Prof Becky Francis

Job Title: Professor of Education Telephone: +44 (0)20 8392 5753 Email Address: B.Francis@roehampton.ac.uk

Contact address: Professor Becky Francis, School of Education, Roehampton University, Roehampton Lane, London SW15 5P

Becky Francis is Professor of Education at the School of Education, Roehampton University. Her expertise centres on the construction of social identity (with particular attention to gender, ethnicity and social class) in educational contexts, and the relation of these constructions to educational achievement, and she has published widely in these areas. Her recent authored books include Feminism and ‘The Schooling Scandal’ (Routledge, 2009), Reassessing Gender and Achievement (Routledge, 2005, both with Christine Skelton) and Understanding Minority Ethnic Achievement: Race, gender, class and ‘success’ (Routledge, 2007, with Louise Archer). She has also co-edited several readers on theory and practice in gender and education, including the Sage Handbook of Gender and Education (2006). In addition to her published work, she consults widely to policy makers on social identity and social justice in education. Becky has directed a range of ESRC-funded research projects variously addressing issues of gender, ethnicity and educational achievement, including a current project examining the gender subjectivities of high achieving pupils. She has also engaged in the commissioning of ESRC funded work via her role on the ESRC First Grants commissioning panel. Becky is Chair of the BERA Publications Committee; sits on the editorial boards of six international journals (including Journal of Gender Studies where she is associate Editor); and is a past editor of Gender & Education journal.

Membership of Professional Bodies

Fellow of the Royal Society (FRSA)

Member of BERA Council, Chair of the BERA Publications Committee

PhD Supervision

Becky Francis supervises PhDs in the broad fields of:
* gender and education (from Early Years to Higher Education)
* social identity
* poststructural, social constructionist and/or feminist theory
* education policy
* educational achievement and social identity ('race', gender and social class)

Research Projects Undertaken

Recent funded research projects:

Froebel Research Committee Research grant for the project ‘Gender, Toys and learning’ (£4,958. P.I. July-Nov 2008)


ESRC Research grant for the project ‘The gendered subjectivities of high-achieving pupils’ (RES-062-23-0462) (£227,000. P.I: B.Francis, June 2007 – April 2009).

Equal Opportunities Commission Funded project ‘Gender and achievement in school education in England: A policy review’ (£18,000. Co-applicant; P.I: C. Skelton, February - April 2007).

Canadian Social Science and Humanities Research Council grant for the project ‘Investigating male teachers as role models and the impact of their pedagogical practices on student learning’ ($118,000. PI: W. Martino, Uni of Western Ontario. Co-applicants: B. Francis, C. Skelton [Roehampton Uni] & M. Mills [Uni of Queensland].

ESRC Research Grant for the project ‘British-Chinese Pupils' Identities, Achievement and Complementary Schooling' (RES000231513)(£141,000, June 2006 - January 2008) P.I.

ESRC Research Grant for the project ‘Investigating Gender as a Factor in Primary Pupil-Teacher Relations and Perceptions’(£209,000) (June ’04 – May ’06) (RES000230624). (Co-applicant and Manager of London arm of research. PI: Christine Skelton, University of Roehampton).

Equal Opportunities Commission, tendered project ‘Gender Equality in Work Experience Placements for Young People’ (£23,700)(Dec 2003- June 2004). P.I.

Assoc. of Maintained Girls' Schools, commissioned project to examine girls’ school pupils’ attitudes to science (£17,000) (June 2003-Oct 2004). P.I.

ESRC Research Grant for the study ‘British-Chinese Pupils’ Constructions of Education, Gender & Post-16 Pathways’ (£108,000)(R000239585)
(June ‘02-May ’04). P.I.

Publications

Mau, A., Francis, B. & Archer, L (2009) Mapping Politics and Pedagogy: Understanding the population and practices of Chinese complementary schools in England, Ethnography and Education, 4 (1), 17-36.

Christine Skelton & Becky Francis (2009) Feminism and the Schooling Scandal, London: Routledge.

Francis, B. & Hey, V (2009) Talking back to power: snowballs in hell and the imperative of insisting on structural explanations, Gender & Education, 21 (2) , 225-232.

Francis, B., Skelton, C. & Read, B. (2009) The simultaneous production of educational achievement and popularity: how do some pupils accomplish it? , British Educational Research Journal.

Becky Francis (2008) ‘Teaching Manfully? Exploring gendered subjectivities and power via analysis of men teachers’ gender performance, Gender & Education, 20 (2), 109-122.

Becky Francis, Christine Skelton, Bruce Carrington, Merryn Hutchings, Barbara Read, and Ian Hall (2008) A Perfect Match? Pupils’ and teachers’ views of the impact of matching educators and learners by gender, Research Papers in Education, 23 (1), 21-36.

Becky Francis (2008) Engendering Debate how to formulate a political analysis of the divide between genetic bodies and discursive gender, Journal of Gender Studies, 17 (3), 211-223.

Martin Mills, Becky Francis & Christine Skelton (2008) Gender Policies in Australia and the UK: the construction of new boys and girls, in Wayne Martino, M Kehler, and Marcus Weaver-Hightower (eds) The Problem With Boys: Beyond Recuperative Masculinity Politics, NY: Haworth.

Becky Francis, Louise Archer & Ada Mau (2008) Language as Capital, or Language as Identity? Chinese complementary school pupils’ perspectives on the purposes and benefits of complementary schools, British Educational Research Journal, forthcoming.

Francis, B., Archer, L. & Mau, A. (2008) Language as Capital, or Language as Identity? Chinese complementary school pupils’ perspectives on the purposes and benefits of complementary schools., British Educational Research Journal..

Merryn Hutchings, Christine Skelton, Becky Francis, Bruce Carrington, Barbara Read, and Ian Hall (2008) Nice and kind, smart and funny: what children like and want to emulate in their teachers, Oxford Review of Education, 34 (2), 135-157.

Becky Francis & Christine Skelton (2008) The Self-Made Self’: analysing the potential contribution of theories to the field of gender and education that disembed selfhood, Discourse, Special Issue: ‘Troubling Gender in Education’, 29 (3), 311-323.

Christine Skelton, Becky Francis & Yordanka Valkanova (2007) Breaking Down the Stereotypes: gender and achievement in schools, Equal Opportunities Commission.

Becky Francis (2007) Classroom Interaction, in K. Myers & H. Taylor (eds) GenderWatch: Still Watching…, Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham Books.

Bruce Carrington, Becky Francis, Christine Skelton, Merryn Hutchings and Barbara Read (2007) Does the gender of the teacher really matter? Seven- to eight-year-olds’ accounts of their interactions with their teachers, British Journal of Educational Studies, 33 (4), 397-413.

Becky Francis (2007) Postmodern and Poststructural Theories, in B. Banks (ed) Gender & Education: An Encylopedia, Westport CT: Praeger.

Louise Archer & Becky Francis (2007) Understanding Minority Ethnic Achievement, London: Routledge.

Archer, L. & Francis, B (2006) Challenging classes? Exploring the role of social class within the identities and achievement of British Chinese pupils, Sociology, 40 (1) , 29-49.

Carole Leathwood & Becky Francis (eds) (2006) Gender and Lifelong Learning, London: Routledge.

Osgood, J. Francis, B. and Archer, L (2006) Gendered Identities and Work Placement: why don't boys care?, Journal of Education Policy, 21 (3) , 305-321..

Becky Francis (2006) Heroes or Zeroes? The construction of the boys’ achievement debate within neo-liberal policy discourse, Journal of Education Policy, 21 (2), 187-199.

Christine Skelton, Becky Francis, Lisa Smulyan (eds) (2006) Sage Handbook of Gender and Education, London: Sage (Translated into Chinese, 2008).

Christine Skelton & Becky Francis (2005) A Feminist Critique of Education, London: Routledge.

Becky Francis & Louise Archer (2005) British-Chinese Pupils’ and Parents’ Constructions of the Value of Education, British Educational Research Journal, 31 (1), 89-107.

Becky Francis & Louise Archer (2005) British-Chinese Pupils’ Constructions of Gender and Learning , Oxford Review of Education, 31 (4), 497-515.

Becky Francis, Jayne Osgood, Jacinta Dalgety & Louise Archer (2005) Gender Equality in Work Experience Placements for Young People , Equal Opportunities Commission.

Becky Francis & Louise Archer (2005) Negotiating the Dichotomy Between Boffin and Triad: British-Chinese constructions of ‘laddism’, Sociological Review, 53 (3), 495-521.

Becky Francis (2005) Not/Knowing Their Place: Gendered Classroom Behaviour, G. Lloyd (ed) Problem Girls (London, Routledge).

Becky Francis (2005) Not/Knowing Their Place: Gendered Classroom Behaviour, In: G. Lloyd (ed) ‘Problem’ Girls: Understanding and Supporting Troubled and troublesome Girls, London: Routledge.

Becky francis & Christine Skelton (2005) Reassessing Gender and Achievement, London: Routledge (Translated into Greek, 2008).

Becky Francis (2005) The identities of youths of Chinese-origin: the case of the British-Chinese, in: M. Fulop (ed) Developing Identities Among Adolescents: European Issues, Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham Books.

Becky Francis (2004) Classroom Interaction and Access: Whose Space Is It?, H. Claire (ed) Gender and Learning in the School Years 3-19, London: ATL..

Christine Skelton & Becky Francis (2003) Boys and Girls in the Primary Classroom, Buckingham: Open University Press.

Becky Francis, Jocelyn Robson, Barbara Read & Lindsay Melling (2003) Lecturers’ constructions of gender and undergraduate writing, British Journal of Sociology of Education, 24, 357-373.

Becky Francis & Christine Skelton (2001) Investigating Gender, Buckingham: Open University Press.

Becky Francis (2000) Boys, Girls and Achievement: addressing the classroom issues, London: RoutledgeFalmer.

Becky Francis (1998) Power Plays, Stoke on Trent: Trentham Books.