More Pembroke news
Parental Engagement in Children’s Education: Catherine Jones
NEWS |
Catherine Jones (2012, Experimental Psychology) has recently accepted a place on the Doctorate in Education at Warwick along with a full studentship from the ESRC. Catherine discussed her time at Pembroke and how her teaching career has developed in the years since:
“I’ve always had an interest in education, and in educational inequality in particular. As an undergraduate student I was Pembroke Access Rep and chose to study advanced options in ‘Psychology in Education’ and ‘Mathematical Development and Mathematical Disabilities’. My favourite part of my degree was my independent research project which examined the relationship between socioeconomic status, inhibitory control, and number acuity in young children.
After graduating from Pembroke, I went on to work for OUSU as Vice-President (Access & Academic Affairs). I then joined Teach First, completed my PGCE, and spent three years teaching in a challenging primary school in Birmingham. Alongside my full-time teaching role, I completed a Masters in Education Leadership at the University of Warwick. As with my undergraduate degree, the independent research was my favourite part of the course. I scored 90 on my dissertation which investigated parental engagement with schools and children’s learning. I’m in the process of submitting the findings for publication.
As a result, I was encouraged by my supervisor to apply for a Doctorate in Education course and ESRC funding. I am looking forward to researching parental engagement on a national scale over the coming years. I think it is vital that educational research stays in touch with the day-to-day realities of schools so I will by studying for the Doctorate on a part-time basis so that I can also continue to teach.”
