Robin Alexander Explained

Robin Alexander is a British educationist and academic known particularly for championing the cause of primary education,^{[1] [2]} for his leadership of the Cambridge Primary Review,^[3] and for his research and writing on education policy, culture, curriculum, pedagogy, dialogic teaching^[4] and comparative and international education. He is currently Fellow of Wolfson College at the University of Cambridge and Professor of Education Emeritus at the University of Warwick.^[5] In 2011 he was elected Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), the UK's national academy for the humanities and social sciences and chaired its Education Section 2018-21.^[6]

Career

The son of artist Isabel Alexander and documentary film-maker Donald Alexander, he was born in 1941 and educated at the Perse School and the universities of Cambridge (Downing College, MA, PhD, LittD), Durham (PGCE), London (Ac Dip Ed) and Manchester (MEd), and at Trinity College of Music (ATCL). He taught in schools and colleges before moving to the universities of Leeds (1977–95) and Warwick (1995–2001), at both of which he was Professor of Education. In 2001 he moved to Cambridge University, as Visiting Fellow of Hughes Hall (2001–2), Leverhulme Emeritus Fellow (2002–4), Fellow of Wolfson College (since 2004),^[7] Professorial Director of Research in the Faculty of Education (2006–10)^[8] and Director of the Cambridge Primary Review (2006–12).^[3] From 2013 to 2017 he combined his Cambridge affiliation with an honorary chair at the University of York and leadership of the Cambridge Primary Review Trust (CPRT), a not-for-profit company dedicated to building on the work of the Cambridge Primary Review.^[9] At the University of York he also co-directed the joint CPRT/IEE project on dialogic teaching and social disadvantage, funded 2014–17 and successfully subjected to randomised control trial by the Education Endowment Foundation.^[10]

Public roles

• Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA) (1975–84)
• Chair, Association for the Study of Primary Education, 1987–89^[11]
• Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (CATE) (1989–94)
• Department for Education and Science (DES) ‘three wise men’ enquiry into primary education (1991–2)^[12]
• BFI/TES Warnock Commission on the Teaching of English (1992–3)^[13]
• Government of India District Primary Education Programme^[14] and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan,^[15] technical support on behalf of the European Commission (EC) and the Department for International Development (DfID) (1995–2005)
• Board of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) (1997–2002)
• Adviser to Hong Kong Council for Academic Accreditation and University Grants Committee (Hong Kong) (1999–2005)
• Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) enquiry into the Education of Six-Year Olds in England, Denmark and Finland (2002–03)
• Director, Dialogos UK Ltd (2004–)^[16]
• Director, Cambridge Primary Review, 2006–2012^[17]
• President, British Association for International and Comparative Education, 2008–09^[18]
• Court, Bishop Grosseteste University (2011–)
• International Steering Committee, Van Leer Jerusalem Institute (2012–13)^[19]
• Chair, Director and Trustee, Cambridge Primary Review Trust (2012–17)^[20]
• Strategic Committee, Expert Subject Advisory Groups (ESAG) (2013–16)^[21]
• Board of Governors, Bath Spa University (2013–18)^[22]
• Vice-President, Early Education (2014–15)^[23]
• Board of Trustees, Children and the Arts, formerly the Prince's Foundation for Children and the Arts (2014–21).^[24]

Publications

Alexander's research has yielded over 300 publications.^[25] These deal mainly with pedagogy and classroom research, discourse analysis and classroom talk reform, curriculum, the educational policy process and its impact, and international, comparative and development education. Much of this work has focused on the primary phase of schooling. His books and monographs include:

• Professional Studies for Teaching (1979)
• Developments in PGCE Courses (1980)
• Advanced Study for Teachers (1981)
• The Self-Evaluating Institution (1982)
• Primary Teaching (1984)
• Change in Teacher Education (1984)
• Changing Primary Practice (1989)
• Policy and Practice in Primary Education (1992)
• Curriculum Organisation and Classroom Practice in Primary Schools (1992)
• Innocence and Experience: reconstructing primary education (1994)
• Versions of Primary Education (1995)
• Other Primary Schools and Ours: hazards of international comparison (1996)
• Policy and Practice in Primary Education: local initiative, national agenda (1997)
• Time for Change: curriculum managers at work (1998)
• Learning from Comparing: new directions in comparative educational research: Volume 1, Contexts, Classrooms and Outcomes (1999)
• Learning from Comparing: new directions in comparative educational research: Volume 2, Policy, Professionals and development (2000)
• Culture and Pedagogy (2001)
• Towards Dialogic Teaching (2004, 5th edition 2017)
• Education as Dialogue: moral and pedagogical choices for a runaway world (2006)
• Essays on Pedagogy (2008)
• Education for All, the Quality Imperative and the Problem of Pedagogy (1998)
• Children, their World, their Education: final report and recommendations of the Cambridge Primary Review (2010)
• The Cambridge Primary Review Research Surveys (2010).^[25]
• A Dialogic Teaching Companion (2020)
• Education in Spite of Policy (2022)
• Rhondda Portraits (2024)

He has been an occasional columnist for the Times Educational Supplement, The Guardian and other national newspapers^[26] and from 2014 to 2017 edited and contributed to the weekly CPRT Blog.^[27]

Honours and awards

• American Educational Research Association (AERA) Outstanding Book Award (for Culture and Pedagogy), 2001^{[28] [29]}
• Society for Educational Studies Book Awards, First Prize (for Culture and Pedagogy), 2002^[30]
• Sir Edward Youde Memorial Visiting Professor, Hong Kong Institute of Education, 2005–06^[31]
• Honorary Fellow (FCollT), the College of Teachers, 2009^[32]
• Honorary doctorates from Manchester Metropolitan University and Bishop Grosseteste University, 2010^[33]
• Miegunyah Distinguished Visiting Fellow, University of Melbourne, 2010^[34]
• C.K.Koh Visiting Professor, National Institute of Education, Singapore, 2010^[35]
• Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS), 2011^[36]
• Association for Managers in Education (AMiE) Award for Services to Education, 2011
• Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), 2011
• National Union of Teachers, Fred and Anne Jarvis Award for Campaigning for Education, 2011
• Society for Educational Studies Book Awards, First Prize (for Children, their World, their Education), 2011^[37]
• Cambridge Journal of Education Best Paper Prize, 2011^[38]
• BERA/Sage Public Impact Award for initiation and leadership of the Cambridge Primary Review and Cambridge Primary Review Trust (2015).^{[39] [40]}
• Honorary doctorate from The Open University (2018).^[41]

External links

• Who's Who
• Cambridge Primary Review Trust
• Wolfson College, University of Cambridge
• British Academy
• Robin Alexander: official website

Notes and References

1. Web site: Primary Mover – The Guardian – 2006.
2. Web site: NUT Fred and Anne Jarvis Award.
3. Web site: About the Cambridge Primary Review. cprtrust.org.uk. 2016-07-20.
4. Web site: Dialogic Teaching – Robin Alexander. en-US. 2016-07-20.
5. Web site: Who's Who. www.ukwhoswho.com. 2016-07-20.
6. Web site: Professor Robin Alexander British Academy. British Academy. 2016-07-20.
7. Web site: Fellows Wolfson College Cambridge. www.wolfson.cam.ac.uk. 2016-07-20.
8. Web site: Faculty of Education. www.educ.cam.ac.uk. 2016-07-20.
9. Web site: The Cambridge Primary Review Trust – ...children, their world, their education. cprtrust.org.uk. 2016-07-20.
10. Web site: CPRT/IEE Dialogic Teaching Project. cprtrust.org.uk. 2016-07-20.
11. Web site: ASPE: About ASPE. www.aspe-uk.eu. 2016-07-20.
12. Web site: Three Wise Men Report (1992) – full text online. https://web.archive.org/web/20100611065011/http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/threewisemen/. dead. 11 June 2010. Gillard. Derek. www.educationengland.org.uk. 2016-07-20.
13. Book: Report of the Commission of Inquiry into English: balancing literature, language and media in the National Curriculum. British Film Institute. 1994.
14. Web site: Elementary and Secondary Education: District Primary Education Programme – Education – Sectors: National Portal of India. www.archive.india.gov.in. 2016-07-20.
15. Web site: Elementary Education Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development. mhrd.gov.in. 2016-07-20.
16. Web site: DIALOGOS UK LIMITED – Officers (free information from Companies House). beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. 2016-07-20.
17. Web site: About the Cambridge Primary Review. cprtrust.org.uk. 2016-07-20.
18. Web site: BAICE at the 2009 UKFIET Conference. Diaconescu. Adrian. 2009-09-16. en-US. 2016-07-20.
19. Web site: Home מכון ון ליר בירושלים. www.vanleer.org.il. 2016-07-20.
20. Web site: The Cambridge Primary Review Trust – ...children, their world, their education. www.cprtrust.org.uk. 2016-07-20.
21. Web site: Expert Subject Advisory Groups Experts. expertsubjectgroups.co.uk. 2016-07-20.
22. Web site: Bath Spa University Board of governors. 2016-07-20.
23. Web site: Welcome to Early Education Early Education. www.early-education.org.uk. 2016-07-28.
24. Web site: Trustees. Arts. The Prince's Foundation for Children & the. Children & the Arts. 2016-07-20.
25. Web site: Publications – Robin Alexander. en-US. 2016-07-20.
26. Web site: Prof Robin Alexander - journalisted.com. journalisted.com. 2016-07-20.
27. Web site: CPRT Posts. cprtrust.org.uk. 2016-07-20.
28. Web site: Outstanding Book Award. www.aera.net. 2016-07-20.
29. Web site: Culture and Pedagogy: International Comparisons in Primary Education.
30. Web site: Home The Society for Educational Studies. www.soc-for-ed-studies.org.uk. 2016-07-20.
31. Web site: Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fund 1987–2007, 20th Anniversary Commemorative Album.
32. Web site: Robin Alexander, honorary fellow 2009.
33. Web site: Robin Alexander, honorary graduate 2010 – MMU.
34. Web site: The Perils of Policy: success, amnesia and collateral damage in systemic educational reform Presented by Professor Robin Alexander.
35. Web site: CJ Koh Professorship 2010: A Perspective on Educational Reform Corporate Development NIE News June 2010. www.nie.edu.sg. 2016-07-20.
36. Web site: Fellows – Academy of Social Sciences. en-US. 2016-07-20.
37. Web site: Grants, Prizes and Applications The Society for Educational Studies. www.soc-for-ed-studies.org.uk. 2016-07-20.
38. Web site: Cambridge Journal of Education. www.tandfonline.com. 2016-07-20.
39. Web site: York academic recognised for public impact in education – News and events, The University of York. www.york.ac.uk. 2016-07-22.
40. Web site: BERA SAGE Public Impact Award BERA. www.bera.ac.uk. 2016-07-22.
41. Web site: Open University. 2018. Cumulative list of honorary graduates.