Dr Nigel Kettley

Dr Nigel Kettley
Academic Director, University Associate Professor in Education and Social Science, University of Cambridge Professional and Continuing Education (PACE); Director of Studies in Education, Tutor and Fellow, Wolfson College

Biography

I am Academic Director and University Associate Professor in Education and Social Science. My academic interests are focused on issues of social inequality, life chances and social justice in the UK and beyond. I began my career as a Lecturer of Economics and Sociology in a large further education college before returning to study an MPhil and then a PhD in the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Cambridge.

As Academic Director at PACE I have oversight of a range of programmes in the social sciences and in professional studies. Throughout my career I have emphasised the importance of inclusive, accessible and experiential teaching and learning for adults returning to study. Learning should be research informed, professionally and personally relevant, and engaging and exciting. Currently, I teach on a range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses for PACE, supervise postgraduate students and contribute to the international summer programme.    

I remain fascinated by the ability of social science to contribute to our understanding of social life. In addition to my work at PACE, I am a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the British Journal of Sociology of Education. I am also a Director of Studies in Education, Fellow and Tutor at Wolfson College, a member of the Faculty of Education, Cambridge, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts. In 2017, I was awarded a Pilkington Prize for teaching excellence.

Research topics

My research has been inextricably linked to my teaching career. Initially, it focused on the relative impact of social stratification, gender and college attended on the determinants of educational attainment. This work foregrounded the impact of social class on GCSE and A level attainment at a time when other research emphasised gender alone. I have argued that students’ aggregate lifestyles must be examined holistically to understand and tackle educational inequality. Subsequently, my research has explored the impact of gender, ethnicity and social class on participation in higher education. My work also moved into the area of theory formation in the social sciences arguing that research requires a more holistic and mixed methods focus. More recently, aligned with my work at ICE, I have examined issues of inclusive curriculum design to promote the participation of less advantaged students in universities.

Publications

Journal articles

  • Nigel Kettley & Colm Murphy (2021) Augmenting excellence, promoting diversity? Preliminary design of a foundation year for the University of Cambridge, British Journal of Sociology of Education, 42:3, 419-434, 2021

Courses Taught