I have been working and volunteering in education – as a youth worker, secondary school teacher, non-formal educator, fundraiser, administrator, trustee and researcher – in the UK and internationally for 25 years; as well as developing work, study, and research experience in humanitarian fields focused on post-conflict reconstruction and/or protracted crisis situations. I am currently a research associate at the Education and Social Research Institute, Manchester Metropolitan University and EENET’s programme officer, where I co-edit the annual Enabling Education Review. My research interests include ‘blue sky’ inclusion and social justice – particularly in relation to transitions into, between and out of education and training, and what happens next. My current projects focus on notions of belonging in education, arts-based methods, home learning during the COVID 19 pandemic, the experiences of displaced learners, and street-connectedness. In particular, I am interested in street-connected young people’s experiences of education, what they mean for the development of inclusive pedagogies of practice, and the importance of focusing on the intersection of street-connectedness with, for example, disability, gender, and/or forced displacement. My approach to research is inherently interdisciplinary and focused on the development of academic/practitioner partnerships in knowledge development.

Published Articles:

Pashby, K., Sund, L., Corcoran, S. and Wicker, K. (in press) ‘Teaching for sustainable development through ethical global issues pedagogy: Participatory research with teachers’, Impact: Journal of the Chartered College of Teaching

Corcoran, S. and Kaneva, K. (2021) ‘Developing inclusive communities: understanding the experiences of education of learners of English as an additional language in England and street-connected young people in Kenya’ International Journal of Inclusive Education DOI: 10.1080/13603116.2021.1886348

Corcoran, S., Awimbo L., Mugwanga, K., Aluoch, I. (2020). ‘Street-connectedness and education in Kenya: experiences of formal schooling as rationale for inclusive pedagogies of practice’, Prospects 49, 265–280

Lewis, I., S. Corcoran, S. Juma, I. Kaplan, D. Little and H. Pinnock (2019). Time to stop polishing the brass on the Titanic: Moving beyond ‘quick-and-dirty’ teacher education for inclusion, towards sustainable theories of change. International Journal of Inclusive Education 23(7-8):722-739

Corcoran, S. and J. Wakia (2016) Using child wellbeing assessments to track progress in family reintegration. Global Social Welfare 3:137-145

Corcoran, S. (2015) ‘Disabling streets or disabling education? Challenging a deficit model of street-connectedness’, Disability and the Global South 2(2):613-619

Corcoran, S (2014) ‘Educational Research? Exploring the experiences of street-connected children, living on and leaving the street’, Research Intelligence 125:22-23