Dr Aliandra Barlete

Teaching Fellow in Education

Qualifications

PhD in Sociology of Education, Faculty of Education, Wolfson College, University of Cambridge (UK)

MPhil in Higher Education, University of Oslo (Norway), University of Tampere (Finland) and University of Aveiro (Portugal) - Erasmus Mundus Joint Degree 

BA in Social Communications, Federal University of Santa Maria (Brazil) 

Associate Fellow with the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA)

Responsibilities & affiliations

- British Association for International and Comparative Education (BAICE), Member

- British Educational Research Association (BERA), Member

- Comparative and International Education Studies (CIES), Member

- Early Career Higher Education Researchers Network (ECHER), Member

- Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain (PESGB), member 

 

Postgraduate teaching

I teach on the MSc in Comparative Education and International Development as well as on the MSc Education.

- Education Policy and the Politics of Education

- The Philosophy of Education

- Comparative Education and International Development 

- Comparative Analysis in Education

- Conceptualising Research: Foundations, Assumptions and Praxis

- Dissertation: Capstone Approach (MSc CEID)

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

No

Research summary

My main research interest is in the societal role of higher education. I study HE from multiple lenses, particularly sociological and comparative. I am also interested in the dynamics of change in education, particularly through education policy-making. 

For almost two decades I have researched about the international dimension of higher education. My main interest is the dynamics of regional and inter-regional higher education frameworks in the developing world, having studied Latin American regionalisms extensively.

Theoretically, I engage with critical approaches to explaining social phenomena. I have an interest in social theory, postcolonial/decolonial ideas. As a consequence, I have been redirecting my theoretical work towards exploring, as well as teaching about, 'Southern' theoretical understandings of educational phenomena (Connell, 2007, 2014).  

 

 

Current research interests

- Southern Social Theory and Education - Methodologies for the analysis of causal explanations in educational phenomena - Multiple approaches to education policy and policy analysis - The discourse and practices of quality and value in higher education

Knowledge exchange

I act as a reviewer for the journals: 

- Education Policy Analysis Archives

- Educação e realidade

- Globalisation, Societies and Education

- Journal of Studies in International Education

- Migration and Society

Affiliated research centres

Project activity

Southern Social theory and education: This project has the objective to critically discover, recognise and include ‘Southern’ theoretical perspectives in educational analysis. It aims to inspire students to develop critical analyses of education practice and policy using theoretical knowledge originating from the Global South, or postcolonial theories that critique hegemonic social science knowledge (from January 2022).

- The discourse and practices of quality and value in higher education:  This project is interested in the theoretical and empirical comparative analysis of the understanding of day-to-day quality enhancement practices in higher education. It departs from the concept of quality work, defined as the multiple practices that address the quality for educational provision (Elken & Stensaker, 2019; Elken et al, 2020) to explore the daily efforts for quality enhancement of higher education systems across the world (from July 2022).