Cardiff School of Social Sciences

Career Profile

I left South Africa six months after starting a BA at the University of the Witwatersrand. After a BA in History at the University of Sussex, I worked briefly as a research assistant at University College London. In the ensuing seventeen years I pursued a career in the teaching profession, working either part or full time as a schoolteacher. My final post was as Head of Infants at Barncroft School, Herts. Whilst this period gave me a thorough training and comprehensive experience, by 1987 I was seeking new challenges. Accordingly, I took a job as Teacher Adviser for Race Equality in Birmingham and began my PhD on a part-time basis at the University of Birmingham. In 1989 I became a full-time student and gained my doctorate in 1991. I then embarked on an academic career: in the Department of Sociology at the University of Central England from 1991-1994 and at the Institute of Education from September 1994-May 2001.  At the Institute I was promoted three times, leaving as a Professor and Chair of Academic Board. I spent just over two years at Goldsmiths College London as Professor of Education and Head of Department. I retired in December 2007 from my full time post as Professor of Education at Cardiff School of Social Sciences but continue to hold a part time chair there. I published my first book while still a doctoral student.  Since 1991, I have published or have in press: eleven single or co-authored books (of which one has been translated into Spanish and six are in the Academic’s Support Kit), thirty-six papers in refereed journals (five of them translated and another eight reprinted), twenty-seven chapters in edited collections (four of them reprints from earlier publications), six edited books (one of them also translated into Spanish) and nine edited special issues of international refereed journals. In the current REF period I have published or in press: one monograph; six refereed journal articles, four book chapters and one article in a professional journal as well as having had two of my articles translated into other languages (Portuguese and German). I am co-editor of an international refereed journal (Gender and Education). I have received approximately £318,000 from the ESRC for research projects, research seminars and consultancy. I am part of an international research project funded by the Australian Research Council until December 2014. My research interests comprise childhood and youth studies, particularly gender, sexuality and race in education and in popular culture, and the cultural politics of education. I have extensive experience of teaching: in schools from Early Years to A level and in universities from first year undergraduate core and optional courses to PhD courses and supervision. I am now semi-retired, working part-time at Cardiff School of Social Sciences and part time as a psychotherapist in private practice in Wotton-under-Edge and Cardiff.