Professor Jim Ryder
- Position: Professor of Science Education
- Areas of expertise: Education policy; school curriculum; teacher education; science education
- Email: J.Ryder@education.leeds.ac.uk
- Phone: +44(0)113 343 4589
- Location: Hillary Place
Profile
I am a researcher and teacher on curriculum and education policy issues and Leader of the Centre for Curriculum, Pedagogy and Policy at the University of Leeds. I served as Member and then Secretary of the European Science Education Research Association (2011-17). I am on the Editorial Board of the journals: Science Education and International Journal of Science Education. I was Editor-in-Chief of the review journal Studies in Science Education (2008-17; joint with Phil Scott until 2011). Before becoming an academic I taught science/physics in secondary schools in the UK. I have a PhD in condensed matter physics from the University of Bristol.
Research interests
My current research focuses on the role of the teacher in improving educational outcomes for all students. I research teachers' experiences of education policy reforms and their engagement with education research. I have a specific interest in the context of science teaching but my work also addresses the role of the teacher in other subject areas. Most of my work has been in the context of secondary schools in England. However, I have also researched primary school and higher education contexts, with some examples of international comparative studies. I use a range of qualitative and quantitative methods in my research, with specific expertise in the conduct and analysis of one-to-one interview sequences. My work is informed by sociocultural perspectives on teachers' working lives.
Selected research projects
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Science teachers' experiences of educational reform in Sweden (with colleagues at the University of Uppsala, Sweden; funded by the Swedish Research Council)
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Enactment and Impact of Science Education Reform (EISER) (with Professor Jim Donnelly, Dr Indira Banner, Dr Matt Homer and Helen Morris; funded by the ESRC and The Gatsby Charitable Foundation);
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Interests and Recruitment in Science (IRIS) (with Dr Jaume Ametller, Professor Jim Donnelly and Professor Edgar Jenkins; funded by the European Seventh Framework Programme)
Student education
I teach undergraduate modules focusing on education policy issues, international perspectives on education, science education and science communication in informal settings. I also teach sessions related to my research interests within postgraduate MA programmes at Leeds.