Research

Robin Alexander’s research career covers the period since 1977 when he moved from teaching in schools and colleges to working in universities. During this period he developed lines of enquiry in six areas: (i) curriculum conceptualisation, development, reform, expertise and management; (ii) international, comparative and development education; (iii) pedagogy, teachers, teacher education and professional development; (iv) policy and policy-making in education; (v) primary education; (vi) talk in teaching and learning, and dialogue in education. The primary phase of education has been a constant throughout, providing both a focus in its own right and a context for other research and culminating to date in the wide-ranging Cambridge Primary Review and its successor the Cambridge Primary Review Trust.

  • Classroom talk, social disadvantage and educational attainment: raising standards, closing the gap (the CPRT/UoY Dialogic Teaching Project) (Education Endowment Foundation 2014-17)
  • Cambridge Primary Review Trust (Pearson Education, 2013-17)
  • Cambridge Primary Review (Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, 2006-12)
  • The Education of Six-Year Olds in England, Denmark and Finland (Ofsted, 2002-3)
  • Definitions, Indicators and Measures of Pedagogical Quality in Development Education (EC, 2002-3 and DfID, 2007-8)
  • Teacher Status Project (DfES, 2002-6)
  • Dialogic Teaching Development (QCA 2002-3, North Yorkshire County Council 2004-6, Barking and Dagenham Council 2005-7, Bolton Council 2007-11)
  • Theories, Methods and Applications in Comparative Educational Research (ESRC, 1997-2000)
  • Curriculum Co-ordination in Primary Schools (Birmingham, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire LEAs, 1997-8)
  • Primary Education in Five Cultures (Leverhulme Trust, 1994-8 and 2002-4, with additional support from the British Council and the University of Warwick).
  • Change in Curriculum-Associated Discourse and Pedagogy in Primary Schools (CICADA) (ESRC, 1991-3)
  • Evaluation of National Curriculum Assessment at Key Stage 2 (ENCA 1) (SEAC, 1990-92)
  • Heinemann Our World Primary Curriculum Development Project (HOW) (Heinemann Educational, 1989-92)
  • Primary Needs Independent Evaluation Project (PRINDEP) (Leeds City Council, 1986-91).
  • Primary Teachers’ Professional Knowledge-in-Action (Leeds University, 1986-7)
  • Course Validation in Teacher Education (Nuffield Foundation, 1978-80)
  • Innovation, Change and Continuity in Teacher Education (SSRC, 1974-6)