Dr Nigel Kettley

Institute of Continuing Education (ICE)

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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.

Qualifications:

PhD Sociology of Education, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Cambridge, SPS Cambridge

MPhil Sociology and Politics of Modern Society, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Cambridge, SPS Cambridge

Certificate in Education (FE), University of Southampton

BA Sociology (Hons), University of Essex

Research

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.

Selected Publications

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Kettley, N. C. and Whitehead, J. M. (2012) 'Remapping the landscape of choice: Patterns of social class convergence in the psycho-social factors shaping the HE choice process', Educational Review, Vol. 64, Number 4, pp. 493-510 , 2012
Oliver, C. and Kettley, N. (2010) 'Gatekeepers or facilitators: the influence of teacher habitus on students’ applications to elite universities'. British Journal of Sociology of Education, Vol. 31, No. 6, pp. 737-757 , 2010
Kettley, N., Whitehead, J. M. and Raffan, J., ‘Worried women, complacent men? Gendered responses to differential funding in higher education’, Oxford Review of Education, Vol. 34, No. 1, pp. 111-129 , 2008
Kettley, N., ‘The past, present and future of widening participation research’, British Journal of Sociology of Education, Vol. 28, No. 3, pp. 333-347 , 2007
Kettley, N., ‘It’s pretty cool to be clever: The marginal relevance of gender to educational practices and attainment at AS/A level?’, Evaluation and Research in Education, Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 126-144 , 2006
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

BOOKS

Kettley, N., Whitehead, J. M. and Borek, A. ‘Re-gendering financial worry? The impact of changing funding regimes on students’ experience and perception of debt in elite higher education’ , 2013
Kettley, N. Borek, A. and Whitehead, J. M. ‘The squeezed middle? Social class, students’ funding packages and changing perceptions of financial assistance in elite higher education’ , 2013
Kettley, N., Theory building in educational research. London: Continuum , 2010
Kettley, N., Educational attainment and society. London: Continuum , 2007

BOOK CHAPTERS

Kettley, N. (2013): ‘Thinking with Theory in Qualitative Research: Viewing Data across Multiple Perspectives. By Alecia Y. Jackson and Lisa A. Mazzei’, British Journal of Educational Studies, DOI:10.1080/00071005.2013.768850 , 2013
Kettley, N., Patterns of GCE A/AS level attainment in Further Education. Cambridge Studies in Social Research No. 9. Cambridge: SRG Publications , 2005

CONFERENCE PAPERS

'Differential student funding in higher education: female worry and male complacency'. CamERA, The Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge , 2008
'Factors that encourage and discourage students from entering higher education: an analysis by gender and social background of two national samples'. Widening Participation in Higher Education East of England Regional Research Forum, St. Edmund's College, University of Cambridge , 2006
'The past, present and future of widening participation research'. Sponsored by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) for the ESRC/TLRP Workshop on Widening Participation, Institute of Education, University of London , 2006
'Social Stratification and AS/A Level Attainment'. Social Class and Inequality Conference, Cardiff University , 2005
'Patterns of GCE A/AS Level Attainment in Further Education'. The British Sociological Association Annual Conference, University of York , 2004
Access to Higher Education: Is Student Finance the Key Issue? CamERA, The Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge , 2004
Gender, Stratification and Attainment in Further Education, Research Colloquium, Wolfson College, University of Cambridge , 2003
Gender, Social Background and Differential A/AS Level Attainment in Further Education, Cambridge Social Stratification Seminar, Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge , 2001

Memberships

Joint Principal Investigator, Cambridge Bursary Scheme Evaluation Project, Faculty of Education (a longitudinal (2000-2011) evaluation of the impact of differential student funding on access to Cambridge, students’ lifestyles and students’ destinations)

Member of the Equality, Education and Development (EED) Research Group, Faculty of Education

Editorial Advisory Board: British Journal of Sociology of Education

Peer reviewer for the following journals: British Journal of Sociology of Education; Cambridge Journal of Education; British Educational Research Journal; British Journal of Educational Studies; and Educational Review

Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts

Past courses taught

Cradle to grave? The sociology of childhood, youth, adulthood and old age | Short Course (5 wks part-time)

Undergraduate Certificate in Social Sciences | Undergraduate Certificate/Diploma

Divided kingdom: Social class and inequality in modern Britain | Short Course (2-7 days)

Relative strangers? The family and households in modern British society | Short Course (5 wks part-time)

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