Dr CLARE WOOLHOUSE

Clare Woolhouse is a Reader in Inclusive Education with many years of experience of teaching and research around critical and feminist approaches to exploring children and young people's voices, agency and rights in relation to education and social justice, SEND, inclusion, equality and diversity, and identities. She adopts participatory, multi-modal, arts and nature based methodologies and pedagogies.

Clare has taught and researched in collaboration with higher education institutions in the UK and internationally, developing strong networks with academic colleagues in the UK and globally, including Croatia, Ireland, Germany, Romania, Spain and Vietnam. Much of this work has been funded, including the AHRC funded 'Rooted in Nature' project (£177,000), the Erasmus funded CATALYST programme (85,000 euros) and the Maynooth Evaluation project (18,000 Euros).

Clare is currently leading a REF Impact Case Study, the IKEF funded 'Research in Special Education' (RiSE) / ‘Visualising Opportunities: Inclusion for Children, Education and Society’ (VOICES) project that explores children and young people's perceptions and experiences of inclusion using photo-voice and other creative methods. This project involved hosting an exhibition of the children's work at Liverpool Tate, and the team are continuing to work with schools, charities, community partners and local authorities across the UK (2019-2027). 

Clare is widely published in international peer-reviewed academic journals in education and the social sciences, she has contributed a range of chapters to educational texts and is the lead editor for two published books, one with Palgrave Macmillan on mentoring colleagues in HE and one with Routledge/nasen on SEND practice in education.

Clare has many years of experience in teaching and continues to teach and lead modules at both undergraduate and postgraduate level with a particular focus upon sociology of education, educational difference, inclusive pedagogies, social justice, and multimodal research methodologies. 

For seven years (2015-2022) she was the post-graduate co-ordinator for the Faculty of education, overseeing recruitmentment, progression, pastoral support and assessment procedures for PhD and MRes Students. She has also provided professional development for supervisors and successfully supervised her own PhD students.  

Clare is a Senior Teaching Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has been awarded ‘recognised research supervisor’ status by the UK Council for Graduate Education.