Our sister association, TheoryLab, is hosting its 4th international doctoral summer school this June. The deadline for applications is April 2nd. More information can be found on their website

The Laboratory for Educational Theory will host its fourth international doctoral summer school from Sunday 23th June – Thursday 27th June 2013. The theme for the summer school is ‘Challenging Concepts’. The summer school will be led by Dr Ian Munday and Professor Richard Edwards, with contributions from Professors Tara Fenwick, John Field and Mark Priestley, and Drs Helen Lees, James MacAllister and Kathy Nicoll.

The summer school theme has two aspects. First, we will explore theoretically some of the concepts that are the focus of much attention in educational debates, where education is conceptualised as a lifelong and lifewide set of practices. These concepts challenge educators in diverse contexts to consider the purposes, values, policies and practices of what they do. Second, we will use the summer school to challenge the ways in which these concepts are deployed in educational debates, and contest some key ways in which these concepts are theorised. In so doing, we will draw upon, among others, sociomaterial, poststructuralist and social realist theoretical approaches.

The summer school is particularly targeted at doctoral students whose projects engage with questions about key educational issues and the ways in which these are conceptualised in research.

The doctoral summer school consists of an intensive programme of lectures, seminars, discussion sessions and student presentations, with ample opportunities for informal interaction and discussion. Through discussion sessions and student presentations participants will be able to engage actively with the programme and make productive connections with their own projects.