Overview
I am a Lecturer in Education, having joined the Graduate School of Education in 2018. My research explores aspects of inequalities in compulsory and higher education, and I have a particular interest in gender, social class, disability and the intersection of these identity facets. My approach might be located within a sociological perspective. I gained my PhD at Exeter in 2017, for which I conducted a qualitative case study set in an elite British university that explored young women’s negotiations of academic achievement whilst studying either a male-dominated STEM or female-dominated arts/humanities discipline.
After gaining my PhD, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher on a number of projects being conducted within the Graduate School of Education. These included an ESRC-SWDTP funded methodological project on thematic qualitative data analysis, a Nuffield Foundation funded systematic review of the organisational arrangements of reading interventions for struggling readers, and an ESRC Impact Accelerator project that explored mental health leadership and policy in selected case study schools across England.
I am interested in qualitative research methods, including focus groups and diary methods. I am fully trained in systematic literature review methodology and have conducted and published quantitative and qualitative systematic reviews. I am currently working as PI and Co-I on several internally and externally funded research projects that explore aspects of inclusion and exclusion in education.
Qualifications
2017: PhD Education, University of Exeter (+3 ESRC funded)
2013: MSc Educational Research, University of Exeter
2010: BA Sociology, University of Exeter
2020: Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
2017: Stage 1 & 2 LTHE, University of Exeter
Research
Research projects
My research activities include the following projects:
2021-2022: Gender, mental health and students' secondary school experiences – TREE/Wellcome Trust, (PI)
This project seeks to explore students' negotiations of gender and mental health in selected secondary schools in England, with a particular focus on understanding the challenges that students can encounter in a 'pressurised' education system. This project adopts a rapid ethnographic approach.
2019-2022: Supporting Practices for Inclusive Schooling & Education for Youth (SPISEY) – ERASMUS+, (Co-I)
The main purpose of the SPISEY project is to contribute to the implementation of the European strategy about early school leaving, the Inclusion and Diversity Strategy and the Pillar of Social Rights, especially focusing on school opportunities to a) offer high quality and inclusive education for all from early age, b) improve the transition process between lower and upper secondary / qualifying youth education, especially for those young students with learning difficulties and / or risk of social exclusion and c) improve employment prospects for young citizens with learning difficulties.
2020-2021: 'A literature review to understand the structures and processes that influence educational research activities in the UK' – British Educational Research Association (Co-I)
This project builds on and extends previous mapping activities that have been commissioned by BERA, the most recent of which was Alis Oancea and David Mills’ review to monitor the health and state of education research in the UK in 2015 as part of the BERA Observatory initiative. The current research takes the form of a systematic literature review to draw together published research evidence relevant to understanding the structures and processes (both formal and informal) that influence education research activities in UK HEIs.
2021: ‘The inclusive curriculum: Addressing inequalities and disadvantage in HE’ – Social Mobility Centre/Education Incubator (PI)
This project aims to critically explore the concept of the ‘inclusive curriculum’ and consider its utility as an approach to address and reduce social inequalities in HE. This includes a systematic literature review and a series of staff and student workshops to encourage critical and reflexive thinking around matters of inclusion/exclusion in HE.
2019-22: 'The gendered schooling experiences of young women identified with SEN' – British Academy/Leverhulme Trust (PI)
This project forms two strands: 1) a systematic literature review to synthesise research pertaining to the gendered schooling experiences of students identified with SEN, and; 2) a small-scale rapid, multi-method ethnographic study undertaken with young women to explore their negotiations of normative gendered expectations and SEN in the mainstream secondary school.
2013-2017: ESRC+3 PhD Studentship - 'Femininity, academic discipline and achievement: Women undergraduates’ accounts whilst studying either a STEM or arts/humanities discipline at a high-performing British university'
Conferences
I have presented at a number of international conferences including Gender and Education, British Sociological Association, British Educational Research Association, and European Conference on Educational Research.
Invited talks
I have been invited to deliver lectures and seminars on my research at universities across the world, including the UK, Spain and Australia. This includes a recent talk at University of Oxford in 2021 discussing critical approaches to inclusive pedagogies in HE, and a seminar on inclusion in HE at Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain.
Publications
Key publications | Publications by category | Publications by year
Publications by category
Journal articles
Stentiford L, Koutsouris G, Allan A (In Press). Girls, mental health and academic achievement: a qualitative systematic review.
Educational Review Full text.
Norwich B, Moore D, Stentiford L, Hall D (2022). A critical consideration of ‘mental health and wellbeing’ in education: thinking about school aims in terms of wellbeing.
British Educational Research JournalAbstract:
A critical consideration of ‘mental health and wellbeing’ in education: thinking about school aims in terms of wellbeing.
This paper examines ideas about mental health, wellbeing and school education to illustrate important issues in the relationship between mental health and education. The Covid crisis has amplified the pre-existing mental health problems of children and young people in England and the recognition of the opportunities in schools’ to address these. The paper gives an overview of child and adolescent mental health services and how they position the role of schools. It examines prominent concepts of mental health and their relationship to wellbeing, setting this in a discussion of ‘mentally healthy’ schools, mental health in special educational needs (SEN) and whole school approaches. This analysis shows how the relationship between mental health and wellbeing has not been adequately worked out, using this as the basis for arguing for the dual factor mental health model which separates mental illness/disorder from wellbeing as two related dimensions. The paper then translates the dual factor model into a two-dimensional framework that represents the distinctive but related aims of school education (wellbeing promotion) and mental health services (preventing, coping, helping mental health difficulties). This framework involves a complex conception of wellbeing, with schools playing an important role in promoting wellbeing (beyond emotional wellbeing), tiered models and establishing school-wide social emotional learning. It is about a whole school curriculum approach that involves considering what is to be learned and how it is taught. It contributes to a more nuanced concept of wellbeing that has a place for meaningful learning and challenge.
Abstract.
Full text.
Koutsouris G, Stentiford L, Norwich B (2022). A critical exploration of inclusion policies of elite UK universities.
British Educational Research Journal Full text.
Koutsouris G, Stentiford L, Benham-Clarke S, Hall D (2021). Agonism in education: a systematic scoping review and discussion of its educational potential.
Educational Review Full text.
Stentiford L, Koutsouris G, Boyle C, Jindal-Snape D, Salazar Rivera J, Benham-Clarke S (2021). The structures and processes governing education research in the UK from 1990-2020: a systematic scoping review.
Review of Education,
9(3).
Full text.
Stentiford L, Koutsouris G (2021). What are Inclusive Pedagogies in Higher Education?: a Systematic Scoping Review.
Studies in Higher Education,
46, 2245-2261.
Full text.
Koutsouris G, Anglin-Jaffe H, Stentiford L (2020). How well do we understand social inclusion in education?.
British Journal of Educational StudiesAbstract:
How well do we understand social inclusion in education?
The paper draws on the findings of a small-scale empirical study to discuss why the project of inclusion, despite a long history of legislative efforts from the Salamanca Statement onwards, still appears to be troubling. The study used scenarios to explore tensions between inclusion and individual choice experienced by young people in the context of everyday social interaction with reference to the intersection between disability, ethnicity, gender and social class. Building on the findings, we argue that understanding inclusion at the level of social interaction has important implications for inclusive education. We employ ideas from theoretical work on inclusion to suggest that in order to achieve inclusion in education or in society, a top down approach influenced by national and international policy and a rights discourse might not be sufficient; this is because inclusion processes also operate at the level of everyday social interaction where policy has less influence. Such processes, for instance individual choice, are often less explored or even ignored by the inclusion literature, as they are seen as questioning or threatening the moral imperative of including all people. This argument, thus, raises the question of how well we understand social inclusion and provides directions for further research.
Abstract.
Full text.
Finning K, Ukoumunne OC, Ford T, Danielson-Waters E, Shaw L, Romero De jager I, Stentiford L, Moore D (2019). Review: the association between anxiety and poor attendance at school – a systematic review.
Child and Adolescent Mental Health,
24(3), 205-2016.
Abstract:
Review: the association between anxiety and poor attendance at school – a systematic review
Background: Anxiety may be associated with poor attendance at school, which can lead to a range of adverse outcomes. We systematically reviewed the evidence for an association between anxiety and poor school attendance. Methods: Seven electronic databases were searched for quantitative studies that reported an estimate of association between anxiety and school attendance. Anxiety had to be assessed via standardised diagnostic measure or validated scale. Articles were screened independently by two reviewers. Meta-analyses were performed where possible, otherwise results were synthesised narratively. Results: a total of 4930 articles were screened. Eleven studies from six countries across North America, Europe and Asia, were included. School attendance was categorised into: (a) absenteeism (i.e. total absences), (b) excused/medical absences, (c) unexcused absences/truancy and (d) school refusal. Findings from eight studies suggested associations between truancy and any anxiety disorder, as well as social and generalised anxiety. Results also suggested cross-sectional associations between school refusal and separation, generalised and social anxiety disorders, as well as simple phobia. Few studies investigated associations with absenteeism or excused/medical absences. Conclusions: Findings suggest associations between anxiety and unexcused absences/truancy, and school refusal. Clinicians should consider the possibility of anxiety in children and adolescents with poor attendance. However, there is a lack of high quality evidence, little longitudinal research and limited evidence relating to overall absenteeism or excused/medical absences, despite the latter being the most common type of absence. These gaps should be a key priority for future research.
Abstract.
Full text.
Stentiford LJ (2019). ‘You can tell which ones are the laddy lads’: young women’s accounts of the engineering classroom at a high-performing English university.
Journal of Gender Studies,
28(2), 218-230.
Abstract:
‘You can tell which ones are the laddy lads’: young women’s accounts of the engineering classroom at a high-performing English university
This paper explores how four young women narrated accounts of their interactions with their male peers in the engineering classroom. Drawing on data collected in a qualitative case study conducted at one high-performing English university, this paper details how the four women described two different versions of laddish masculinity evident within their engineering classroom; a hostile laddish masculinity, and a ‘friendly’ or ‘genial’ upper/middle-class laddish masculinity. Whilst the hostile lads were seemingly frowned upon and socially excluded, the ‘friendly’ or ‘genial’ upper/middle-class lads appeared largely liked and tolerated by the women. This paper thus adds to our understanding of women’s current experiences in engineering education, and works to extend research in the area of laddism in formalized learning contexts in higher education (HE). In particular, this paper draws attention to the existence of subtle or nuanced degrees of laddism in engineering at the university under study, and highlights a possible relationship between ‘lad’ discourses and gendered disciplinary discourses.
Abstract.
Stentiford LJ, Koutsouris G, Norwich B (2018). A systematic literature review of the organisational arrangements of primary school-based reading interventions for struggling readers.
Journal of Research in Reading,
41(S1), 197-225.
Full text.
Finning K, Ukoumunne O, Ford T, Danielsson-Waters E, Shaw L, Romero De Jager I, Stentiford L, Moore D (2018). The association between child and adolescent depression and poor attendance at school: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Journal of Affective Disorders,
245, 928-938.
Abstract:
The association between child and adolescent depression and poor attendance at school: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Background
Depression in young people may lead to reduced school attendance through social withdrawal, loss of motivation, sleep disturbance and low energy. We systematically reviewed the evidence for an association between depression and poor school attendance.
Methods
Seven electronic databases were searched for quantitative studies with school-aged children and/or adolescents, reporting a measure of association between depression and school attendance. Articles were independently screened by two reviewers. Synthesis incorporated random-effects meta-analysis and narrative synthesis.
Results
Searches identified 4930 articles. Nineteen studies from eight countries across North America, Europe, and Asia, were included. School attendance was grouped into: 1) absenteeism (i.e. total absences), 2) excused/medical absences, 3) unexcused absences/truancy, and 4) school refusal. Meta-analyses demonstrated small-to-moderate positive cross-sectional associations between depression and absenteeism (correlation coefficient r=0.11, 95% confidence interval 0.07 to 0.15, p=0.005, I2= 63%); and depression and unexcused absences/truancy (r=0.15, 95% confidence interval 0.13 to 0.17, p
Abstract.
Full text.
Reports
Boyle C, Stentiford L, Koutsouris G, Jindal-Snape D, Benham-Clarke S, Salazar Rivera J (2021).
A systematic scoping review of the literature on the structures and processes that influence research activities in the UK. British Educational Research Association (BERA), https://www.bera.ac.uk/publication/education-the-state-of-the-discipline-systematic-scoping-review.
Full text.
Publications by year
In Press
Stentiford L, Koutsouris G, Allan A (In Press). Girls, mental health and academic achievement: a qualitative systematic review.
Educational Review Full text.
2022
Norwich B, Moore D, Stentiford L, Hall D (2022). A critical consideration of ‘mental health and wellbeing’ in education: thinking about school aims in terms of wellbeing.
British Educational Research JournalAbstract:
A critical consideration of ‘mental health and wellbeing’ in education: thinking about school aims in terms of wellbeing.
This paper examines ideas about mental health, wellbeing and school education to illustrate important issues in the relationship between mental health and education. The Covid crisis has amplified the pre-existing mental health problems of children and young people in England and the recognition of the opportunities in schools’ to address these. The paper gives an overview of child and adolescent mental health services and how they position the role of schools. It examines prominent concepts of mental health and their relationship to wellbeing, setting this in a discussion of ‘mentally healthy’ schools, mental health in special educational needs (SEN) and whole school approaches. This analysis shows how the relationship between mental health and wellbeing has not been adequately worked out, using this as the basis for arguing for the dual factor mental health model which separates mental illness/disorder from wellbeing as two related dimensions. The paper then translates the dual factor model into a two-dimensional framework that represents the distinctive but related aims of school education (wellbeing promotion) and mental health services (preventing, coping, helping mental health difficulties). This framework involves a complex conception of wellbeing, with schools playing an important role in promoting wellbeing (beyond emotional wellbeing), tiered models and establishing school-wide social emotional learning. It is about a whole school curriculum approach that involves considering what is to be learned and how it is taught. It contributes to a more nuanced concept of wellbeing that has a place for meaningful learning and challenge.
Abstract.
Full text.
Koutsouris G, Stentiford L, Norwich B (2022). A critical exploration of inclusion policies of elite UK universities.
British Educational Research Journal Full text.
2021
Boyle C, Stentiford L, Koutsouris G, Jindal-Snape D, Benham-Clarke S, Salazar Rivera J (2021).
A systematic scoping review of the literature on the structures and processes that influence research activities in the UK. British Educational Research Association (BERA), https://www.bera.ac.uk/publication/education-the-state-of-the-discipline-systematic-scoping-review.
Full text.
Koutsouris G, Stentiford L, Benham-Clarke S, Hall D (2021). Agonism in education: a systematic scoping review and discussion of its educational potential.
Educational Review Full text.
Stentiford L, Koutsouris G, Boyle C, Jindal-Snape D, Salazar Rivera J, Benham-Clarke S (2021). The structures and processes governing education research in the UK from 1990-2020: a systematic scoping review.
Review of Education,
9(3).
Full text.
Stentiford L, Koutsouris G (2021). What are Inclusive Pedagogies in Higher Education?: a Systematic Scoping Review.
Studies in Higher Education,
46, 2245-2261.
Full text.
2020
Koutsouris G, Anglin-Jaffe H, Stentiford L (2020). How well do we understand social inclusion in education?.
British Journal of Educational StudiesAbstract:
How well do we understand social inclusion in education?
The paper draws on the findings of a small-scale empirical study to discuss why the project of inclusion, despite a long history of legislative efforts from the Salamanca Statement onwards, still appears to be troubling. The study used scenarios to explore tensions between inclusion and individual choice experienced by young people in the context of everyday social interaction with reference to the intersection between disability, ethnicity, gender and social class. Building on the findings, we argue that understanding inclusion at the level of social interaction has important implications for inclusive education. We employ ideas from theoretical work on inclusion to suggest that in order to achieve inclusion in education or in society, a top down approach influenced by national and international policy and a rights discourse might not be sufficient; this is because inclusion processes also operate at the level of everyday social interaction where policy has less influence. Such processes, for instance individual choice, are often less explored or even ignored by the inclusion literature, as they are seen as questioning or threatening the moral imperative of including all people. This argument, thus, raises the question of how well we understand social inclusion and provides directions for further research.
Abstract.
Full text.
2019
Finning K, Ukoumunne OC, Ford T, Danielson-Waters E, Shaw L, Romero De jager I, Stentiford L, Moore D (2019). Review: the association between anxiety and poor attendance at school – a systematic review.
Child and Adolescent Mental Health,
24(3), 205-2016.
Abstract:
Review: the association between anxiety and poor attendance at school – a systematic review
Background: Anxiety may be associated with poor attendance at school, which can lead to a range of adverse outcomes. We systematically reviewed the evidence for an association between anxiety and poor school attendance. Methods: Seven electronic databases were searched for quantitative studies that reported an estimate of association between anxiety and school attendance. Anxiety had to be assessed via standardised diagnostic measure or validated scale. Articles were screened independently by two reviewers. Meta-analyses were performed where possible, otherwise results were synthesised narratively. Results: a total of 4930 articles were screened. Eleven studies from six countries across North America, Europe and Asia, were included. School attendance was categorised into: (a) absenteeism (i.e. total absences), (b) excused/medical absences, (c) unexcused absences/truancy and (d) school refusal. Findings from eight studies suggested associations between truancy and any anxiety disorder, as well as social and generalised anxiety. Results also suggested cross-sectional associations between school refusal and separation, generalised and social anxiety disorders, as well as simple phobia. Few studies investigated associations with absenteeism or excused/medical absences. Conclusions: Findings suggest associations between anxiety and unexcused absences/truancy, and school refusal. Clinicians should consider the possibility of anxiety in children and adolescents with poor attendance. However, there is a lack of high quality evidence, little longitudinal research and limited evidence relating to overall absenteeism or excused/medical absences, despite the latter being the most common type of absence. These gaps should be a key priority for future research.
Abstract.
Full text.
Stentiford LJ (2019). ‘You can tell which ones are the laddy lads’: young women’s accounts of the engineering classroom at a high-performing English university.
Journal of Gender Studies,
28(2), 218-230.
Abstract:
‘You can tell which ones are the laddy lads’: young women’s accounts of the engineering classroom at a high-performing English university
This paper explores how four young women narrated accounts of their interactions with their male peers in the engineering classroom. Drawing on data collected in a qualitative case study conducted at one high-performing English university, this paper details how the four women described two different versions of laddish masculinity evident within their engineering classroom; a hostile laddish masculinity, and a ‘friendly’ or ‘genial’ upper/middle-class laddish masculinity. Whilst the hostile lads were seemingly frowned upon and socially excluded, the ‘friendly’ or ‘genial’ upper/middle-class lads appeared largely liked and tolerated by the women. This paper thus adds to our understanding of women’s current experiences in engineering education, and works to extend research in the area of laddism in formalized learning contexts in higher education (HE). In particular, this paper draws attention to the existence of subtle or nuanced degrees of laddism in engineering at the university under study, and highlights a possible relationship between ‘lad’ discourses and gendered disciplinary discourses.
Abstract.
2018
Stentiford LJ, Koutsouris G, Norwich B (2018). A systematic literature review of the organisational arrangements of primary school-based reading interventions for struggling readers.
Journal of Research in Reading,
41(S1), 197-225.
Full text.
Finning K, Ukoumunne O, Ford T, Danielsson-Waters E, Shaw L, Romero De Jager I, Stentiford L, Moore D (2018). The association between child and adolescent depression and poor attendance at school: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Journal of Affective Disorders,
245, 928-938.
Abstract:
The association between child and adolescent depression and poor attendance at school: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Background
Depression in young people may lead to reduced school attendance through social withdrawal, loss of motivation, sleep disturbance and low energy. We systematically reviewed the evidence for an association between depression and poor school attendance.
Methods
Seven electronic databases were searched for quantitative studies with school-aged children and/or adolescents, reporting a measure of association between depression and school attendance. Articles were independently screened by two reviewers. Synthesis incorporated random-effects meta-analysis and narrative synthesis.
Results
Searches identified 4930 articles. Nineteen studies from eight countries across North America, Europe, and Asia, were included. School attendance was grouped into: 1) absenteeism (i.e. total absences), 2) excused/medical absences, 3) unexcused absences/truancy, and 4) school refusal. Meta-analyses demonstrated small-to-moderate positive cross-sectional associations between depression and absenteeism (correlation coefficient r=0.11, 95% confidence interval 0.07 to 0.15, p=0.005, I2= 63%); and depression and unexcused absences/truancy (r=0.15, 95% confidence interval 0.13 to 0.17, p
Abstract.
Full text.
lauren_stentiford Details from cache as at 2022-05-25 17:16:10
Refresh publications
Teaching
I teach and supervise on modules at both undergraduate and postgraduate level which span most of the programmes offered in GSE, including the MA International Education, MSc Education Research and MA Education (Online). I am module lead of the Learning from Work Experience in the Social Sciences undergraduate modules (SSI2001, SSI3017), studied by Year 2 and Year 3 undergraduates across SSIS disciplines.
Modules
2021/22
