School of Education

Dr Thomas Ralph

Dr Thomas Ralph

Senior Lecturer in Education / PGCE Secondary Programme Director / PGCE Secondary Mathematics Subject Lead

 T.Ralph@exeter.ac.uk

 4762

 +44 (0) 1392 724762

 Baring Court BC117

 

Baring Court, University of Exeter St Luke's Campus, Heavitree Road, Exeter, EX1 2LU, UK

Overview

I am the Programme Director for the Secondary PGCE course and lead the Secondary Mathematics PGCE. I also teach on the MSc and MA programmes as well as supervising dissertation and PhD students.

My research interests focus on resistant students in school, how they make use of space to make school the kind of place they want to be and how they make their voices heard. I am also interested in the effects of this on mathematics education. 

Prior to working at Exeter, I spent 11 years teaching in various schools in London and Dorset. I also worked as a consultant at SMILE Maths developing educational software. Most recently I was a head of department in a school which specialised in Mathematics.

Qualifications

PhD Education, University of Exeter. 2016

MSc Educational Research, University of Exeter; Distinction. 2010

MEd Education, University of Exeter; Distinction. 2008

PGCE Secondary Mathematics, Kings College. 1998

BSc & ARCS Mathematics. Imperial College. 1997

Senior Fellow of The Higher Education Academy

National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics Accredited Professional Development Lead

Career

2019 - Present, Senior Lecturer in Education, University of Exeter.

2014 - 2019, Lecturer in Education, University of Exeter.

2009 - 2014, Teacher Education Research Fellow, University of Exeter.

2006-2009, Head of Maths. Rossmore Community College.

1998-2006, Teacher of Maths in various schools in London and Dorset.

Research group links

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Research

Research interests

My research interests focus on resistant students in school, how they make use of space to make school the kind of place they want to be and how they make their voices heard. My PhD research focussed on these matters and how they affected a specific group of disenfranchised pupils attending a sponsored academy which was in the process of being rebuilt. 

I am also interested in the effects of these issues on mathematics education as well as maintaining an interest in initial teacher education.

Research grants

  • 2016 European Union
    PROTeach
  • 2012 EPSRC
    Empowering Partnerships, Enabling Engagement

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Publications

Books

RALPH T (2023). Student Voice, Behaviour, and Resistance in the Classroom Environment Lessons from Disruptive and Disaffected School Children., Routledge New and Critical Studies in Education. Abstract.

Journal articles

Ralph T (2023). Student Voice, Behaviour, and Resistance in the Classroom Environment.
Ralph T (2019). Non-compliance as a substitute for voice. Research Papers in Education, 36(2), 176-195. Abstract.
Ralph T, Levinson M (2019). Survival in the badlands: an exploration of disaffected students’ uses of space in a UK secondary school. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 40(8), 1188-1203.
Koutsouris G, Norwich B, Fujita T, Ralph T, Adlam A, Milton F (2017). Piloting a dispersed and inter-professional Lesson Study using technology to link team members at a distance. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 26(5), 587-599. Abstract.
Norwich B, Koutsouris G, Fujita T, Ralph T, Adlam A, Milton F (2016). Exploring knowledge bridging and translation in Lesson Study using an inter-professional team. International Journal of Lesson and Learning Studies, 5(3), 180-195. Abstract.

Chapters

Ralph T (2023). A Compartmentalised Experience of School. In  (Ed) Student Voice, Behaviour, and Resistance in the Classroom Environment, Routledge, 202-221.
Ralph T (2023). Creating Places of Resistance. In  (Ed) Student Voice, Behaviour, and Resistance in the Classroom Environment, Routledge, 66-90.
Ralph T (2023). Disaffected Young People, Relationships with School Staff and Student Voice. In  (Ed) Student Voice, Behaviour, and Resistance in the Classroom Environment, Routledge, 123-135.
Ralph T (2023). Introduction. In  (Ed) Student Voice, Behaviour, and Resistance in the Classroom Environment, Routledge, 1-9.
Ralph T (2023). Issues of Space and Place in School. In  (Ed) Student Voice, Behaviour, and Resistance in the Classroom Environment, Routledge, 52-65.
Ralph T (2023). Movement and Barriers to Movement in the School. In  (Ed) Student Voice, Behaviour, and Resistance in the Classroom Environment, Routledge, 91-122.
Ralph T (2023). Place and its Investigation. In  (Ed) Student Voice, Behaviour, and Resistance in the Classroom Environment, Routledge, 28-51.
Ralph T (2023). Power, Resistance and Voice. In  (Ed) Student Voice, Behaviour, and Resistance in the Classroom Environment, Routledge, 10-27.
Ralph T (2023). Resistance is Not Futile. In  (Ed) Student Voice, Behaviour, and Resistance in the Classroom Environment, Routledge, 222-229.
Ralph T (2023). The Limitations of Democratic Student Voice Structures. In  (Ed) Student Voice, Behaviour, and Resistance in the Classroom Environment, Routledge, 155-170.
Ralph T (2023). The Nature of Schoolwork and its Relationship to Identity and Resistance. In  (Ed) Student Voice, Behaviour, and Resistance in the Classroom Environment, Routledge, 183-201.
Ralph T (2023). Unconventional Relationships and Trust. In  (Ed) Student Voice, Behaviour, and Resistance in the Classroom Environment, Routledge, 136-154.
Ralph T (2023). Vocational Education, Imagined Futures and Cruel Optimism. In  (Ed) Student Voice, Behaviour, and Resistance in the Classroom Environment, Routledge, 171-182.
Ralph T, Levinson M (2019). Conflicting Communication About the Ownership and Meaning of Places in a School in South West England. In Collins P, Igreja V, Danaher P (Eds.) The Nexus among Place, Conflict and Communication in a Globalising World, Singapore: Springer, 79-98. Abstract.

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External Engagement and Impact

External Examiner Positions

External Examiner, Secondary Mathematics PGCE, London Metropolitan University, 2022 to date.

External Examiner, Secondary PGCE, University of Oxford, 2020 to date.

External Examiner, Secondary Mathematics PGCE, Reading University, 2017 to 2020.


Research-based contributions to practitioner and academic conferences

ECER Hamburg, 2019, ‘It’s Just a You Thing’: Movement and Resistance in School

Physmaths Conference, Exeter Mathematics School, 2019, Using Student Voice to Improve Teaching and Learning in Mathematics

ECER Bolzano, 2018, Disaffected Students’ Uses of Space in a UK Secondary School

ECER Bolzano, 2018, Disorientation as a Strategy for Endogenous Understanding

ECER Copenhagen, 2017, Resistance, Imagined Futures, Cruel Optimism and a Compartmentalised Experience of School

Physmaths Conference, Exeter Mathematics School, 2017 & 2018, Every Pupil Can Succeed at Maths

ECER, Dublin, 2016, Non-Compliance as a Substitute for Voice

Future Teaching Scholars Annual Conference, 2016 & 2017, Every Pupil Can Succeed at Maths 

ECER, Budapest, 2015, Cultures of Resistance

ECER, Cadiz, 2012, Home Culture, School Ethos and Engagement

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Teaching

I am currently the Programme Director for the Secondary PGCE course as well as being the module lead on the PGCE Secondary Mathematics course. 

I also teach on the Scientific Methodologies module, part of the MSc Educational Research, as well as the Debating the Big Questions in Education and Independent Study modules, part of the MA Education. I supervise both masters dissertation and PhD students.

Modules

2023/24


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