Staff profiles
Dr Colin McCaig
Senior research fellow
Phone 0114 225 6062
E-mail c.mccaig@shu.ac.uk
Colin is a senior research fellow and joined the centre in September 2007. His research interests are around the politics of higher education, further education and lifelong learning, specifically widening participation in higher education and the nature of the student experience in post-compulsory education.
Colin is also interested in wider aspects of higher education, such the marketing of higher education, admissions to higher education and the impact of Office for Fair Access (OFFA) Access Agreements. Within the centre Colin has a role co-directing educational research projects, including the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) funded longitudinal NQT Quality Improvement Study (2007-2011), contributing to the EdD programme and supervises EdD students. He works closely with researchers in the Centre for Science Education (CSE) on various projects, and in identifying links between the research interests of CEIR and CSE staff. Colin is also co-editor of a recent research methods book 'Practical Research and Evaluation: A Start-to-Finish Guide for Practitioners' with Lena Dahlberg, published by Sage in 2010.
He graduated as a mature student in 1994, and took a Masters in political economy at the University of Sheffield in 1995. Colin stayed on at Sheffield to complete his PhD thesis 'Preparing for Government: education policymaking in the Labour Party, 1994-1999', receiving his doctorate in 2000. He has worked as an educational researcher since 1999 and has been with Sheffield Hallam University since 2003.
Colin has a long track record of project management experience for a variety of educational bodies, such as the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (DIUS), and its predecessor the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), the Higher Education Academy (HEA), the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), the Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA) and has carried out research and evaluation work for regional bodies such as Aimhigher South Yorkshire and Aimhigher Greater Merseyside. Along with Sean Demack and Anna Stevens he has successfully been awarded Nuffield research funding to explore the impact of bullying in schools on educational attainment and aspirations towards progression to higher education. Colin will also shortly begin work on analysis of new OFFA access agreements which contain institutions' plans to assist widening participation and enable fair access, building on his published analytical work in the field over several years (see publications).
Colin is currently co-directing the Newly Qualified Teacher Quality Improvement Study, a three-year longitudinal research project for the TDA.
Major research projects Colin has managed include
- The Newly Qualified Teacher Quality Improvement Study, a three-year longitudinal research project for the TDA (2007-2011) as co-director
- Review of the Impact of the Schwartz report Fair Admissions to Higher Education four years on, for Supporting Professionalism in Admissions (SPA) and funded by the DIUS (now DBIS) in 2008
- Research into the impact of Aimhigher Healthcare strand activities on the transition to higher education of young people in South Yorkshire, 2009 (Aimhigher South Yorkshire)
- Accelerated Programmes of Learning evaluation, 2007 (HEA and HEFCE)
- Research into the Impact of Targeted Aimhigher Programmes, 2006-7 (Aimhigher Greater Merseyside)
- Second Phase Evaluation of the National Learning Network (NLN), 2003-2005 (LSDA)
- E-learning Users Survey for the NLN, 2004 (DfES)
- Educational providers survey for the National Evaluation of Aimhigher (for HEFCE)
- Evaluation of Four Aimhigher projects, 2005-6 (Aimhigher South Yorkshire)
- Evaluation of the Impact of Aimhigher on Three Educational Institutions, 2005-6 (Aimhigher South Yorkshire)
Selected publications
Coldwell M, Maxwell B, McCaig C, Davies J and Stevens A (2011) NQT Quality Improvement Study for the Training and Development Agency for Schools Synthesised key findings from all five stages of the NQT Quality Improvement Study (PDF 644KB)
Coldwell M, Davies J, Maxwell B and McCaig C (2011) NQT Quality Improvement Study for the Training and Development Agency for Schools Part 4 Report: The Third Year of Teaching (PDF 964KB)
McCaig, C and Adnett, N (2011) 'Achieving 'Transparency, Consistency and Fairness' in English HE Admissions: Progress since Schwartz?, Higher Education Quarterly, Volume 65, Issue 1, pages 12-33, January 2011
McCaig, C (2010) 'Trajectories of higher education system differentiation: structural policymaking and the impact of tuition fees in England and Australia' in the special issue of the Journal of Education and Work: National Structural Higher Education Policy and Politics in Times of Globalization and their effects on social inequality. Journal of Education and Work, Vol. 24, Nos. 1-2, February-April 2011, 7-25.
McCaig, C (2010) Access agreements, widening participation and market positionality: enabling student choice? in Molesworth, M, Nixon, L, and Scullion, R (eds) The Marketisation of Higher Education and the Student as Consumer, Routledge London and New York, ISBN 978-0-415-58447-0
Adnett, N and McCaig, C (2010) Achieving 'Transparency, Consistency and Fairness' in English HE Admissions: Progress since Schwartz?, Higher Education Quarterly (forthcoming)
McCaig, C (2010) Access agreements, widening participation and market positionality: enabling student choice? in Molesworth, M, Nixon, L, and Scullion, R (eds) The Marketisation of Higher Education and the Student as Consumer, Routledge, 2010 London and New York ISBN 978-0-415-58447-0
McCaig, C and Dahlberg, L (eds) (2009) Practical Research and Evaluation: A Start-to-Finish Guide for Practitioners, SAGE Publications Ltd, ISBN: 9781847870049
McCaig, C and Adnett, N (2009) English Universities, Additional Fee Income and Access Agreements: their impact on Widening Participation and Fair Access, British Journal of Education Studies, Vol. 57, No.1 March 2009 pp.18-36.
McCaig, C and Adnett, N (2009) Achieving Transparency, Consistency and Fairness in English HE Admissions: Progress since Schwartz?, Studies in Higher Education (forthcoming)
McCaig C, Bowers-Brown T, Slack K, Barley R, Adnett N, Cripps C, Wolstenholme C, Willis B (2008) Schwartz Report - Review 2008 for SPA
Download reports from SPA website (including executive summary and conclusions, research findings, themes and good practice case studies)
McCaig C, Drew S, Marsden D, Haughton P, McBride J, McBride D, Willis B, Wolstenholme C (2008) International Research Collaboration in UK Higher Education Institutions (PDF from DIUS website) for DIUS
Drew S, McCaig C, Marsden D, Haughton P, McBride J, McBride D, Willis B, Wolstenholme C (2008) Trans-national Education and Higher Education Institutions: Exploring Patterns of HE institutional Activity (PDF from DIUS website) for DIUS
McCaig, C, Bowers-Brown, T and Drew, S (2007) Accelerated learning programmes: a review of quality, extent and demand, HEA, York
McCaig, C, Stevens, A and Bowers-Brown, T (2007) Does Aimhigher Work? Evidence from the national evaluation (PDF 127KB), Higher Education Research Network 2006 Research report, Sheffield Hallam University
McCaig, C, Bowers-Brown, T, Stevens, A and Harvey, L, (2006) National Evaluation of Aimhigher: Survey of Higher Education Institutions, Further Education Colleges and Work-based Learning Providers (Word doc from HEFCE website), HEFCE
McCaig, C and Smith, MJ (2006) Staff Perspectives on ILT: findings from a national evaluation of the learning and skills sector in O'Donoghue, J (2005) (ed) Technology Supported Learning and Teaching: A Staff Perspective, Idea Group Inc.
McCaig, C, Bowers-Brown, T and Fowler, G (2006) The Impact of Aimhigher on Three Institutions, Aimhigher South Yorkshire.
McCaig, C, Bowers-Brown, T, and Fowler, G (2006) An Evaluation of Four Aimhigher Projects, Aimhigher South Yorkshire.
McCaig, C, Bowers-Brown, T , Cappuccini, G, Harvey, L, Sagu, S and MacDonald, M (2005) Careers Advisory services and International Students, HECSU Research Report, September 2005.
McCaig, C, Smith, MJ (2004) The developing Impact of Information Learning Technology: Final Report to the NLN Research and Evaluation Working Group by the Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA) and Sheffield Hallam University on the impact of information and learning technology in sector college, NLN, 2004.
McCaig, C, Smith, MJ and Donovan, K (2004) The developing Impact of Information Learning Technology: Staff Development, NLN, 2004.
McCaig, C, Warmington, P and Murphy, R (2004) Real and imagined crises: the construction of political and media panics over education, Research Intelligence, December 2004.
McCaig, C (2003) School Exams: Leavers in Panic, in Parliamentary Affairs: Special Issue Vol. 56, No. 3, 2003, pp. 471-489 When Government Must Step In: Management of Domestic Crises in Britain.
Davies, P, Greenwood, M, Kendall, P, McCaig, C, Parry, GW, Williams, J (2002) Progression from HNC/Ds to Honours degrees: diversity, complexity and change (Word doc from HEFCE website), HEFCE, Bristol.
McCaig, C and McCulloch, GJ (2002) Reinventing the Past: the Case of the English Tradition of Education, in the British Journal of Educational Studies, Volume 50, No.2 June 2002.
McCaig, C (2001) Review article in British Journal of Educational Studies, Vol. 49, No.2 June 2001: Heathorn, S (2000) For Home, Country and Race: constructing gender, class and Englishness in the Elementary School, 1880-1914, University of Toronto Press.
Conference presentations
Coldwell, M., Maxwell, B. and McCaig, C. (2010) Cultures of career development: senior leaders' and early career teachers' views of career (PDF 441KB) Paper presented at British Educational Research Association (BERA) conference, September 2010.
McCaig, C (2009) OFFA Access Agreements, bursaries and 'Fair Access' to higher education- opening up a new front in the WP wars? (Word doc from University of Leeds website) Paper to the Annual Conference of the British Educational Research Association, Manchester, September 2009.
McCaig, C, Garland, P and Larson, A (2009) How can the concepts of habitus and field help us to understand the engagement of educational workers in higher Education? (PDF 211KB), paper to the Annual European Conference of Education Research, Vienna, September 2009-10-07
McCaig, C and Barley, R (2009) Click and Go? transparency and consistency in HEI website information for applicants, Paper presented to the Second Institutional Research Conference, Sheffield, July 2009.
McCaig C, Adnett N (2008) Variable Tuition Fees and the impact of access agreements on Widening Participation and Fair Access (PDF 237KB) Paper presented to BERA, Edinburgh, September 2008
McCaig C (2008) Variable tuition fees and widening participation: the marketing of English institutions through access agreements (PDF 232KB) Paper presented to the EAIR Forum, Copenhagen, August 2008
McCaig C, Bowers-Brown T (2007) Aimhigher: achieving social justice? Paper presented at the British Educational Research Association Annual Conference, London, 5-8 September 2007
McCaig (2006) Variable tuition fees: widening participation and institutional marketing strategies, paper to the Annual Conference of the British Educational Research Association, September 2006.
McCaig (2006) Variable tuition fees: widening participation and institutional marketing strategies in England, paper presented to the 28th Annual EAIR Forum, Rome, September 2006
McCaig, C and Smith, MJ (2004) Technology and Social Inclusion: Is ILT Being Used on the Right people? Paper to the ALT-C Conference, Exeter , September 2004.
McCaig, C and Smith, MJ (2004) Does ILT Investment have an Equal Impact on all Students? Evidence from the United Kingdom's Lifelong Learning Sector paper to the IADIS International Conference e-society 2004, Avila , Spain , July 2004.
McCaig, C (2004) The Politics of Standards, as part of McCaig, C, Warmington, P and Murphy, R Real and imagined crises: the construction of political and media panics over education Seminar at BERA Conference, 16-18 September 2004
McCaig, C, Warmington, P and Murphy, R (2004) Real and imagined crises: the construction of political and media panics over education, Research Intelligence, December 2004.
McCaig, C (2003) The Politics of Exam Crises, paper to the Conference of the International Association for Educational Assessment, Manchester, 9 October 2003.
McCaig, C (2002) A Means to an End or an End in Itself?: Models of Progression from HNC/Ds to Degrees, paper to the Annual Conference of the Society for Research into Higher Education, Glasgow, 12 December 2002.
McCaig, C (2001) SRHE, Cambridge, 14 December 2001 (with Pat Davies), Hanging on in there (or not): the experience of mature students two years after entry to HE.
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