Robert Sulley

I am a Research Postgraduate focusing on the history of education in 19th century Britain. My main interest is the impact of national policy decisions on the organisation and running of schools at local level. I completed my first degree at St John's College, University of Oxford and my Master's degree at the University of Leicester. I commenced my current research project after a career in Educational Publishing, during which I worked closely with schools and Ministries of Education in the UK and internationally. This led to an interest in educational policy and its impact on the development of school organisation and classroom practice. 

My MA dissertation focused on one of the major recent trends in educational policy in England; the creation of Academy schools within the state system, independent of local democratic control. This led me to question how and why local democratic control was first introduced, which in turn led me to a period of significant and highly contested education reform from 1870 to 1914, with the established Church, non-conformist dissenters, radicals, and the State as the main actors. Education in the midlands was a key ‘battleground’ between these actors with Leicester and Leicestershire on the boundary between the largely Anglican south and strong nonconformist organisation in the north. My current research is focused on the impact of school reform and the introduction of local democratic control in Leicester and Leicestershire during this period.   

 

 

University of Leicester

MA (Awarded with Distinction)

Comparative International Education

Extended essay: "Innovation and Reform in the post-apartheid South African school curriculum."
Dissertation: "An investigation into the reasons why successful schools in England choose to leave local authority control and convert to Academy status."

University of Oxford

BA (Hons), MA (Oxon) 

Chemistry

Thesis title: "Metal deposition on oxide surfaces: An investigation by Electron Spectroscopy."