The Cardiff Education and Social Justice Research Group is focused on all forms of educational inequalities, including the impact of poverty on educational attainment, anti-racism, additional learning needs and the development of community focused schools. It is interested in the whole education and lifelong learning lifespan and the interaction between education and society more generally. Its focus is on close to practice research that has the potential to impact upon policy and practice.

Whilst the immediate context for the group’s work is the education system in Wales, it has an interest in wider UK and international contexts and seeks to influence knowledge and practice in those domains.

The group will adopt an inter-disciplinary approach with group members drawn from a range of academic disciplines and specialist areas. External partnerships have been formed with leading academic organisations, including Glasgow University, policy bodies such as The Education Endowment Foundation and sector organisations and local authorities within Wales.

The group will adopt a mixed methods approach to research, using a range of quantitative and qualitative approaches in undertaking close to practice studies. The group has expertise in a range of specialist areas including research on overcoming the impact of poverty on attainment, community focused schools, additional learning needs, black and ethnic minority achievement, and learner wellbeing.