Dr Pauline Dixon
Senior Lecturer

Background

Pauline Dixon is a Senior Lecturer in Education and Development and has extensive experience working in Asia and Africa. She gained her PhD - “Regulation of Private Schools for the Poor in India: An Austrian Economic Perspective” - from the University of Newcastle, England. Her major research interests are the theory of Austrian Economics, education vouchers in developing countries, children's literacy and the regulation and privatisation of education in developing countries. Pauline has a First Class Honours degree from the Open University, and lectured in economics at the University of Northumbria in both the Business School and Economics departments from 1997 to 2000, before lecturing in education policy at the University of Newcastle.

Pauline was the International Research Coordinator on the John Templeton Project from 2003-2005 and the Orient Global Project from 2007-2009. The new John Templeton Project 2011-2013 concerning education in conflict zones will be coordinated by Pauline.

She works extensively in Asia and Africa searching for and analysing private and government schools catering for low-income families. She also works on projects which focus on improving the quality of and access to these schools. She makes frequent field trips to conduct research work to many countries around the world. She has published over 30 articles and chapters and is currently working on her book about India.

Pauline Dixon has lectured at Brown University USA and presented on Capitol Hill, USA. She is associated with the London based charity Absolute Return for Kids (ARK) and the European based Geopolitical Information Services. In 2003 she won the Don Lavoie graduate essay prize from the Society for the Development of Austrian Economics for a paper about private schools in India and the regulations with which they have to abide. In 2001 she won a place on the prestigious ‘Advanced Seminar in Austrian Economics’, in New York, USA.

Pauline is currently the Degree Programme Director for the MA in International Development and Education and the Degree Programme Director for the MEd full time.

 

Qualifications

PhD in Education - University of Newcastle Upon Tyne
BSc (Hons) First Class - Open University
Diploma in Economics - Open University
Diploma in Music - Open University

Previous Positions

July 2003-July 2006
Research Associate,
University of Newcastle
Dept of Education, Communication and Language Sciences,
St. Thomas Street,
Newcastle Upon Tyne,
NE1 7RU

Full time PhD Scholarship
Dept of Education
University of Newcastle
St. Thomas’ Street
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE1 7RU

Economics Lecturer
Newcastle Business School and Economics Department,
University of Northumbria
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE1 8ST

Honours and Awards

Awards
First Place Winners - EG West Centre for their research in Asia and Africa. The 2006 Templeton Freedom Prize for Excellence in Promoting Liberty in Free Market Solutions to Poverty. Presented in Colorado Springs, USA April 2006

Don Lavoie Memorial Graduate Student Essay Contest Winner 2003 for “Regulation of Private Schooling for Low-Income Families in India: An Austrian Economic Approach”. She presented her paper at the Southern Economic Association conference in San Antonio, Texan, USA.

In 2001 she won a place on the prestigious ‘Advanced Seminar in Austrian Economics’, in New York, USA.

Informal Interests

Home, family and friends. Northumberland, gardening, birds, cats, music, running, and keeping fit.

Research Interests

Pauline's main area of research is carried out in private and government schools for the poor in developing countries - Asia and Africa. She has undertaken research using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Comparative analysis as well as carrying out census and survey field work on a large scale in India, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, and China is one of her areas of expertise.

Pauline also looks at school choice in developing countries and is overseeing a randomised control trial (RCT) to consider the impact of the implementation of a voucher scheme in a slum in Delhi.

Other Expertise

Other areas of expertise include researching the regulatory environments in which private schools operate in India. Pauline also carries out research concerning the use of phonics in private and government schools in India to improve reading and writing in English. She is also investigating the effects of education vouchers on the private school's market and parents in slum areas of India.

Current Research

John Templeton Foundation research - Education in Difficult Places 2011-2013

UBS AG - Extending Access to Quality Education for the Underserved 2011-2013

Absolute Return for Kids 2010 - ongoing - Aspire and Enable project in Delhi, India.

Past Research

Orient Global Project 2007-2009

John Templeton Project was completed in December 2005 (it ran from 2003). 

Future Research

Further research is being carried out to explore private schools for the poor in shanty towns, low income areas and slums around the world, now including South America as well as investigating how true markets work in education through the use of educaton vouchers. A more micro level research in low-income areas of Inida and China is being undertaken looking at the effectiveness of English learning programmes. It is also anticipated that the identification of gifted and talented children in slum areas will become a major focus. The use of education vouchers to allow children access to better quality education is also a focus linked with improving the quality of education delivery, initially through the use of phonics for the improvement of reading and writing in English. New research looking at eduction in conflict zones is a new major focus.

Research Roles

Pauline works in the E. G. West Centre and was International Research Coordinator on the Templeton Project. She is currently working on the Orient Global Project.

Projects worked on include:
"Orient Global Project" (2007-2009) Working in India, Kenya, Nigeria, Peru, Uganda and Columbia

"The Templeton Project" (2003-2005) – working in Asia and Africa carrying out research in five countries collecting and analysing data using both qualitative and quantitative methods from private and government schools serving low-income families. Funded by the John Templeton Foundation, Philadelphia, USA

“Private Schools for the Poor”: CfBT Project (2001–2002) – working in India carrying out research in private schools serving low-income families – mainly qualitative research work. Funded by the Centre for British Teachers, Reading, England

“Cost and Diversity in Schools: An International Review” (2002) a CfBT project supervised by Nicholas Burnett. Funded by the Centre for British Teachers, Reading, England

Postgraduate Supervision

International development and education issues;

The use of synthetic phonics in developing countries;
Comparisons between private and state provided schooling;
Education without the state;
The use of web based learning in a developing context;

Esteem Indicators

Top Four Esteem Indicators:

(1) Invited speaker to a one day conference at Clemson University, South Carolina, USA. September 2008 "Freedom and School Choice in American Education" for Education Policy Experts.

(2) Keynote address at "Doda, Brgger, and Jordis" March 2010, Vienna, Austria "Private Schools for the Poor"

(3) Invited speaker, Feb, 2007, Washington DC, USA - Capitol Hill: a talk concerning private schools for the poor in Africa for Capitol Hill staff members. (see www.mercatus.org/Events/eventID.423/event_detail.asp for video of the event)

(4) Invited speaker, Feb, 2007, Williamsburg, Virginia, USA: 2007 Chief of Staff Retreat: Markets and Democracy - The leading bi-partisan, off-the-Hill gathering for senior congressional staff. The Retreat offers participants a chance to explore pioneering economic ideas and interact across party lines.

Guest Speaker and Keynote speaker appearances include:

Invited speaker, September, 2007, Zurich - The 3rd International Gottfried von Haberler Conference hosted by the European Center of Austrian Economics Foundation - talk entitled "Private Schools for Poor Kids".

Invited speaker, Feb, 2007, Washington DC, USA - Capitol Hill: a talk concerning private schools for the poor in Africa for Capitol Hill staff members. (see www.mercatus.org/Events/eventID.423/event_detail.asp for video of the event)

Invited speaker, Feb, 2007, Williamsburg, Virginia, USA: 2007 Chief of Staff Retreat: Markets and Democracy - The leading bi-partisan, off-the-Hill gathering for senior congressional staff. The Retreat offers participants a chance to explore pioneering economic ideas and interact across party lines.

Guest lecturer - Globalisation and Human Rights weekend seminar, July, 2006, George Mason University, Virginia, USA

Guest Lecturer - Brown University for the seminar on Exploring Liberty: Poverty and Prosperity, July 2006, Providence, Rhode Island, USA.

Liberty Fund conference, Education and Freedom, San Antonio, USA, March 2006

Speaker - 5th Annual Atlas Liberty Forum, April 2005, Miami, Florida – Focus on Latin America: Education Policy in Latin America

Speaker - Independent Schools' Council (ISC) Conference, March 2006, London

Liberty Fund Conference concerning the works of Hernando de Soto, Farfax, Virginia, January 2005.

George Mason University Law School, Mercatus Centre, seminar/presentation, January 12th 2005

Spontaneous Order Conference, George Mason University, organised by Atlas Economic Research Foundation, January 12th – 14th 2005.

Invited Guest speaker – The “Southern Economic Association Conference”, November, 2003, San Antonio, Texas, USA.

Invited Guest speaker – “Private Schools for the Poor” November, 2003, The Heritage Foundation, Washington DC, USA.

Selected invitations to prestigious publications include:

Invited to contribute (with James Tooley) a chapter on private education and the poor for the 2006 Index of Economic Freedom, published by The Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal, Washington DC. Also translated into the Spanish version “Los fracasos de la educacion publica en los paises en desarrollo y la respuesta popular”

Invited to contribute an article in Perspectiva published in Bogota, Columbia for the Politic Science Institute, the article “The failures of state schooling in developing countries and the people’s response” Perspectiva, No.9.

Projects

Postgraduate Teaching

MA (International Development and Education) and MEd (International Development and Education) pathway.

Modules include
EDU8214 - "Economics for Development: Competition, Innovation and Entrepreneurship"
EDU8211 - "Education Policy and Entrepreneurship for Development" and
EDU8212 "Placement module".

Also postgraduate teaching on research methods using quantitative data and SPSS
PhD students looking at areas of research in developing countries as well as international development and education and technology in developing countries