Dr Rachel Shanks

Biography

I have worked in higher education, community education, the trade union movement and the voluntary sector. In higher education, I have been a law lecturer, worked in the University of Aberdeen’s former Centre for Lifelong Learning and I am currently a Senior Lecturer in Education.

In the late 1990s, I led the Trade Union Congress partnership project Bargaining for Skills, in the East and West Midlands regions in England, working with trade unions, employers, colleges and Training and Enterprise Councils. I have also been an adult education tutor and worked for the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux (NACAB) and a local Citizens Advice Bureau.

Prizes and Awards

Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (Advance HE)

Teaching Qualification Further Education/ BA Professional Development Team, 2021

Research Overview

My research is currently focused on school uniform. I have produced briefings on the affordability of school uniforms and the school clothing grant in Scotland.

I also research professional learning and mentoring covering both formal and informal learning, in particular during teacher induction.

Children and young people's rights combine my legal and community work background and my interest in social justice.

Current Research

Professional learning

Co-Investigator of Measuring Quality in Initial Teacher Education (MQuITE)

Mentoring

University students mentoring school students

Children's Human Rights in Education

This includes Human Rights Education and young people and participation in decision-making.

School uniform, dress code and appearance policies. 

Collaborations

I am a member of an international research network Children’s Human Rights Education which is being funded by the Swedish Research Council between 2021 and 2025. Thirteen members of the European Educational Research Association Network 25 aim to strengthen international collaboration in research into human rights education for children. Theory development, joint publications and funding applications are planned. The network also aims to find and invite researchers from regions that are underrepresented in children’s rights research. 

Funding and Grants

In 2021 I received pump-prime funding for interdisciplinary research from the University of Aberdeen for work on the Affordability and Sustainability of School Uniform. This pilot study has investigated the impact of school uniform banks on the affordability and sustainability of school uniforms in Scotland.

Principal Investigator of BERA COVID-19 research: New teachers’ responses to COVID-19: building on Initial Teacher Education for their professional learning.

Co-Investigator of Measuring Quality of Initial Teacher Education (MQuITE) in Scotland funded by the Scottish Government 2017- A longitudinal study involving all higher education institutions that provide initial teacher education in Scotland.

Co-Investigator of EU Marie Curie COFUND grant (2018-22) Political Concepts in the World (POLITICO). The POLITICO PhD programme builds on the success of the interdisciplinary training provided by the University of Aberdeen’s Centre for Citizenship, Civil Society and the Rule of Law (CISRUL), which specializes in the global application of political ideas. 

Teaching Responsibilities

Course Co-ordinator for:

SX1011 Sustainability: Challenges and Opportunities

SX1521 Sustainable International Development

ED505P Using NVivo for Qualitative Data Analysis

Non-course Teaching Responsibilities

NVivo training for staff and postgraduate students

Personal tutor