Catherine Burke
Position/Status
University Senior Lecturer
E-mail Address
cb552@cam.ac.uk
Phone
(+44) 01223 767566
Qualifications
- BA (Hons) in History, University College, Cardiff
- MEd (Networked Learning / Telematics) University of Sheffield
- PhD in Social and Labour History, Sheffield Hallam University
Membership of Professional Bodies/Associations
- History of Education Society, UK, Vice President (President Elect)
- British Educational Research Association (BERA)
- RIBA Schools Forum
- Editorial Board History of Education Journal
- International Visual Sociology Association, Board member
Profile
Catherine Burke is Senior Lecturer in History of Education at the University of Cambridge. She is currently manager of faculty doctoral programmes, Senior Examiner for M.Phil and convenes the Education Tripos Paper II Images, Texts and Identities: Education and Social Change 1919-1989. She also teaches on the MPhil / MEd programme and supervises PhDs. Catherine is an historian currently engaged with cultural and material histories of educational contexts and of childhood in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. Her current research examines the relationship between innovation in teaching and the design of formal and informal learning spaces; the view of the child and young person in the design of education; the history of 20th century school architecture and its pioneers. A major focus of the research is bringing an historical awareness to current initiatives to 'transform' education via school building renewal.
Catherine has for some time been a member of the Executive Committee of the History of Education Society (UK) and has been elected Vice President (President Elect) of the HES. She is also a link convenor of the Histories of Education Network of the European Conference on Educational Research. She has researched and written on the history of school architecture, the participation of children in the design of school, as well as on contemporary school architecture. She is currently the editor of the Sources and Interpretations section of History of Education Journal.
Two recent co-authored research books are The School I'd Like. Children and Young People's Reflections on an Education for the 21st Century.London. RoutledgeFalmer (2003), and School London Reaktion Books (2008). Catherine is currently completing a book about the relationship between architecture and education in the 20th century through the life of the architect Mary Medd (nee Crowley) (1907-2005). This will be published in 2012 by Ashgate.
Academic Area/Links
- Cultural Histories of Education
- History of networks in educational innovation
- Visual methodologies in the participation of children in the design of education
- Histories of creative pedagogies
Research Topics
- History of 20th century school architecture: relationships between designers, policy makers, HMI and teachers in international contexts
- Children and young people's participation in the design of museum and gallery spaces as informal contexts for education
Current Research Project(s)
- 'The Decorated School' International and interdisciplinary network funded by the Arts and Humanites Research Council, 2011-12.
- Creative Spaces 2 with CAPEUK and North West Museums and Galleries
- An investigation into the choice of single or multi-storey primary schools for Cambridgeshire County Council
- Documentary Film and Educational Research (British Academy)
- Principles of Primary School Design: Towards a Common Vocabulary of Practice
Prospective PhD Applications
Catherine would welcome informal contact from prospective PhD students on the following research areas
- History of education and childhood
- Documentary film and educational research
- Children and young people's participation in design of education
- Informal learning in museums and galleries
- Visual methods in educational research
- Architecture and education
- Building Schools of the Future
Course Involvement
- Education Tripos
- MEd
- MPhil Arts, Culture and Education
Principal and Recent Publications
Burke, C. [forthcoming] Mary Beaumont Crowley 1907-2005. A Life in Education and Architecture. London: Ashgate.
Burke, C. and Grosvenor, I. (2012) 'The Steward Street School experiment: a critical case study of possibilities' in British Educational Research Journal - ifirst Available online: 18 Oct 2011
Burke, C. and Cunningham, P. ‘Ten Years On’: making children visible in teacher education and ways of reading video' in special issue Paedagogica Historica. International Journal of the History of Education:Volume 47 Issue 4, 2011 "Education in Motion: producing methodologies for researching documentary film on education".
Burke, Catherine and Grosvenor, Ian (2011) 'The Hearing School: an exploration of sound and listening in the modern school', Paedagogica Historica, First published on: 10 January 2011 (iFirst)
Burke, C., Cunningham, P. and Grosvenor, I., Editorial in Special Issue of History of Education Journal, 'Putting Education in its Place: Space, place and materialities in the history of education. History of Education, Volume 39, Number 6, November 2010: 677-680
Burke, C., 'Putting education in its place: mapping the observations of Danish and English architects on 1950s school design' Paedagogica Historica, Volume 46 Issue 5, October 2010: 655 - 672
Burke, C. and Dudek, M. 'Experiences of learning within a 20th-century radical experiment in education: Prestolee school, 1919-1952' Oxford Review of Education, Volume 36, Number 2, April 2010: 203-218.
Burke, C. 'About looking: vision, transformation, and the education of the eye in discourses of school renewal past and present' British Educational Research Journal, Volume 36 Number 1 February 2010:65-82.
Burke, C. '"Inside out": a collaborative approach to designing schools in England, 1945-1972' Paedagogica Historica International Journal of the History of Education, Volume 45 Issue 3 2009: 421-433.
Burke, C. and Grosvenor, I. (2008). School. London: Reaktion Press.
Burke, C. (2008). 'Play in focus: children's visual voice in participative research' in: Thomson, P. (Ed.) Doing Visual Research with Children and Young People. London: Routledge.
Burke, C., Gallagher, C., Prosser, J. and Torrington, J. (2008). 'The View of the Child: Explorations of the Visual Culture of the Made Environment.' in: Tom Inns (Ed.) Designing for the 21st Century. Interdisciplinary Questions and Insights.. London: Ashgate.
Burke, C. and Grosvenor, I. (2007). 'The Progressive Image in the History of Education: Stories of Two Schools'. Visual Studies, 22 (2), 155-168.
Burke, C. and Grosvenor, I. (2007). 'Designed spaces and disciplined bodies: E.R.Robson's grand architectural tour.' in: Greetje Timmerman, Nelleke Bakker, Jeroen J.H. Dekker (Ed.) Cultuuroverdracht als pedagogisch motief. Historische en actuele perspectieven op onderwijs, sekse en beroep.. Groningen: Barkhuis.
Burke, C. (2007). The View of the Child: Releasing 'visual voices' in the design of learning environments. Discourse, 28 (3), 359-372.
Burke, C. with Prosser, J. (2007). 'Childlike perspectives through image-based educational research.' in: J. G. Knowles and A. Cole (Ed.) Handbook of the arts in qualitative research: perspectives, methodologies, examples and issues. Sage.
Burke, C. and Ribeiro de Castro, H. (2007). 'The School Photograph: Portraiture and the Art of Assembling the Body of the School Child'. History of Education, 36 (2), 213-226.
Burke, C. (2007). 'Inspiring spaces: creating creative classrooms'.Curriculum Briefing, 5 (2), 35-39.
Burke, C. (2005). 'The School Without Tears'. E. F. O'Neill of Prestolee School'. History of Education, Volume 3, 263-275.
Burke, C. (ed) (2005). 'Containing the School Child:Architecture and Pedagogies'. Double Special Issue of the Journal Paedagogica Historica. Taylor and Francis.
Burke, C. (2005). 'Contested Desires: The Edible Landscape of School'. Paedagogica Historica, 41, 571-587.
Burke, C. and Grosvenor, I. (2005). 'School Buildings, a safe haven, not a prison.' in: C. Cable and I. Eyres (Ed.) Primary Teaching Assistants. Curriculum in Context. David Fulton.
Burke, C. (2005). 'The Edible Landscape of School' in: M. Dudek (Ed.) Children's Spaces. London: Architectural Press.
Burke, C. (2005). 'Light in the History of Schooling' in: M.Lawn and I. Grosvenor (Ed.) Materialities of Schooling. London: Symposium Books.
Burke, C. and Grosvenor, I. (2003). The School I'd Like. Children and Young People's Reflections on an Education for the 21st Century. London: RoutledgeFalmer.