Professor Lorna Unwin

  • Qualifications and position:
    • Professor of Vocational Education
  • Faculty:
  • Department:
  • Centre:
  • Summary:
    • My research interests focus on the changing nature and development of vocational expertise and on work as a site for learning and the improvement of life chances. I draw on a range of disciplinary perspectives. My first career was in journalism and then I taught in further and adult education.
  • Teaching:
    • Ed.D Specialist Module - Post-Compulsory Education and Training and Lifelong Learning
      MA in Lifelong Learning - core modules, Theories and Perspectives, and Dissertation, and option module, Education for the Professions
      Co-ordinator for the MA option module, Vocational Learning: policy and practice
      MBA in Higher Education Management personal tutor and occasional lecturer
  • Research Projects:
    • Deputy Director of the ESRC Research Centre, LLAKES (Learning and Life Chances in Knowledge Economies and Societies)
      Leader of Strand 2 projects in LLAKES - Regenerating City-Regions, Learning Environments, Knowledge Transfer and Innovative Pedagogy
      Co-director (with Professor Alison Fuller, University of Southampton) of project on 'expansive apprenticeships', funded by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC)
      Co-director (with Professor Alison Fuller) of two studies of workplace learning for non-clinical grade employees in hospitals, funded by the Southampton Primary Care Trust and the Department of Health
  • Professional Activities:
    • Member of the UK Commission on Employment and Skills
      Member of the all-parliamentary Skills Commission
      Special Adviser to the House of Commons Select Committee on Innovation, Universities, Skills and Science's Scrutiny of the Apprenticeship Bill
      International expert adviser for OECD's country reports on innovation in vocational education and training
      Member of the DCSF's 14-19 Pedagogy Group
      Member of the Steering Group for the DCSF's Beyond Current Horizons Challenge on Working and Employment
      Member of the NIACE (National Institute for Adult Continuing Education) Policy Committee
      Member of the Board of Governors of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR)
      Deputy Editor of the Journal of Vocational Education and Training
      Member of the editorial board of: Journal of Education and Work; and Vocations and Learning
      Member of Advisory Committee for the Nuffield Foundation's Review of 14-19 Education
  • Conferences/presentations:
    • 'Are apprentices invited to the party?: A review of apprenticeship as a platform for access to Higher Education, Access on Admissions Conference, June 11th, 2008, South Bank University.

      'Valuing 'Ordinary' Jobs: A Counterblast to the Knowledge Economy', Keynote Lecture to the Bristol Centre for Research in Lifelong Learning and Education, November 20th, 2008.

      'Workplace Learning in the Global Economy', ESRC Teaching and Learning Conference, November 25th, 2008
  • Personal Country Knowledge:
    • Vocational Education and Training policy and practice (particularly apprenticeship) in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy, Malta, Canada, Australia, and the USA.
  • Languages Spoken:
    • Basic French
  • Research Students:
    • Areas of research interest include vocational education and training policy and practice, apprenticeships (contemporary and historical), workplace learning, professional development of vocational educators

      MPhil/PhD students
      Michaela Brockmann - 'Learner Biographies: Apprenticeship and Identity in England and Germany'
      Ann Lahiff - 'The use and value of teaching observations in the professional development of post-compulsory practitioners'
      John West - 'The development of European Union VET Policy'

      Ed.D Thesis students
      Jean Dillon - Experiences of Black Minority Ethnic Students on Access to Social Work Courses in FE'
      Lesley Brook - 'The Changing Nature of Education and Training for the Land-Based Education industries'
Professor Lorna Unwin

Contact details

Contact details

Publications

  • Felstead, A., Fuller, A., Jewson, N. and UNWIN, L. (2009)  Improving Working for Learning. London: Routledge.
  • Huddleston, P. and UNWIN, L. (2007)  Teaching and Learning in Further Education: Diversity and Change. London: Routledge. (3rd edition) .
  • Hughes, J., Jewson, N. and UNWIN, L. (2007) (eds)  Communities of Practice: Critical Perspectives. London: Routledge..
  • UNWIN, L., Felstead, A., Fuller, A., Bishop, D., Lee, T., Jewson, N. and Butler, P. (2007) 'Looking inside the Russian doll: the interconnections between context, learning and pedagogy in the workplace', Pedagogy, Culture and Society 15(3): , 333-348.
  • Fuller, A., UNWIN, L., Felstead, A., Jewson, N. and Kakavelakis, K. (2007) 'Creating and using knowledge: an analysis of the differentiated nature of workplace learning environments', British Education Research Journal 33(5):, 743-759.
  • Evans, K., Hodkinson, P., Rainbird, H. and UNWIN, L. (2006)  Improving workplace learning. London: Routledge..
  • Beck, V., Fuller, A. and UNWIN, L. (2006)  'Safety in Stereotypes?: The impact of gender and 'race' on young people's perceptions of their post-compulsory education and labour market opportunities', British Educational Research Journal, 32(5), 667-686.
  • Fuller, A. and UNWIN, L. (2006) 'Older workers' learning in the contemporary workplace: barriers and opportunities' Tikhanen, T. (ed), Older Workers and Lifelong Learning. Thessaloniki: Cedefop..
  • Fuller, A. and UNWIN, L. (2004) 'Expansive learning environments: integrating personal and organisational development,' H., Fuller, A. and Munro, A. (eds) , Workplace Learning in Context. London: Routledge..
  • UNWIN, L. (2004) ' Growing Beans with Thoreau: rescuing skills and vocational education from the UK's deficit approach', Oxford Review of Education 30(1):, 147-160.