Research
My research explores children’s lived experiences of learning, with a particular focus on mathematics, outdoor spaces, and pedagogy that attends to how learning is felt, encountered, and made meaningful. Drawing on hermeneutic phenomenology, my work seeks to illuminate dimensions of learning that are often overlooked by outcome-driven or purely instrumental approaches.
Research Themes
Across my work, several interconnected themes recur:
– Children’s lived experiences of learning mathematics
– Outdoor learning as a pedagogical and affective space
– Low-stakes, high-interest approaches to learning
– Phenomenology as a method for educational research
– Bridging research, practice, and professional judgement
Publications
My peer-reviewed publications focus on phenomenological approaches to learning and education, with particular attention to children’s experiences in outdoor and alternative learning spaces.
Low-stakes, high-interest learning: a hermeneutic phenomenological study of children learning mathematics outdoors
Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning (2026)
This paper explores how children experience learning mathematics outdoors, attending to how space, pedagogy, and social relations shape feelings of safety, confidence, and engagement. From children’s accounts, the concept of low-stakes, high-interest learning is developed as a way of understanding learning environments where fear is reduced and curiosity is foregrounded.
→ Version of Record (journal): https://doi.org/10.1080/14729679.2026.2618235
→ Author Accepted Manuscript
Thesis – Low stakes, high-interest learning: a hermeneutic phenomenological study of children learning mathematics outdoors
Anglia Ruskin University (2023)
This research reveals that participants experience outdoor mathematics learning through a sense of safety, belonging, peace and freedom. Findings indicate that the outdoors is experienced as a safe space for learning where everyone is included, and mistakes are learning opportunities. In addition, the research data reveals that participants experience peace, which removes their worries and stresses, and freedom to be self-directed and creative in their learning. Throughout the study, participants highlight the importance of space, sounds, natural objects and their connections with peers when learning mathematics outdoors.
Knowing me, knowing them: Using penned illustrations with known participants
The Qualitative Report (2023)
This paper introduces penned illustrations as a creative reflexive method for practice-based researchers working with known participants. Situated within hermeneutic phenomenology, the paper demonstrates how writing exaggerated, interpretive accounts of participants can help insider-researchers expose preconceptions, manage positionality, and ethically engage with the dual roles of professional and researcher. The method is presented as a practical and imaginative approach to reflexivity across qualitative and practitioner-led research contexts.
→ Open Access Article: https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2023.6085
Being in the wood: Using a presuppositional interview in hermeneutic phenomenological research
Qualitative Research (2022)
This paper explores the use of presuppositional interviewing as a reflexive method within hermeneutic phenomenological research. Drawing on a practice-based doctoral study of children learning mathematics outdoors, the paper illustrates how presuppositional interviews can surface researchers’ known and unknown assumptions, supporting deeper reflexive insight into positionality, decision-making, and the conduct of phenomenological inquiry. The paper positions presuppositional interviewing as both a methodological and philosophical resource for practitioner-researchers.
→ Open Access Article: https://doi.org/10.1177/14687941211061055
