Professor Matthew Clarke

I am interested in supervising doctoral projects that engage with educational policy and politics and that embrace a critical perspective on educational research in order to: a) understand the complex entanglements linking education and society; b) critique past and present education systems and practices; and c) identify alternatives for education policy, practice and research. I am interested in supervising work which inquires into (1) who benefits (and who does not) from current and historical arrangements in education? and; (2) from the standpoint of the least advantaged, what can be done about inequitable arrangements?

Past doctoral theses I have supervised include:

Parker, K. (2023). Diminishing inequalities? A critical feminist genealogy of education policy and practice in post-World War II England. York St John University, UK

Garratt-Ward, T. N. (2023). ‘Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain’: Lifting the veil on primary academization. York St John University, UK.

Whitfield, L. (2023). A rollercoaster of challenges and rewards: Early career primary teachers’ navigating and managing their professional identity against the current educational policy context. York St John University, UK.

Day, R. (2023). Reconsidering the presuppositions of the student-teacher selection process: A philosophical investigation. York St John University, UK.

Pennington, A. (2022). Colonising communities? Community engagement, democracy and the articulation of power in the governance of Multi-Academy Trusts in England, York St John University, UK.

Walker, E. (2020). Restorying ‘our school’: Mapping a school improvement counternarrative through space, place and the light of local knowledge. York St John University, UK.

Haines Lyon, C. (2019). Unpicking the neoliberal noose: Working towards democratic parent engagement in a primary school. York St John University, UK.

Elbra-Ramsay, C. (2019). Navigating the pedagogical, relational and moral economies of assessment: An analysis of the development of student teachers’ understanding of feedback. York St John University, UK.

Raymond, P. (2019). Creativity and/or performativity? A critical case study of tensions experienced by pre-service and early career teachers. York St John University, UK.

Wei, C. L. (2018). Towards a non-representational, abductive-driven research approach: Informed guessing for qualitative research. UNSW, Australia.

Tursini, U. (2014). Exploring changes in teachers’ pedagogic habitus: Case studies of English language teacher self-evaluation as a meditational activity. UNSW, Australia.

Lo, M.M. (2014). Negotiating and appropriating new literacies in English language classrooms in Hong Kong primary schools: Economies of knowledge, attention and enjoyment. University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.

Yang, B. (2013). Language, identity and power in bilingual education: Policy enactment in three bilingual Tibetan school communities in Sichuan, China. UNSW, Australia.

Yawiloeng, R. (2013). Self-regulation in EFL writing composition: From private speech to the triadic system. UNSW, Australia.

Chan, C. (2011). Discourses of collaboration in English language teaching. University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.

Danjun, Y. (2010). In search of self: Understanding teacher learning in a cross-institutional teacher community. University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.

Hennig, B. (2010). Language learning and the self: Exploring Hong Kong students' motivation for learning German as a third language from a Foucauldian ethical perspective. University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.

Gu, M. (2007). The discursive construction of English language learners' motivation in China: A multilevel perspective. University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.