Dr Su Corcoran

I am one of very few researchers focused specifically on the transitions of street-connected young people away from the street and more particularly on the interplay of education and street-connectedness. My theoretical contributions to the field focus on the street-connected liminalities or liminal identities and the implications that these have for the development of inclusive communities (Corcoran 2016; Corcoran and Kaneva 2021). Street-connected young people access education of various kinds within many different contexts, as such I work closely with the Consortium for Street Children to develop research that engages with and includes practitioners in their global network of member organisations and have been invited to:

- be extensively interviewed by Robbie Hopper as part of a 2022 UNICEF and Government of Kenya consultation aiming to inform social policy development for street-connected children. I later provided peer review for the Education section of the report, which relies heavily on my publications.

- lead a special issue of Global Studies of Childhood on separated childhoods, for which I developed a cross sectoral team from both academia and practice to ensure that article authors and their reviewers were drawn from various backgrounds. As our editorial (Bhattacharjee et al. 2022) states: I wanted to “create the space to gather and share new findings…that centres on the voices of children and family members with lived experience of separation, and on the practical experiences of social service workforce who are key to providing adequate support to strengthen the capacity of families to remain together and to reunite safely”.

- contribute a chapter on street-connected and homeless childhoods for the SAGE handbook of Global Childhoods, whose novel contribution concerned the importance of consolidating the literature on two often perceived as disparate discourses (Kaneva and Corcoran 2021).

Bhattacharjee, D. Corcoran, S. Underhill, H. Wakia, J. and Walakira, E. (2022) Intersectional yet individual experiences: the importance of acknowledging, conceptualising and contextualising separated childhoods. Global Studies of Childhood 12(1):Editorial

Corcoran, S. and Kaneva, K. (2021) ‘Developing inclusive communities: understanding the experiences of education of learners of English as an additional language in England and street-connected young people in Kenya’ International Journal of Inclusive Education DOI: 10.1080/13603116.2021.1886348

Recent/current projects include:

Digital Voices of the Future: Children’s visions of future UK treescapes revealed through gaming (Co-I)

This NERC-funded project follows on from the Voices of the future: Collaborating with children and young people to re-imagine Treescapes project. Working with Prof. Simaon Carr from University of Cumbria, the research team will be working with children in schools around Mersey Forest to develop games focused on forests and sustainability. (2023/24)

The impact of hedge laying on personal wellbeing: understanding the transformative effects of learning the art of hedge laying to conservation volunteers (PI)

Working collaboratively with Lancashire Wildlife Trust at Philips Park, Bury, we are using an online survey and semi-structured interviews to explore volunteer engagement with Lancashire style hedge laying. (2022/23)

External Evaluation of the National Literacy Trust’s Represent programme (PI)

I led a team of four researchers on a mixed methods project focused on quantitative pre-and post-intervention psychological measures with students, teacher interviews and qualitative surveys, and creative workshops with students. (2022/2023)  

https://literacytrust.org.uk/programmes/sport-and-literacy/represent-focusing-on-girls-in-alternative-provision/

The interplay of education and Street-Connectedness (£6K PI)

Collaborating with colleagues from Chance for Childhood, Consortium for Street Children and Keep your Shoes Dirty, we are using an online survey and Zoom-based focus groups to explore how education and training are enabled for street-connected young people and the barriers and opportunities that help with the process. (2022/23)

Tugging at the thread: navigating the journey from teacher to academic? (Co-PI)

This project is using autoethnography to explore the transition of schoolteacher to academic of women from various backgrounds. (2022/23)

Home learning(PI)

Using a redirection of project funding from Norwegian Association of Disabled, this online Enabling Education Network survey in 10 languages focused on inclusive home learning during Covid 19 across 26 countries. (2020/21)https://www.eenet.org.uk/inclusive-home-learning/

Corcoran, S., Pinnock, H. and Twigg, R. (in press) Home Learning for Children in Low-Income Contexts during a Pandemic: An Analysis of 2020 Survey Results from Syria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Journal on Education in Emergencies, 8(3):79-110 Available in English, French and Arabic: https://inee.org/resources/home-learning-children-low-income-contexts-during-pandemic-analysis-2020-survey-results

Questioning the Form: Re-imagining identities through zine-making in Kampala, Uganda. I am a CoI on this project, with Kate Pahl (PI). It involves a partnership with StrongMinds and ArtVism in Kampala to conduct workshops focused on the creation of zines with women. The workshops were co-led by Gloria Kiconco and Charity Atukunda. 

Leveraging benefits for young people and wider communities with the Street Child Cricket World Cup. This project follows on from a project - with Jez Oldfield (Manchester Met) and Alice Bloom (Uni of Manchester) that looked at the impact of participating in the Street Child World Cup on the players, their communities and the organisatons who support them. In this Leisure Studies Association-funded iteration I am working with Tom Fletcher (Leeds Beckett), Jon Sibley (Manchester Met) and Alice Bloom (Uni of Manchester). We have extended our focus to find out how the event can be used to leverage impact, interviewing Street Child United staff members, organisational partners, volunteers and trustees.  

Belonging and Learning: Using co-produced arts methodologies to explore youth participation in contexts of conflict in Kenya, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Funded by the GCRF and AHRC, this project explores the potential of art-based methods to enable dialogue between displaced young people and policy makers. In Kenya, street-connected young people, head teachers, and local government officials interacted through dance, in Uganda, young refugees used their visual art to start conversations, and in the Democratic Republic of Congo, street-connected young people displaced by conflict and crisis coproduced poetry and drama with stakeholders from schools, civil society and local government. 

(Re-)Engaging street-connected young people with education in Mombasa

Collaborating with Glad’s House in Mombasa, this project aimed to understand street-connected young people’s experiences of education. Building on my PhD research, it focused on young people who had lived on the street for extended periods of time and were still there at the time of data generation. Both studies generated significant insight into (a) education as motivating initial migrations to the street, (b) the role of fear, embarrassment, and shame in preventing young people from going (back) into formal education, and (c) how acceptance and support are key to overcoming feelings of not belonging and other challenges when transitioning from the street into school. Read more here.

In addition to my research work at Manchester Metropolitan University, I am also programme coordinator at the Enabling Education Network where I co-edit the Enabling Education Review.     

External Evaluation of the Tim Peake Primary Project (PI)

More information on the External Evaluation of the Tim Peake Primary Project, which ran in 1,400 UK primary schools, can be found here. 

I am unit lead for Conceptualise, Critique and Create: Thinking with theory in inclusive education as part of the Masters in Inclusive Education. 

I am interested in supervising projects that consider social justice, inclusive education, youth employment, street-connectedness, homelessness and inclusion globally. 

I am also able to supervise projects concerned with STEM education. 

Current students include:

Jayne Mugglestone (2021-)

Queering Queer Equalities Work – Creating Place and Space

EdD Part B

Principal Supervisor: Su Corcoran

Co-Supervisor: Kate Pahl

Margarida Borras (2021-)

Developing Confident and Capable Future Digital Citizens: A Socio-technical Analysis of the role of smartphones in “Bring Your Own Device programs” in Wales and Catalonia.

Principal Supervisor: Cathy Lewin

Co-Supervisor: Su Corcoran

ESRC WRDTP studentship award, 1+3 (£78,000)

Annabel McAreavey (2022 -)

Trauma-Focused and Strengths-Based Classrooms in Education: A multidisciplinary approach to developing a novel, evidence-informed intervention within UK Primary Schools

Principal Supervisor: Jennifer McGahan

Co-Supervisor: Su Corcoran, Claire Fox

My wider research interests focus on the intersections of education and international development, in particular social justice, equity in education, and inclusive education in policy and practice, as well as issues associated with social policy, social justice, and science education.

I am especially interested in:

• street-connectedness and the implications for effective education provision of being, and having been, street-connected;
• transition experiences of young people leaving the street and transitioning (back) into home communities, schools and vocational training placements;
• the policy context with regards to education and street-connectedness;
• intersections of experience of education of displaced communities (eg conflict-affected and internally displaced; refugees; street-connected…);  
• visual research methods and/or arts-based methodologies with young people;
• the theory of liminality, and its interpretation within these the fields of refugee studies, disability studies, and street-connectedness.

As a qualified physics teacher I am also interested in STEM education and have experience of working with teachers to develop action research projects and evaluating education programmes.