Professor Anna Traianou
Staff details

Anna Traianou is Professor of Education and the Director of the Centre for Identities and Social Justice. She has published extensively on learning and pedagogy and about questions of social research ethics. Her publications include 'Understanding Teacher Expertise in Primary Science: a sociocultural approach' (2006) and 'Ethics in Qualitative Research: Controversies and Contexts’ (Sage, 2012) co-written with Martyn Hammersley.
More recently, she has worked on education policy and co-edited with Ken Jones Austerity and the Remaking of European Education (2019). With funding from the British Academy (2019-2022) she researched the period of structural adjustment in Greece (2010-2018) and the role of social actors, including political parties and trade unions in education reform.
She writes regularly for a Greek national daily Efsyn.
Teaching and Supervision
Professor Anna Traianou's areas of doctoral supervision include:
- education policy, with a focus on the interplay between supranational policy influence and national traditions;
- learning and teacher ‘expertise’ in contemporary policy and politics;
- research ethics as situated practice
She teaches on the following programmes:
Research interests
• culture, learning and teacher ‘expertise’ in contemporary policy and politics
• the contestation of education policy in contemporary Europe, austerity and the changing form of the education state
• philosophical perspectives on ethics and their implications for the autonomy of the researcher
Publications and research outputs
Book
Hammersley, Martyn and Traianou, Anna. 2012. Ethics in Qualitative Research: Controversies and Contexts. London: SAGE. ISBN 9780857021410
Traianou, Anna. 2006. Understanding Teacher Expertise in Primary Science: a sociocultural approach. Sense Publishers. ISBN 9077874887
Edited Book
Traianou, Anna and Jones, Ken, eds. 2019. Austerity and the Remaking of European Education. London: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781350028487
Book Section
Traianou, Anna and Jones, Ken. 2019. Austerity and the Remaking of Education Policy in Europe since 2008. In: Anna Traianou and Ken Jones, eds. Austerity and the Remaking of European Education. London: Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 5-28. ISBN 9781350028487
Traianou, Anna. 2019. Greece: Towards ‘Europeanisation’? In: Anna Traianou and Ken Jones, eds. Austerity and The Remaking of European Education. London: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781350028487
Jones, Ken and Traianou, Anna. 2019. Conclusion: The Contested European Educational Space. In: Anna Traianou and Ken Jones, eds. Austerity and the Remaking of European Education. London: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781350028487
Traianou, Anna. 2019. Phrónēsis and the ethical regulation of ethnographic research. In: Hugh Busher and Alison Fox, eds. Implementing Ethics in Educational Ethnography: Regulation and Practice. London: Routledge. ISBN 9781138580251
Traianou, Anna. 2018. Ethical regulation of social research versus the cultivation of phrónēsis. In: Nathan Emmerich, ed. Virtue Ethics in the Conduct and Governance of Social Science Research. Bingley: Emerald, pp. 163-177. ISBN 9781787146082
Traianou, Anna. 2016. Teachers, Educational Research and Professional Development: Intellectuals or Technicians. In: George Bagakis, ed. Education Policies and Practices for Teachers’ Professional Development. Athens, Greece: GRIGORIS.
Traianou, Anna. 2014. The Centrality of Ethics in Qualitative Research. In: Patricia Leavy, ed. The Oxford Handbook of Qualitative Research Methods. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 62-79. ISBN 9780199811755
Traianou, Anna. 2013. Greek Education Reform: Resistance and Despair. In: Ken Jones, ed. Education in Europe: the Politics of Austerity. London: Radicaled Books. ISBN ISBN 978-0-9575538-3-5
Traianou, Anna. 2010. Discussing Friction. In: K Safford; M Stacey and W Hancock, eds. Small Scale Research in Primary Schools: A reader for Learning and Professional Development. London: Routledge, pp. 170-190. ISBN 9780415585590
Article
Traianou, Anna and Hammersley, Martyn. 2023. Interrogating the Concept of ‘Vulnerability’ in Social Research Ethics. Diametros – A Journal of Philosophy, ISSN 1733-5566
Traianou, Anna. 2023. Evaluation and its politics: trade unions and education reform in Greece. Education Inquiry, ISSN 2000-4508
Traianou, Anna. 2023. The intricacies of conditionality: education policy review in Greece 2015–2018. Journal of Education Policy, 38(2), pp. 342-362. ISSN 0268-0939
Traianou, Anna and Hammersley, Martyn. 2021. Is there a right not to be researched? Is there a right to do research? Some questions about informed consent and the principle of autonomy. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 24(4), pp. 443-452. ISSN 1364-5579
Traianou, Anna. 2018. The Uncertain Future of pre-school Education in England (in Greek). Selidodeiktis: For Education and Society,
Traianou, Anna. 2017. Heed warnings on teaching assessment before it’s too late. Research Professional,
Traianou, Anna. 2015. The erosion of academic freedom in UK Higher Education. Ethics in Science and Environmental Politics, 15(1), pp. 39-47. ISSN 1863-5415
Traianou, Anna. 2014. Ethics versus political bias. Perspectives,
Hammersley, Martyn and Traianou, Anna. 2014. An Alternative Ethics? Justice and Care as Guiding Principles for Qualitative Research. Sociological Research Online, 19(3), pp. 104-117. ISSN 1360-7804
Hammersley, Martyn and Traianou, Anna. 2014. Foucault and Research Ethics: On the autonomy of the researcher. Qualitative Inquiry, 20(3), pp. 227-238. ISSN 1077-8004
Traianou, Anna. 2012. Science Teaching: A Dilemmatic Approach. Ethnography and Education, 7(2), pp. 213-226. ISSN 1745-7823
Hammersley, Martyn and Traianou, Anna. 2011. Moralism and Research Ethics: A Machiavellian Perspective. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 14(5), pp. 379-390. ISSN 1364-5579
Traianou, Anna. 2009. The Uncertain Character of Recent Educational Reform in Greece. FORUM, 51(2), pp. 131-142. ISSN 0963-8253
Traianou, Anna and Hammersley, Martyn. 2008. Making science education evidence-based? A brief reply to Millar, Leach, Osborne and Ratcliffe. Oxford Review of Education, 34(4), pp. 489-492. ISSN 0305-4985
Traianou, Anna and Hammersley, Martyn. 2008. Making science education evidence-based? Reflections on a Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP) study. Oxford Review of Education, 34(4), pp. 461-481. ISSN 0305-4985
Traianou, Anna. 2007. Ethnography and the perils of the single case: an example from the sociocultural analysis of primary science expertise. Ethnography and Education, 2(2), pp. 209-220. ISSN 17457823
Traianou, Anna. 2006. Teachers' adequacy of subject knowledge in primary science: assessing constructivist perspectives from a sociocultural perspective. International Journal of Science Education, 28(8), pp. 827-842. ISSN 09500693
Traianou, Anna. 2006. Understanding teacher expertise in primary science: a sociocultural approach. Research Papers in Education, 21(1), pp. 63-78. ISSN 02671522
Report
Traianou, Anna and Hammersley, Martyn. 2007. Ethics and Educational Research, London: Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP). Project Report. Teaching and Learning Research Programme.
Further profile content
Featured publications
2023:
Evaluation and its politics: trade unions and education reform in Greece
Traianou, A. (2023) Evaluation and its politics: trade unions and education reform in Greece Journal of Education Inquiry. DOI: 10.1080/20004508.2023.2193015
2021:
The Intricacies of Conditionality: education policy review in Greece 2015-2018
Traianou, A. (2023) The Intricacies of Conditionality: education policy review in Greece 2015-2018 Journal of Education Policy 38:2, 342-362.
2021:
Is there a right not to be researched? Is there a right to do research? Some questions about informed consent and the principle of autonomy
Traianou, A. & Hammersley, M. (2021) Is there a right not to be researched? Is there a right to do research? Some questions about informed consent and the principle of autonomy, International Journal
2019:
Austerity and the Remaking of European Education
Traianou, A. & Jones, K. (Eds) (2019) Austerity and the Remaking of European Education, London: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN-13: 9781350028487
2013:
Ethics in Qualitative Research: Controversies and Contexts
Hammersley, M. & Traianou, A. (2012) Ethics in Qualitative Research: Controversies and Contexts, London: SAGE. ISBN-13: 978-0857021410