School of International Development - UEA: Educational Diversity, Literacy and Development

Education and literacy are central components in social and human development, reflected for example in the indicators of the UNDP Human Development Index, and are integral to recent writing on capabilities and multi-dimensional measures of poverty.   Our research is concerned with human development and social and intercultural justice. It focuses particularly on social, cultural and linguistic dimensions of poverty and inequality. It explores diverse educational responses to the global challenges of environmental, socio-cultural and economic change.

Email: devresnews@uea.ac.uk
Phone: 01603 592323

This theme houses the Literacy and Development Group (established in 2003 with the School of Education) which has a growing research profile. Major contributions have been to apply ethnographic insights on literacy as social practice, on thresholds, and measurement, to extend interdisciplinary understanding and theoretical innovation in poverty reduction and human development. Our work demonstrates strong synergies with wider development studies themes in relation to gender, livelihoods and social change. Over thirty research group publications, and special issues of the International Journal of Educational Development and Journal of Development Studies, illustrate our work.  In collaboration with the School of Education, we have hosted a number of high profile conferences and research seminars, which have established our international profile in this field.

Policy impacts of our work include membership of key UN policy forums such as the UNESCO Literacy Decade experts group and Global Advisory Committee to the UN Girls Education Initiative as well as on-going policy research with UNESCO and recent policy briefs for FAO/DFID. DEV also runs a popular MA in Education and Development (MAED), a focus of which is to examine international and national educational policy and practice with a strong emphasis on equity, quality, diversity and educational transformation.

Group members

Sheila Aikman is Senior Lecturer in Education and Development (DEV). Her research interests include intercultural and basic education (formal and non-formal), indigenous knowledge and learning systems, gender equality and multigrade teaching. She has carried out research and other work in Latin America, Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Bryan Maddox is Senior Lecturer in Education and Development (DEV). He is a social anthropologist working on literacy, language and education in South Asian contexts. He has strong interests in inter-disciplinary work in education linking anthropology and economics. His current research interests are the links between literacy, human capabilities and wellbeing.

Nitya Rao is Senior Lecturer in Gender Analysis and Development (DEV). Her research in the area of education and development focuses on equity issues in education policies and provisioning. She currently works on the topic of gender differences in migration opportunities and the implications for educational choices and outcomes. She has mainly worked in South Asia, but also has interests in the Asia-Pacific region and Africa.

Research collaborators

Bereket Kebede, Senior Lecturer in Economics (DEV)

Richard Palmer-Jones, Reader in Economics (DEV)

Anna Robinson-Pant, Reader and Acting Director – Centre for Applied Research in Education, University of East Anglia

Pieter Serneels, Senior Lecturer in Economics (DEV)

Current and recent postgraduate researchers

Juancho Barron-Pastor:  ‘Inclusion Policies in Mexican Higher Education: Listening to Participants of Intercultural Programmes’

Samantha Ross: 'Linking language and education to environmental and cultural sustainability: The dynamics of biocultural linguistics in Tanzania'