Research Centre for Learning and Teaching

Staff Profile

Dr Deborah Ralls

Lecturer in Education

Background

Introduction


I am a Lecturer in Education and qualified teacher whose research and practice focuses on working collaboratively with children and young people, parents, community members, education practitioners and other professionals to develop more inclusive places. 


I am interested in the complex interrelationships between education theory and practice and socio-economic polices and was the Principal Investigator working on the international comparative research project funded by the Leverhulme Trust, Redefining Education for an Urban Social Solidarity Economy: Becoming Relational. 


Through research in partnership with children and young people, community organisations, educational practitioners and policymakers, I focus on building relational approaches to engagement that reposition communities, particularly children and young people, as vital expert collaborators, educators and change makers in the development of more inclusive places and economies. 


Background


I joined the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences (ECLS) at Newcastle University in October 2021, as a Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow and Lecturer in Education.

Prior to this, I was a Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow at The University of Manchester, where I completed my PhD studentship in 2017. 


In 2018 I was awarded an Early Career Research Fellowship by the Leverhulme Trust and was Principal Investigator on a 3 and a half year international comparative research project - Redefining Education for an Urban Social Solidarity Economy: Becoming Relational. 


I have a PGCE in ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages), Literacy and Modern Languages and a Diploma in Teaching English as Foreign Language. 


I have worked as a teacher and teacher educator in both Further and Higher Education managing, developing and teaching on Literacy, ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) and Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) programmes and as the centre coordinator for an inner-city alternative education provision for 13-19-year-olds.


Activities

 

  • The Academic Advisory Group for the All Party Parliamentary Group on Political Literacy. 
  • The OECD Future of Education and Skills 2030 Thematic Working Group on aligning pedagogies and assessment with future-oriented curriculum changes, related to the implementation of the OECD's Learning Compass. 


Membership


·      Member of the British Educational Research Association 

·      Member of the European Educational Research Association


Qualifications 


  • PhD Education 2017, The University of Manchester.
  • My Doctorate investigated forms and understandings of engagement between a large urban Co-operative secondary school and its stakeholders: the students, parents, and community members. The research explored the possibilities and challenges of developing more relational approaches to engagement and considered the impact of the broader English political context of polices of marketisation of education and socio-economic policies of austerity. 


  • MA Urban Education - Degree with distinction
  • Postgraduate Certificate in Education – Degree with Distinction in Theory and Practice
  • RSA Diploma in TEFLA
  • BA Italian








 

Research

Research interests 


  • Education polices and practices (curriculum, pedagogy & governance) that support the development of inclusive urban places and economies
  • Relational approaches to engagement in urban places
  • Building democratic decision-making relationships between children and young people (CYP), policymakers, schools and communities
  • Developing opportunities for CYP and policymakers to build a shared understandings of a place in all its dimensions, and to position CYP as key partners in urban decision-making processes 
  • Alternative economic approaches (social solidarity and solidarity economies, inclusive growth economies, wellbeing economies, doughnut economies)
  • Artistic and participatory research methods 

 


My research focuses on the development of new relational concepts in the study of inclusive urban economies and education theories, policies and practices. It makes the link between relational approaches to place-focused education and the development of inclusive economic strategies and policies, addressing gaps in education, economic and urban studies research and in education and economic policymaking.


Redefining Education for an Urban Social Solidarity Economy: Becoming Relational


I recently completed an Early Career Fellowship (2018 – 2022), funded by the Leverhulme Trust. My research project, Redefining Education for an Urban Social Solidarity Economy: Becoming Relational, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, was an international comparative study of educational institutions in urban contexts in Barcelona, Berlin, New York and Rio de Janeiro. I worked with a diverse range of collaborators in the UK and across all 4 cities in the research project (Barcelona, Berlin, New York and Rio de Janeiro), including children and young people, economic and education policy makers, community organisations, university academics, teachers and school leaders. 


The project considered how more relational approaches to policy, governance, curriculum and pedagogy impact on relationships, not only between education institutions and their stakeholders but can positively impact more widely on democracy and social justice in urban places. The project looks at approaches to education that are grounded in notions of social solidarity, of policy-school, inter-school and school-community relationships that are based on doing with, not doing to; the fundamental ethos of a more relational city.


The research focus on repositioning children and young people as experts in their own lives is particularly timely after the global pandemic and aligns with the aims of the international Sustainable Development Goals, the Rights of the Child, and more recent developments such as the EU Child Guarantee and the European Year of Youth 2022.


The participatory, creative and artistic methods used with children and young people in this project and the creative outputs produced, enable children and young people speaking directly to academics, policymakers, communities, parents, using an approach chosen by the children and young people.



Why Becoming Relational Matters:


Findings showed that although education is key in the evolution of inclusive urban economies, findings showed that there is a need for towns and cities to do things differently. If we want inclusive future towns and cities and more equitable urban economies that are based on solidarity and co-operation, urban education policy needs to move beyond a focus on individual academic achievement and economic outputs, towards a strategy that incorporates the development of ‘relational goods’ (such as interpersonal trust, emotional support, care and social influence).We need to connect economic policies with the type of education theories, policies and practices that can develop the skills, characteristics and knowledge needed for a fairer place.

  1. Education for an inclusive economy should set out to connect children and young people to the information they need – and the people they need to know – in order to participate in informed democratic decision-making in the place where they live.
  2. The places where we live are spaces of educational possibility. There is a need to change how professionals and policymakers learn about the realities of life in areas of socio-economic disadvantage. A relational approach can be used to develop reciprocal learning opportunities that enable children and young people from these areas to act as urban experts and educators capable of shaping public policies in their communities and beyond.
  3. Relational theory provides a helpful and accessible way of understanding the type of policies and institutional structures that:

a) promote social justice and solidarity and a more reciprocal relationship between the

state, civil society and citizens.

b) set out to bridge gaps in culture and power and can build relationships for collaborative democratic decision making and leadership opportunities.



The Relational Toolkit


The use of relational theory in the research has proved to be a strength in developing an accessible theoretical framework that is understood by policymakers, educators, academics and children and young people. As a result of the findings, I developed a Relational Toolkit: Working with Communities. A relational approach to Strategic & Economic Policy


A fundamental aspect of more inclusive economic approaches is the belief that a change in relationships based on solidarity and co-operation is an essential component in developing sustainable and inclusive economic activities and policies in our cities and city regions. Rather than beginning with an intervention, a relational approach offers a suggestion for a different power dynamic in working with communities to develop strategic engagement policy and practice.


The founding principle of this approach is that:


relationships matter...engagement, then, should be about creating the relationships that provide a foundation for long-term and sustainable change (Warren, 2009, p.2248).


The Relational Toolkit uses different engagement audit activities and a Ladder of Engagement activity so that participants can work interactively and collaboratively to identify the relational potential of current engagement practice.I am currently using the Toolkit with the the Young Advisors and Executive Board from the Child Health and Wellbeing Network North East and North Cumbria.



Postgraduate Supervision: Doctoral students


Anna Fitzgibbon (completed)

Luan Cassal

Nick Tones












 

 

Teaching

EDU1003 British and Comparative Education
EDU2001 Psychological perspectives on teaching and learning

Publications