Dr Sarah Pearce

Staff details

Position Lecturer

Department Educational Studies

Email s.pearce (@gold.ac.uk)

Phone +44 (0)20 7078 5008

Sarah joined the Department in 2003 having taught in primary schools for eleven years. Since then, she has developed her early interest in teaching and learning in ethnically diverse classrooms work to teach and research issues of race, racism, whiteness, cultural diversity, teacher agency and teacher research. She is currently researching the impact of recent policy making on attitudes to Islam in schools.

Academic Qualifications

2004 PhD, Manchester Metropolitan University
1992 PGCE, University of Manchester
1989 BA (Hons) University of York

Teaching

Sarah is Head of the MA Education Culture Language and Identity, and teaches the core module for this programme. She also leads the Race Culture and Education module, and contributes to the Researching Culture Language and Identity in Education module.

She also contributes to the Primary PGCE course.

Area of supervision

Sarah currently supervises PhD students working in the area of whiteness and education, and race and racism in schools.

Professional projects

Sarah is keen to work with teachers and schools to develop their own research projects.

Featured Publications

Dealing with racist incidents: what do beginning teachers learn from schools?

Pearce, Sarah. 2014. Dealing with racist incidents: what do beginning teachers learn from schools? Race Ethnicity and Education, 17(3), pp. 388-406. ISSN 1361-3324

Confronting dominant whiteness in the primary classroom: progressive student teachers’ dilemmas and constraints.

Pearce, Sarah. 2012. Confronting dominant whiteness in the primary classroom: progressive student teachers’ dilemmas and constraints. Oxford Review of Education, 38(4), pp. 455-472. ISSN 0305-4985

You Wouldn't Understand: white teachers in multi-ethnic classrooms

Pearce, Sarah. 2005. You Wouldn't Understand: white teachers in multi-ethnic classrooms. Trentham Books. ISBN 1858563623

Compiling the White Inventory: the practice of whiteness in a British primary school

Pearce, Sarah. 2003. Compiling the White Inventory: the practice of whiteness in a British primary school. Cambridge Journal of Education, 33(2), pp. 273-288. ISSN 0305-764X

Research Interests

Her main research interests are in the area of social justice and equity in education. She is particularly interested in the impact of ‘race’ on the teaching and learning process, and in the use of biographical and autobiographical research methods. Her PhD research was a practitioner research study of the influence of whiteness as a racial identity on the attitudes of white teachers. She is currently working on a piece of research looking at how Newly Qualified Teachers approach ethnic diversity.

Publications

Book

Pearce, Sarah. 2005. You Wouldn't Understand: white teachers in multiethnic classrooms. Trentham Books. ISBN 1858563623

Article

Pearce, Sarah and Lewis, Kirstin. 2019. Changing Attitudes towards Cultural Difference Perceptions of Muslim families in England. Cambridge Journal of Education, 49(1), pp. 1-14. ISSN 0305-764X

Pearce, Sarah. 2018. ‘It was the small things’: Using the concept of racial microaggressions as a tool for talking to new teachers about racism. Teaching and Teacher Education, 79, pp. 83-92. ISSN 0742-051X

Pearce, Sarah and Lewis, Kirstin. 2018. Changing attitudes to cultural difference: perceptions of Muslim families in English schools. Cambridge Journal of Education, 49(1), pp. 1-14. ISSN 0305-764X

Pearce, Sarah. 2016. An emotional, intellectual and practical resource: black experiences and expertise on teaching about racism. Pedagogy Culture and Society, 24(1), pp. 161-168. ISSN 1468-1366

Pearce, Sarah. 2014. Dealing with racist incidents: what do beginning teachers learn from schools? Race Ethnicity and Education, 17(3), pp. 388-406. ISSN 1361-3324

Pearce, Sarah. 2012. Confronting dominant whiteness in the primary classroom: progressive student teachers’ dilemmas and constraints. Oxford Review of Education, 38(4), pp. 455-472. ISSN 0305-4985

Pearce, Sarah. 2012. Confronting Dominant Whiteness in the Primary Classroom: progressive student teachers’ dilemmas and constraints. Oxford Review Of Education, 38(4), pp. 455-472. ISSN 0305-4985

Pearce, Sarah. 2010. Understanding Institutional Racism. Race Equality Teaching, 28(2), pp. 15-18. ISSN 1478-8551

Pearce, Sarah. 2004. The development of one teacher's understanding of practitioner research in a multi-ethnic primary school. Educational Action Research, 12(1), pp. 7-18. ISSN 09650792

Pearce, Sarah. 2003. Compiling the White Inventory: the practice of whiteness in a British primary school. Cambridge Journal of Education, 33(2), pp. 273-288. ISSN 0305-764X