WISERD are supporting two ESRC PhD awards as part of 11 fully-funded studentships with the Cardiff School of Social Sciences and the Doctoral Training Centre for Wales.
Both studentships for the 2012/13 academic year will be in the field of education. The first topic will examine adult community learning participation and involvement in schooling and the second topic will study the learner and teacher experience of the Welsh Baccalaureate.
Adult Community Learning participation and involvement in schooling
This project will examine whether or not participation in adult community learning has links with the nature and extent of parental or familial involvement in schooling. It will be focused on areas of social disadvantage and will include adults with relatively low levels of qualification. It will make use of carefully chosen and justified case studies which enable in-depth qualitative analysis of the experiences of family members, young people and teachers through fieldwork running over a period of up to 18 months.
This studentship includes collaborative funding and in-kind support from the Worker’s Educational Association (WEA South Wales). Outcomes will include a tangible contribution to the policy deliberations of the WEA and Welsh Government and may include recommendations for possible future quantitative work on similar research questions.
Learner and teacher experience of the Welsh Baccalaureate
The focus of this study will be learner and teacher experience of the Welsh Baccalaureate, and on indicators of potential parallel effects in adjacent courses, programmes and achievements. The study is likely to include data from interviews with students and teachers across a sample of settings that reflect the national picture, and also a quantitative element in which a sample of students are matched on background variables to allow a comparison of Welsh Baccalaureate and non- Welsh Baccalaureate students on various measures of outcome. The study will complement other research projects carried out within WISERD that are examining the progression and progress of Welsh Baccalaureate holders in Higher Education. This studentship includes collaborative funding and in-kind support from the WJEC.
Deadline for applications is Friday 16th March 2012.