500063827)

Ross, A., Read, B. , Kuscer, M.P., Fulop, M., Pucko, C., Berkics, M., Sandor, M. and Hutchings, M. (2005) Teachers’ constructions of citizenship and enterprise: Using associative group analysis with teachers in Hungary, Slovenia and England. New Educational Review, 7(3-4), pp. 111-139.

2004

Archer, L., Maylor, U., Osgood, J. and Read, B. (2004) An Exploration of the Attitudinal, Social and Cultural Factors Impacting on Year 10 Student Performance: Final Report. Other. Institute for Policy Studies in Education, London Metropolitan University, London, UK.

Francis, B., Hutchings, M. and Read, B. (2004) Science in girls' schools: Factors that contribute to girls' engagement and attainment. Other. Institute for Policy Studies in Education, London Metropolitan University, London, UK.

Read, B. , Archer, L. and Leathwood, C. (2004) Experiences of community, 'belonging' and exclusion amongst non-traditional higher education students in the UK. In: Ross, A. (ed.) The Experience of Citizenship: Proceedings of the Sixth Conference of the Children's Identity and Citizenship in Europe Thematic Network. CiCe: London, UK. ISBN 9781853773785

Read, B. , Robson, J. and Francis, B. (2004) Re-viewing undergraduate writing: tutors' perceptions of essay qualities according to gender. Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 9(2), pp. 217-238. (doi:10.1080/13596740400200176)

Robson, J., Francis, B. and Read, B. (2004) Gender, student confidence and communicative styles at university: the views of lecturers in history and psychology. Studies in Higher Education, 29(1), pp. 7-23. (doi:10.1080/1234567032000164840)

2003

Francis, B., Read, B. , Melling, L. and Robson, J. (2003) University lecturers' perceptions of gender and undergraduate writing. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 24(3), pp. 357-373.

Read, B. , Archer, L. and Leathwood, C. (2003) Challenging cultures? Student conceptions of 'belonging' and 'isolation' at a post-1992 university. Studies in Higher Education, 28(3), pp. 261-277. (doi:10.1080/03075070309290)

2002

Francis, B., Robson, J. and Read, B. (2002) Gendered patterns in writing and degree award. In: Howie, G. and Tauchert, A. (eds.) Gender, Teaching, and Research in Higher Education: Challenges for the 21st Century. Ashgate: Aldershot, Hampshire, UK. ISBN 9780754614784

Read, B. , Francis, B. and Robson, J. (2002) 'Who am I to question all these established writers?' Gender and confidence in student essay writing. In: Graal, M. (ed.) Writing Development in Higher Education: Changing Contexts for Teaching and Learning: Proceedings of the 8th Annual Writing Development in Higher Education Conference, University of Leicester, April 2001. Teaching and Learning Unit, University of Leicester: Leicester, UK. ISBN 9780953835119

Robson, J., Francis, B. and Read, B. (2002) Writes of passage: Stylistic features of male and female undergraduate history essays. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 26(4), pp. 351-362. (doi:10.1080/0309877022000021757)

2001

Francis, B., Robson, J. and Read, B. (2001) An analysis of undergraduate writing styles in the context of gender and achievement. Studies in Higher Education, 26(3), pp. 313-326. (doi:10.1080/03075070120076282)

Read, B. , Francis, B. and Robson, J. (2001) 'Playing safe': Undergraduate essay writing and the presentation of the student 'voice'. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 22(3), pp. 387-399.

1996

Read, B. (1996) Historical representations and the gendered battleground of the 'past': A study of the Canterbury Heritage Museum. European Journal of Women's Studies, 3(2), pp. 115-130. (doi:10.1177/135050689600300203)

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