New research into education and families

Dr Tehmina Basit, from the School of Education, successfully bid for £66,892 from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

Dr Basit, who is a Reader in Education, will conduct an in-depth study of three generations of British South Asian families. She will investigate the perspectives of British grandparents, parents and young people to establish how education affects family relationships and how family attributes are perceived by the three generations.

She said: “The research will identify key similarities and differences in family practices and education relating to social class membership, religious affiliation, educational level, occupation, and the gender of the parents and the children. It will also aim to establish how ethnic minority identities evolve over three generations.

“I am delighted to have received this funding from the Economic and Social Research Council, which will enable us to continue to build on the University’s recent success in the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE).”

The research is titled 'Intergenerational Dynamics and Education amongst British Asian Families' and the project will run from 1 May 2009 until 30 April 2010. The methods and approaches used to gather data will be focus groups, individual interviews and digital ethnography.

Further information

Dr Tehmina Basit is a Reader in Education and co-ordinator of the Education for Social Inclusion and Social Justice academic research cluster at the University of Wolverhampton. Her research interests include the education of minority ethnic groups; race and ethnicity; citizenship and young people; social justice; social inclusion; initial teacher training; the professional development of teachers; and qualitative research methodology.

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is the UK's largest organisation for funding research on economic and social issues. It supports independent, high quality research which has an impact on business, the public sector and the third sector. The ESRC’s planned total expenditure in 2009/10 is £204 million. At any one time the ESRC supports over 4,000 researchers and postgraduate students in academic institutions and independent research institutes. More at http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk

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