New RSA director of education starts work

Professor Becky Francis was appointed as the RSA's new director of Education in late 2009 and recently started work with the team at John Adam Street. She will be overseeing the further development of existing projects such as Opening Minds and the Area Based Curriculum as well as developing new strands of work.

Becky was previously Professor of Education at the School of Education, Roehampton University and remains a visiting professor at King's College London. Her expertise centres on the construction of social identity (with particular attention to gender, ethnicity and social class) in educational contexts, and the relation of these constructions to educational achievement, and she has published widely in these areas. Her recent authored books include Feminism and ‘The Schooling Scandal’ (Routledge, 2009), Reassessing Gender and Achievement (Routledge, 2005, both with Christine Skelton) and Understanding Minority Ethnic Achievement: Race, gender, class and ‘success’ (Routledge, 2007, with Louise Archer).