The University of Sheffield
The School of Education

Professor Pat Sikes Cert. Ed.,B.Ed., Ph.D.

Professor Pat Sikes

Professor in Qualitative Inquiry

Tel: (+44) (0)114 222 8158
Fax: (+44) (0)114 279 6236
Email: p.j.sikes@Sheffield.ac.uk
Room: 7.09

Research interests

Educators´ Lives and Careers

Pat is interested in how people perceive and experience being educators and particularly in the ways in which different aspects of life and social and cultural circumstances and influences can impact upon those perceptions and experiences. Her research has included investigations of : how becoming a parent affects professional practices; age and the male PE teacher; being an RE teacher in a secular society; how university teachers experience the imperative to publish caused by the Research Assessment Exercise; what it is like to be falsely accused of sexually abusing pupils. Pat is currently working on a project, with Dr Jennifer Lavia, looking at the perceptions and experiences of teachers from the Caribbean who came to the UK in response to early recruitment drives.

Qualitative Research Methodologies and Methods

Pat is interested in qualitative inquiry per se and especially in auto/biographical approaches, such as life history and autoethnography. Her work in the Caribbean has led to an interest in decolonizing research. Ethical questions and considerations around research practice are another of Pat´s preoccupations, as are all concerns to do with research for social justice.

Writing Research

Pat takes the view that the ways in which researchers write about their work and how they present their findings is never a neutral or objective matter. In recent years social scientists have begun to use a range of creative approaches, including narrative, fiction, poetics, and performance. She is personally involved in exploring, developing, using and making the case for, alternative forms of research writing.

Teaching

Pat directs the EdD in the Caribbean. She also contributes to the MEd in the Caribbean, and to the EdD and the MA in Educational Research based in Sheffield.

The majority of Pat’s teaching is concerned with introducing students to the notion that research is philosophical, moral, ethical and therefore, political activity in which the inquirer is deeply implicated. Thus she encourages a reflective and reflexive approach which builds on her interest in auto/biographical approaches.

Activities

Publications

Sikes, P. & Piper, H. (Eds) (2011) Ethics and Academic Freedom in Educational Research London, Routledge

Satterthwaite, J., Piper, H. Sikes, P. & Webster, S. (Eds) (2011) Trust in Education: Truth and Values Stoke-On-Trent, Trentham Books

Sikes, P. and Piper, H. (2010) Researching Sex and Lies in the Classroom: Allegations of Sexual Misconduct in Schools London, Routledge/Falmer

Satterthwaite, J., Piper, H. & Sikes, P. (Eds) (2009) Power in the Academy Stoke-On-Trent, Trentham Books

Sikes, P. & Potts, A. (Eds) (2008) Researching Education From the Inside: Investigating Institutions From Within London, Routledge/Falmer

Sikes, P., Nixon, J. & Carr, W. (Eds) (2003) The Moral Foundations of Educational Research: Knowledge, Inquiry and Values Maidenhead, Open University Press/McGraw Hill Educational

Goodson, I. & Sikes, P. (2001) Life History in Educational Settings: Learning From Lives, Buckingham, Open University Press

Sikes, P. (1997) Parents Who Teach: Stories From Home and From School, London, Cassells

Sikes, P. and Piper, H. (2010) Researching Sex and Lies in the Classroom: Allegations of Sexual Misconduct in Schools London, Routledge/Falmer

Satterthwaite, J., Piper, H. & Sikes, P. (Eds) (2009) Power in the Academy Stoke-On-Trent, Trentham Books

Sikes, P. & Potts, A. (Eds) (2008) Researching Education From the Inside: Investigating Institutions From Within London, Routledge/Falmer

Sikes, P., Nixon, J. & Carr, W. (Eds) (2003) The Moral Foundations of Educational Research: Knowledge, Inquiry and Values Maidenhead, Open University Press/McGraw Hill Educational

Goodson, I. & Sikes, P. (2001) Life History in Educational Settings: Learning From Lives, Buckingham, Open University Press

Sikes, P. (1997) Parents Who Teach: Stories From Home and From School, London, Cassells
Refereed Journal Papers


Sikes, P. & Piper, H. (2010) `Ethical Research, Academic Freedom and the Role of Ethics Committees and Review Procedures in Education´ Editorial of special edition of the same name of International Journal of Research and Method in Education

Piper, H. & Sikes, P. (2010) `´All teachers are vulnerable, but especially gay teachers´: using composite fictions to protect research participants in pupil-teacher sex related research´ Qualitative Inquiry 16, 7, pp. 566 - 574

Lavia, J. & Sikes, P. (2010) `´What part of me do I leave out?´: In pursuit of decolonising practice´ Power & Education Volume 2, No. 1 http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pdf/validate.asp?j=power&vol=2&issue=1&year=2010&article=7_Lavia_POWER_2_1_web

Sikes, P. (2010) `Researching Teacher-student sexual relations: Key Risks and Ethical Issues´ Ethnography and Education 5, 2, pp.143 – 157 Print 1745 7823 Online 1745 7831

Sikes, P. (2009) `Will the real author come forward? Questions of ethics, plagiarism, theft and collusion in academic research´ International Journal of Research & Method in Education 32, 1, pp. 13 - 24

Sikes, P. & Sikes-Sheard, R. (2008) `Becoming a Doctor´ Creative Approaches To Research (online) Volume 1, Issue 2; 2008; 23-34. Availability: here ISSN: 1835-9434. [cited 28 Nov 08] Sikes, P. (2008) `At the Eye of the Storm: An Academic(s) Experience of Moral Panic´ Qualitative Inquiry 14, 2, pp. 235 -253

Sikes, P., Lawson, H. & Parker, M. (2007) `Voices On: Teachers and Teaching Assistants Talk About Inclusion´ International Journal of Inclusive Education 11, 3, pp. 355 – 370

Wellington, J. & Sikes, P. (2006) `A Doctorate In A Tight Compartment: Why Students Choose to Do A Professional Doctorate and Its Impact on Their Personal & Professional Lives´ Studies in Higher Education 31, 6, 723 - 734

Sikes, P. (2006) `Working in a New University: In the Shadow of the RAE?´ Studies in Higher Education 31, 5, 555 - 568

Sikes, P. (2006) `Scandalous Stories and Dangerous Liaisons: When Male Teachers and Female Pupils Fall in Love´ Sex Education 6, 3, pp. 265 - 280

Sikes, P. (2006) `Towards Useful and Dangerous Theories´ Discourse 27, 1, pp. 43 - 51

Sikes, P. (2006) `On Dodgy Ground? Problematics and Ethics in Educational Research?´ International Journal of Research & Method in Education 29, 1, pp. 105 - 117

Sikes, P. (2005) `Storying Schools: Issues Around Attempts To Create a Sense of Feel and Place in Narrative Research Writing´ Qualitative Research 5, 1, pp. 79 – 94

Sikes, P. & Everington, J. (2003) `´´I´m a woman before I´m an RE Teacher: Managing Religious Identity in Secondary Schools´ Gender and Education 15, 4, pp. 393-406

View a full list of Pat Sikes’ publications

Recent Funded Projects

Evaluation of the Gatsby Teacher Fellowship Scheme: funded by the Gatsby Foundation September 2005 - August 2007

Research Students


Leigh Dunkerley - Parental Perspectives and Experiences of Young Peoples´ Pathway Into and Out Of Crime: Risk, Resilience and Diversity

Jonathan Glazzard – Translating the Rhetoric of Inclusion Into Reality: A Life History Account of One Teacher´s Determination to Make Inclusion Work

Patricia Ogilvie-Frederick – An Investigation Into the Problems Experienced by Students Living With HIV/AIDS in Trinidad and Tobago

Alfrita Cooper – The Case for Bilingual Education: French Creole and Standard English in St Lucia

Franklin Davidson – School Leadership: Learning From Conversations with Retired Secondary School Principals in Tobago

Jacqueline Boyd-Vassell – Working at Mount Garrizona High: Teachers´ perspectives on working in a Jamaican High School located in a garrison community

Edris Johnson – The perceptions and experiences of gay and lesbian students in Jamaican universities

Esther Johnson – An Investigation of the use of EMIS in secondary schools in St Lucia

Francis Yorke – An autoethnography of a St Vincentian educator

Nicole Thompson – Square Pegs in round holes: the experiences of ex-pat teachers in the Cayman Islands Education sustem

Sandra West – An insider study of stakeholders´ perceptions of a family run, private, tertiary education institution

Sharon Mangroo – Understanding the Past, Shaping the Future

Tamika Benjamin – Assessing the impact of ITE on the competencies and attitudes of Jamaican Primary Mathematics Trainees

Urban Dolor – Fostering collaboration between administration and students: developing policies to manage gambling on campus

Roxanne Drake – Fostering spirituality in a RC Primary school