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Dr A.J Fensham-Smith

@ajfenshamsmith.bsky.social
364 followers 237 following 23 posts

Senior Lecturer Childhood & Youth Studies, Open University | Co-director of The Children's Research Centre |Editorial board member of the Educational Review | Alternative Education Sociologist.

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Reposted by Dr A.J Fensham-Smith
The Open University @openuniversity.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
Last night one of our academics, Dr Amber Fensham-Smith, appeared on BBC's The One Show to give to explain why more families are choosing to homeschool their children, and the potential benefits of doing so. 💡Learn more: wels.open.ac.uk/research/childrens-research-centre @ajfenshamsmith.bsky.social
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Reposted by Dr A.J Fensham-Smith
The Open University @openuniversity.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
One of our academics, Dr Amber Fensham-Smith will be appearing on tonight's episode of The One Show, discussing home schooling with presenter Angelica Bell 📚 You can watch Amber from 7pm and find out more about her research here: wels.open.ac.uk/research/chi... @ajfenshamsmith.bsky.social
Dr Amber Fensham-Smith
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Reposted by Dr A.J Fensham-Smith
The Childhood, Law & Policy Network (CLPN) @clpn.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
Call for articles on children and youth engaged in paid employment while studying. For a special issue of the journal Work, Employment and Society. Papers are due by 27 February, 2026.
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Dr A.J Fensham-Smith @ajfenshamsmith.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
Join us for CRC Research Conversations; Giving up the 'Good Research Child'? Researcher's roundtable online event. Thursday 1st May 2025 15:00-16:30 BST Register for free via Eventbrite: bit.ly/4kWd4UK @childlawcentre.bsky.social @clpn.bsky.social @crecuk.bsky.social #childledresearch
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Dr A.J Fensham-Smith @ajfenshamsmith.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
Variety of researchers, educators & yp discussed: "It's plugging a gap"Fensham-Smith, co-director of the Open University's Children's Research Centre,"If your child is struggling with their mental health, you can't get an NHS referral and you want to keep them safe, what do you do?" #homeeducation
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Reposted by Dr A.J Fensham-Smith
Dr Achala Gupta @achalagupta.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
🔊 Call for papers! Join us for the @britsoci.bsky.social Presidential Event, in collaboration with the BSA Education Study Group. ⏳ Deadline: 30 January 2025 💬 Theme: The Future of the Sociology of Education 📅 Date: 6 June 2025 📍 Place: BSA Meeting Room, London 🔗 britsoc.co.uk/events/key-b...
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Dr A.J Fensham-Smith @ajfenshamsmith.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
Looking forward to visiting @uparisnanterre.bsky.social shortly to share and exchange- facilitating Photovoice with young people in #alternativeeducation photovox.sciencesconf.org/registration... #youthledresearch #Photovoice #ethicalreflections #participatoryactionresearch
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Reposted by Dr A.J Fensham-Smith
The Childhood, Law & Policy Network (CLPN) @clpn.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
Call for conference papers: "Through the generations: Youth, ageing, and African Studies collections" Abstracts due by 17 January, 2025. The conference will take place in June 2025 at the University of Oxford. scolma.org?p=3143
scolma.org
Scolma.org – News – Call for Papers – “Through the generations: youth, ageing and African Studies collections” – (SCOLMA Conference 2025)
CfP: Through the generations: youth, ageing and African Studies collections 30th June 2025 A one-day conference at the University of  Oxford   Keynote...
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Reposted by Dr A.J Fensham-Smith
The Childhood, Law & Policy Network (CLPN) @clpn.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
Join our webinar: Children's voices & experiences in sports & physical education. 🗓️Tuesday 3 December, 5pm (GMT). Register here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/webinar-ch... This is the kick-off for our "Children & Their Bodies" webinar series. Here's the full program: www.qmul.ac.uk/clpn/media/c...
eventbrite.co.uk
Webinar: Children's Sports and Physical Education
Organised by the Childhood, Law & Policy Network
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Reposted by Dr A.J Fensham-Smith
Prof Laura Lundy @lauralundy.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
Marking the 100th anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Rights of the Child with some reflections on the child’s right to participation.
An image of a kaleidoscope and text saying it’s not the gift of adults. It’s the right of the child
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Dr A.J Fensham-Smith @ajfenshamsmith.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
Our BERA case study considers the #ethicalissues when conducting #participatoryresearch with young people, the nuanced nature of participation preferences & #autonomy, #consent & #dissent in community research dissemination (Govaerts & Fensham-Smith, 2024) www.bera.ac.uk/publication/...
bera.ac.uk
Research Ethics Case Studies 2024: Negotiating power, participation and dissent with young-researchers in community dissemination
This case study considers the ethical issues that can arise when conducting participatory research with young people. It highlights the nuanced nature of participation preferences and the ethical...
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Dr A.J Fensham-Smith @ajfenshamsmith.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
www.ft.com/content/364a... Rise in home education: a range of stakeholder voices, opportunities and challenges are represented in this piece. #homeeducation #educationotherwise #homeschooling #educationalternatives
Reasons for the information gap are nauanced
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Jonathan W. Gray @elmcitytree.blacksky.app · 15/11/2024
Finally made a #Blackademics starter pack! Let continue to build community here. This is part of #Blacksky so please show your appreciation to the architect, @rudyfraser.com
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Dr Zoë Ayres @zjayres.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
Too early to mention that a copy of Managing Your Mental Health During Your PhD might make a nice Christmas gift for a PhD student in your life? link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
Three copies of Managing Your Mental Health During Your PhD on a desk splayed out
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Dr A.J Fensham-Smith @ajfenshamsmith.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
Are you an educator, parent or young person interested or practicing home education? Head over to Open Learn Elective Home Education HUB: www.open.edu/openlearn/ed... free articles, short courses and resources 1/3 #homeeducation #alternativeeducation
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Prof Deborah Lupton, MPH PhD @dalupton.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
Here’s a booklet I put together about creative methods I and collaborators have used in recent years - may be of interest for those researchers interested in creative methods simplysociology.wordpress.com/2024/09/25/n...
simplysociology.wordpress.com
New booklet now out on creative methods for social inquiry and research communication
I’ve had a lot of fun experimenting with creative methods over the past few years, drawing on arts- and design-based approaches. I’ve put together a booklet that showcases 13 of these m…
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Rachel Brooks @rachelbrooks.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
CfP: The Future of the Sociology of Education A BSA Presidential Event, in collaboration with the @britsoci.bsky.social Education Study Group 6 June 2025 (10:00-17:00) BSA Meeting Room, Imperial Wharf, London, UK Deadline for abstracts: 30 January www.britsoc.co.uk/events/key-b...
britsoc.co.uk
The Future of the Sociology of Education
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Prof Deborah Lupton, MPH PhD @dalupton.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
I’m back on here and giving it another go - great to see all the new people here sharing amazing stuff. Here’s a pic of my current view for a positive start - plenty of blue sky!
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Dr A.J Fensham-Smith @ajfenshamsmith.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
Delighted to have joined this rapidly growing platform, to make old and new connections, I'm a sociologist interested in alternative education, inequalities, youth transitions, creative pedagogy
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Kalwant Bhopal @kalwantbhopal.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
Keep reading, keep downloading!! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com
Complicity and Conformity: perpetuating race and class hierarchies in UK higher education
Drawing on tenets of Critical Race Theory such as Whiteness, interest convergence, intersectionality and White supremacy this paper examines how some academics of colour are able to accelerate thei...
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Richard Budd @ddubdrahcir.bsky.social · 10/11/2024
'If you’re an academic who is still using Twitter, I would gently suggest to you that it is time to let go. The platform will either fold, fade into irrelevance...or complete its evolution into the central engine of reactionary politics'. markcarrigan.net/2024/11/09/i...
markcarrigan.net
It’s time for academics to let go of Twitter
Imagine discovering that a colleague was regularly posting on Gab, Parler or Truth Social. These alt-media platforms became notorious over recent years as spaces parallel to the mainstream of socia…
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Dr Jon Rainford @jonrainford.bsky.social · 12/11/2024
It's been great to spend the morning sharing the work I've been doing over the past few years with neurodivergent students with colleagues from across the UK and Indonesia and hearing about neurodiversity in Indonesia.
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Prof Dave O'Brien @drdaveobrien.bsky.social · 13/11/2024
Couple of highlights from the @suttontrust.bsky.social new report 'A Class Act: Social mobility and the creative industries' www.suttontrust.com/our-research... I'll focus on Higher Education (which @orianbrook.bsky.social @markrt.bsky.social & I worked on)
Front cover of the higher education section of the Sutton Trust's A Class Act report available here https://www.suttontrust.com/our-research/a-class-act/Front cover of A Class Act: Social mobility and the creative industries available here https://www.suttontrust.com/our-research/a-class-act/
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Dr Jon Rainford @jonrainford.bsky.social · 13/11/2024
Another fantastic Pedagogies of Hope session in our British Sociological Association Education study group series featuring Roberto Catello and Sharon Davidson
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