I joined CAMRI in 2017 as a Doctoral Researcher on a Quentin Hogg Studentship. Previously, I worked in the television industry as a video editor, mainly making educational films. I have also worked in teaching in various contexts including schools, language schools and community arts. My current research explores the history of media policy, television and radio as a public service of education, educational media, and language and communication in media. In 2018 I was the research assistant on the British Academy funded project ‘Marshall Plan Films about Turkey produced by British Filmmakers.’ I also received a research grant in 2018 from the History of Education Society to digitise the Institute of Education’s Radiovision collection. I am an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, having completed the University Certificate of Special Study (U Cert SS). I have taught on the modules Media and Society and Media and Globalisation at Westminster. I hold an Honours Degree in History and Philosophy from Glasgow University, an MA in Media Studies from The University of Amsterdam. I also have a PG Dip in Russian language and a HND in Television Production.

BBC Schools Broadcasting, Language, and Progressivism in Education

I am researching the history of BBC Schools television and radio broadcasting. BBC Schools was the largest part of the BBC’s educational programming (which also contained adult education and further education), running from the late 1920s until the 1990s. During the peak of its popularity in the 1970s and 80s, BBC schools programmes, and their associated printed materials, were used in over 90% of UK schools. The BBC was a major provider of educational resources to schools, and a significant innovator in resources research. My project focuses on programmes for teaching literacy – reading, writing and in some cases speaking, in the period 1957-73. I look at the interaction between theories of language and literacy, then being pursued by linguists and sociologists, and the production of educational media. I also look at the position of educational broadcasting with regard to the theory and practice of progressivism in education. Progressivism was associated with child development, educational psychology, discovery learning and project learning, and dialogism in teacher pupil relationships. I work in archives including the BBC written archive, the Institute of Education Special Collections, and the National Archive, and conduct interviews with former BBC practitioners, teachers, and policy makers.