Prof. Ian Stronach
Ian Stronach MA, MEd, PhD was appointed Professor of Education in the Faculty of Education, Community and Leisure in December 2008. He is Co-Director of the Centre for Educational Research and Evaluation Services (CERES), having previously been Research Professor at the Institute of Education, MMU, and Professor at Stirling University.
His recent journal publications address teacher education, alternative education, professionalism, and methodological and theoretical issues. His latest paper ‘Economic “Revelations” and the metaphors of the meltdown’ (ICQI, Illinois, 2012) is available here. He has also published extensively on the educational implications of the so-called Credit Crunch (Research Intelligence, Forum, Qualitative Inquiry, 2009-11), and published a cultural deconstruction of the Santa phenomenon in Anthropology Today (2011). That latter publication drew on data gathered by undergraduate student teachers at LJMU. Further publications include the American Educational Research Journal (2008) Qualitative Inquiry (2007 and 2011), Educational Researcher (with Patti Lather, 2009), the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (2007) and the Journal of Education Policy. Current books: Don’t touch!’ The educational story of a moral panic. (Routledge, 2008, with H. Piper) and Globalizing education, educating the local. How method made us mad. (Routledge 2010). The latter has now been released in paperback (2011). He was recently invited to edit a Special Section of the International Review of Qualitative Research (ed. Denzin) featuring the work of CERES, LJMU members, contributing to two of the articles (4, 2, 2011). He has further articles under review by the Journal of Education Policy, and the British Educational Research Journal.
His specialism include qualitative inquiry, educational evaluation, anthropology, cultural theory, and action research. Stronach was Keynote speaker in May 2008 at the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign). He led an Invited Symposium at the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (Illinois) in 2009, and contributes regularly to publications emanating from that conference (ed. Denzin & Giardina, 2008, 2011). He has delivered keynotes at SERA, BERA, ICSEI, and CARN conferences, as well as for the Higher Education in Southern Africa Conference.
Ian has secured substantial research funding from a number of national bodies in the UK, including the ESRC, Ministries of Health and Education, and the national nursing authority. His research and evaluation work covers a number of professional areas, including health education, nurse education and school education. Since 2001 he has won 5 awards from the Economic and Social Research Council, including 2 for running Advanced Doctoral Training workshops. In the same period he supervised more than 20 students to successful doctoral completion. These have included international students from places as various as Slovenia, Uganda, Ireland and Zimbabwe. He is research consultant to a range of institutions, from the famous Summerhill School in England to the Slovenian Government, in relation to ‘quality’ and ‘evaluation’ issues in education. His most recent funded research looked at professional issues (ESRC), especially the early professional learning of teachers (eds McNally & Blake 2010), and moral panic issues concerning ‘touch’ in professional contexts (Stronach & Piper 2008; Stronach & Smears 2011).
Ian led three successful bids for the Editorship of Britain’s leading educational research journal (British Educational Research Journal), and was Editor for 11 years (1996 – 2007). He remains on the Editorial Team of Power & Education, a journal he helped found, and is on the Board of Journal of Education and Work, Other Education, and Managing Global Transitions.
