Kirsten Purcell, BA (Hons) MPhil (Cantab)

PhD candidate

My research examines English education policy, focusing on the Academy schools programme, investigating the discourses that are articulated by actors at different scales and in different economic, social and political contexts.

Biography

Qualifications

PhD Geography, University of Cambridge (2006 - present)
MPhil Geographical Research, University of Cambridge (2005 - 2006)
BA Geography, University of Cambridge (2002 - 2005)

Research

Under the Labour Government, Academies were publicly-funded independent schools led by sponsors from business, faith, educational or charitable organisations. Set within wider policy discourses about academic standards, school choice and diversity, public-private partnerships and equality of opportunity, the Academy schools programme reflected broader priorities and changes in Labour education policy. My research aims to identify and analyse these policy discourses, investigating how, by whom and in which instances and locations these discourses were employed, reworked and challenged.

My study involves analysing the similarities, differences and linkages between the discourses drawn upon by individuals at different scales, comparing local discourses identified in three case study sites, firstly with each other, and secondly with national discourses. In so doing, the impact of local context on the discourses employed to justify and contest the setting up of Academies are investigated, bringing a geographical perspective to a field of study that often underplays the importance of place.

Publications

Articles

Purcell, K. (2011) 'Discourses of aspiration, opportunity and attainment: promoting and contesting the Academies programme'. Children's Geographies, 9(1), 49-61
Purcell, K. (2010) 'Academy consultation meetings: local discourse on a national policy'. In: Gunter, H., (eds.) The State and Education Policy: the Academies Programme. London: Continuum, pp.66-78

Conference and seminar papers

'Local discourse on a national policy: The case of Academy schools', Royal Geographical Society Annual International Conference, London, August 2010
'Discursive spaces of the Academies programme: making and contesting claims of innovation and change', Geographies of Education Conference, Department of Geography, Loughborough University, September 2009
'Examining English Education Policy Discourses: The case of Academy schools', Spaces of Economy and Society Research Cluster Seminar, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, May 2009
'Studying the Academies programme in England', Politics of Education Colloquium, Teachers College, Columbia University, April 2009
'Discourses surrounding Academy schools: Breaking the cycle of under-performance in disadvantaged areas?', Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, Las Vegas, March 2009
'Academies: Neoliberal educational institutions?', Royal Geographical Society Annual International Conference, London, August 2008
'Supporting, Justifying and Contesting Labour Education Policy Discourses: The Case of Academies', Academies Research Seminar, School of Education, University of Manchester, May 2008

Teaching

Lecturer, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Part IA: People, Space and Geographies of Difference (2009 - present)
Supervisor, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Part II: Undergraduate dissertations (2008 - present)
Lecturer and practical demonstrator, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Part IB: Geography and Public Policy (2007 - present)
Supervisor of Studies, Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge (2007-2009)
Supervisor, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Part IB: Geography and Public Policy (2007 - 2008)
Supervisor, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Part IA: People, Space and Geographies of Difference (2006 - 2009)