Fiona Couper Kenney

Thesis title: How do children, parents and professionals understand school non-attendance? Exploring tensions in policy and practice in Scotland

Background

Having worked in other fields, I came to study education due to a growing awareness of the lack of sufficient understanding and support of the education of children who do not attend school while being on the school roll.  I hope that this research contributes to better equip our system for all children. I am delighted to have been awarded the Principal's Career Development Scholarship in order to do this.  

Qualifications

MEd, Open University (2017)

PhD Speech Technology, University of Edinburgh (2008)

MSc Speech and Language Processing, University of Edinburgh (2002)

BSc Mathematics, University of London (2001)

Research summary

I'm interested in constructions and experiences of non-attendance at Scottish Secondary schools. I am using a rights-based approach and will be conducting a mixed methods study in order to contribute to the better understanding of patterns and causes of attendance and non-attendance. 

Current research interests

School attendance, non-attendance, additional support needs, child rights.