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Christopher Winch

Professor Christopher Winch

Professor of Educational Philosophy and Policy

Research interests

  • Education

Biography

Chris has a degree in Philosophy from the University of Leeds and received his PhD from the University of Bradford in 1982. He has taught in primary, further and higher education. From 2008 until 2012, he was Head of the Department of Education and Professional Studies at King’s.

He has worked at the Thomas Danby College, Leeds, primary schools in Leeds and the West Riding, Glyndwr University and the University of Northampton before coming to King’s in 2004.

Research

Chris is a philosopher of education who is currently interested in professional knowledge and judgement, comparative vocational and professional education and the philosophy of educational research.

He is currently involved in projects on learning outcomes in VET and the future of VET in Europe and is also a member of the team of researchers at King’s who are researching the transitions of the 50% of young people in England who are not intending to go to university.

Teaching

Chris teaches on the following modules:

  • Teacher Development International
  • Comparative Education

PhD supervision

He is happy to supervise the following topics:

  • teacher education
  • philosophy of education
  • vocational education.

Knowledge transfer

With his colleague, Jeff Bridgford, Chris is currently consulting on an Erasmus-funded project on the harmonisation of European furniture-making and upholstering qualifications (Bolster-Up) (£6.6k). They are responsible for the international synthesis report. This project covers eight countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, England, Germany, Romania, the Netherlands and Poland. 

Chris worked as an associate researcher for an Australian Research Council Project on Expertise and Embodied Virtue, from 2010 -2012. This involved giving one presentation at the University of Wollongong in 2010 and one at the University of Hertfordshire in 2011.

King’s Policy Institute have awarded £4k to Chris and Linda Clarke from Westminster University (with matched funding from Westminster) to host three seminars for policymakers on implementing EU Qualification innovations and their implication for qualification design in the UK. The seminars arise from the 2005-2008 Nuffield Project on the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) which Chris co-directed with Linda Clarke and the 2008-2010 Erasmus project on European Bricklayer Qualifications, on which he was responsible for the international synthesis report, together with the current Erasmus project on furniture-making qualifications in Europe. For this, Jeff Bridgford and Chris are responsible for the international synthesis report. The first of these seminars was held at King’s on 21 November 2013.
 
International 

Since 2007 Chris has been involved in collaboration with a number of India NGOs and universities, mainly on issues concerned with quality in education and the nature of private educational provision, particularly in the ‘low cost’ sector in India. He has worked with the Digantar Foundation in Rajasthan and with the ICICI Bank’s educational development arm on teacher education and professional development. In addition, Chris has lectured or given seminars at the Jawarharlal Nehru University in Delhi, TISS Mumbai, the University of Kerala, TISS Hyderabad and the Azim Premji University, Bangalore.Chris has collaborated extensively with Professor Padma Sarangapani, formerly of TISS Mumbai and then Hyderabad, now at the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore. They have worked together in setting up Philosophy of Education activities in India in collaboration with Rohit Dankhar of the Digantar Foundation and the Azim Premji University, resulting in a highly successful Philosophy of Education workshop in Udaipur, Rajasthan in 2010 and in a conference in Bangalore at the Azim Premji University in 2013. He has also worked with Professor Sarangapani on a research project on private schooling in India funded by the Ministry of Human Resources, which has involved extensive fieldwork in various Indian cities. This has resulted in an edited collection entitled School Education in India: markets, state and quality (2018) Jain, M., Mehendale, A., Mukhopadyay, R.,Sarangapani, P., Winch, C. (eds), London, Routledge.

Further information

For further details, see Chris's research staff profile or see a full list of publications here.

    Research

    women at wokr
    Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR)

    The Centre for Public Policy Research is an interdisciplinary research centre research developing critical analyses of social change and social in/justice in education and other policy arenas, sectors and contexts to inform national and international policy debate, social activism, and personal, professional and organisational learning.

    begins-backpack
    Opportunity, equality and agency in England's new VET landscape: a longitudinal study of post-16 transitions (Young Lives, Young Futures)

    How England's vocational education and training (VET) system could better support the school to work transitions of young people who don’t go to university.

    Project status: Ongoing

    International hero 1903x558
    King’s International Education Research Network

    The King’s International Education Research Network explores key areas of international education.

    Events

    31Janbruce-mars-woman-holding-pen-780x450

    The Turn to Learning Outcomes

    In this lunchtime seminar, Chris Winch will critically examine the turn to learning outcomes in England and the EU and critiques some of its historical and...

    Please note: this event has passed.

    Features

    Must-reads in education, communication and social sciences

    The School of Education, Communication & Society at King’s College London houses research from a range of different fields – from linguistics to education...

    Books side by side-tom-hermans-1903x558

      Research

      women at wokr
      Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR)

      The Centre for Public Policy Research is an interdisciplinary research centre research developing critical analyses of social change and social in/justice in education and other policy arenas, sectors and contexts to inform national and international policy debate, social activism, and personal, professional and organisational learning.

      begins-backpack
      Opportunity, equality and agency in England's new VET landscape: a longitudinal study of post-16 transitions (Young Lives, Young Futures)

      How England's vocational education and training (VET) system could better support the school to work transitions of young people who don’t go to university.

      Project status: Ongoing

      International hero 1903x558
      King’s International Education Research Network

      The King’s International Education Research Network explores key areas of international education.

      Events

      31Janbruce-mars-woman-holding-pen-780x450

      The Turn to Learning Outcomes

      In this lunchtime seminar, Chris Winch will critically examine the turn to learning outcomes in England and the EU and critiques some of its historical and...

      Please note: this event has passed.

      Features

      Must-reads in education, communication and social sciences

      The School of Education, Communication & Society at King’s College London houses research from a range of different fields – from linguistics to education...

      Books side by side-tom-hermans-1903x558