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Ms Lesley Emerson

 

 

BSc (Hons), PGCE, MEd
Lecturer

Room 01.003
8 College Green
School of Education
Queen’s University Belfast

Tel: +44 (0)28 9097 5927
Fax: +44 (0)28 9097 5066
Email: l.emerson@qub.ac.uk


Leadership Roles: 

Deputy Director: Centre for Children’s Rights

Pathway Coordinator: Post Graduate Certificate in Education (P.G.C.E.) pathways in Social Science (Politics and Sociology) and Religious Education




Teaching: 

Post Graduate Certificate in Education (P.G.C.E.)
Methods for Teaching and Learning: Social Sciences; Religious Education; Citizenship Education
Education Studies: curriculum theory, policy and practice; citizenship education

Masters
Curriculum: Theory, Policy and Practice

Doctoral
Participatory research; children as co-researchers; children’s rights-based research methods (within EdD and DChild modules)

Supervision
I supervise Masters and Doctoral students in areas aligned to my research interests.
Current doctoral supervision lies in the areas of: religious education, human rights education, children’s rights, sustainability and citizenship education, citizenship education in emerging multicultural societies, education for employability in the context of globalization.

 

Research Interests:

My research interests fall into three categories:

  • Citizenship education, human rights education, and political education – with a focus on transitional or conflict affected societies and, in particular, the role of former combatants in education for citizenship
  • Children’s rights education and children’s participation rights in education
  • Children’s rights-based research and participatory research  methods

Current Research Projects:

  • Legal Needs of Children and Young People (2013), Department of Justice, (Co PI) with Katrina Lloyd, and Laura Lundy (CI), Karen Orr (CI) (£14,715)
  • Involving Children in the Development of  a Children’s Rights Questionnaire (2013) Improving Children’s Lives, Belfast, (PI) with Katrina Lloyd and Elizabeth Welty (£2,375)
  • A Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial Evaluation of the ‘From Prison to Peace’ Educational Programme (2012-2014) Office of the First and deputy First Minister, (PI) with Paul Connolly (CI) and Karen Orr (RA) (£107,355) (here)

Completed Research Projects:

  • Education Reform in Northern Ireland: a human rights review (2012) Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, with Laura Lundy (PI), Katrina Lloyd, Bronagh Byrne and Jamie Yohanis (£4,000)
  • Sharing the learning: enhancing Interethnic community dialogue and collaboration in Macedonia (2010-2012) UNICEF, with Joanne Hughes (PI), Caitlin Donnelly, Karen Carlisle, Tony Gallagher and Claire McGlynn ($120,000)
  • Youth Suicide Clusters in Northern Ireland (2010-2012), ContactNI, with Caryl Sibbett, Sarah  Miller (Co PIs) and Trisha Forbes (£80,000)
  • Ready to Learn: Children’s Perspectives (2010), Barnardo’s Northern Ireland, with Laura Lundy (PI) and Bronagh Byrne (£27, 000)
  • Attitudes of Children and Parents to Science Assessment (2009), The Wellcome Trust, with Colette Murphy (PI), Karen Kerr and Laura Lundy (£49,000)
  • Ready to Learn: the Needs of Primary School Children in Disadvantaged Areas (2007-2008), Barnardo’s Northern Ireland, with Sarah Miller and Laura Lundy (co PIs), Paul Connolly and Lisa Maguire (£89,000)  (here – insert hyperlink http://www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/CentreforEffectiveEducation/Research/CompletedProjects/Barnardos/ )
  • E-consultation with children (2007-2008), Department of Education and Curriculum Council for Examination and Assessment, (PI) with Laura Lundy (£16,000)

Selected Publications:

(please note older publications are in my former surname ‘McEvoy’)

  • Emerson, L. and Lundy, L. (2013) ‘Education Rights in a Society Emerging from Conflict’ in Children’s Lives and Education in Cross-national Contexts: What Difference Could Rights Make?  New York: Peter Lang
  • Murphy, C., Lundy, L., Emerson, L and Kerr, K (2012) Children’s Perceptions of Primary Science Assessment in England and Wales. British Education Research Journal. iFirst pp.1-22
  • Emerson, L. (2012) Conflict, Transition and Education for ‘Political Generosity’: learning from the experience of ex-combatants in Northern Ireland.  Journal of Peace Education. 9(3) p.277-295
  • Lundy, L. and McEvoy (Emerson), L. (2012) ‘Childhood, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and Research: what constitutes a rights-based approach?’ in M. Freeman (ed.) Law and Childhood. Oxford: Oxford University Press pp.75-91
  • Lundy, L. and McEvoy (Emerson), L. (2012) Children’s rights and research processes: assisting children to (in)formed views. Childhood. 19(1) pp.116-129
  • Lundy, L., McEvoy (Emerson), L. and Byrne, B. (2011) Working with young children as co-researchers: an approach informed by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Early Education and Development. 22(3) pp.714-736
  • Lundy, L. and McEvoy (Emerson), L. (2009) Developing outcomes for education services: a children’s rights-based approach. Effective Education. 1(1) pp.43-60
  • McEvoy (Emerson), L. (2007) Beneath the Rhetoric: Policy Approximation and Citizenship Education in Northern Ireland Education. Citizenship and Social Justice 2(2) pp.135-158
  • McEvoy (Emerson), L. & Lundy, L. (2007) E-consultation with Pupils- a rights-based approach to the integration of citizenship education and ICT Technology. Pedagogy and Education. 16 (3) pp.305-320
  • McEvoy (Emerson), L. & Lundy, L. (2007) ‘In the Small Places’: Human Rights Culture, Education and Conflict-Affected Societies. in G. Anthony, K. McEvoy & J. Morison (eds) Judges, Transition and Human Rights. Oxford: Oxford University Press pp 495-515
  • McEvoy (Emerson), L. McEvoy, K. & McConnachie, K. (2006) Reconciliation as a dirty word:  conflict, community relations and education in Northern Ireland. Journal of International Affairs. 60(1) pp.81-106

Selected Commissioned Reports:

  • Lundy, L., Emerson, L., Lloyd, K., Byrne, B. and Yohanis, J. (2013) Education Reform in Northern Ireland: a Human Rights Review. Belfast: Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission 50pp
  • Forbes, T., Sibbett, C., Miller, S. and Emerson, L. (2012) Exploring a Community Response to Multiple Deaths of Young People by Suicide. Belfast: ContactNI  90pp (here)
  • Hughes, J., Leitch, R., McEvoy (Emerson), L., Donnelly, C., McGlynn, C., & K. Carlisle (2011) UNICEF consultation in relation to ECD/Education Programme, enhancing inter-ethnic community dialogue and collaboration project: Task two: In-country capacity building programme. Report to UNICEF, 100pp
  • Lundy, L., McEvoy (Emerson), L. and Byrne, B. (2010) Ready to Learn: involving children in the service design process. Barnardos NI, 44pp (here)
  • Murphy, C., Kerr, K., Lundy, L. and McEvoy (Emerson), L. (2009) Attitudes of Children and Parents to Science Assessment at Key Stage 2. London: Wellcome Trust  110pp (here)
  • Miller, S., Connolly, P., Lundy, L., Maguire, L. and McEvoy (Emerson), L. (2008) Well Being and Educational Attainment of Primary School Pupils in Northern Ireland. Belfast: Centre for Effective Education 106pp (here)
  • Lundy, L. and McEvoy (Emerson), L. (2008) E-consultation with Pupils Bangor: Department of Education NI 50pp (here)

Selected Conference Presentations and Invited Talks:

  • ‘The place of values education in the curriculum’ at ‘Education in the 21st Century: Philosophy, Aims and Opportunities associated with Junior Cycle Reform’ Seminar, Trinity College Dublin, May  2013
  • ‘Children’s Rights-Based Research’ at Save the Children, Manchester, April 2013
  • ‘Children as co-researchers: a rights-based approach’ at National Children’s Bureau, Belfast, March  2013 
  • ‘What constitutes a rights-based approach to research?’, British Educational Research Association Conference, Manchester, September 2012
  • ‘Conflict, transition and capacity for political generosity: learning from the experience of former combatants in Northern Ireland’, British Educational Research Association Conference, Manchester, September 2012
  • ‘Policy impact in social science research: a children’s rights-based approach’, Research Capacity Building Seminar, hosted by the British Council, the Ministry of Education Morocco and the University of Ibn Zohr, Agadir, Morocco, June 2012 
  • ‘Assisting Children Towards (In)formed Views’ (with L. Lundy) National Foundation for Educational Research, Slough, England February 2010
  • ‘Citizenship Education in Transitional Societies’ British Council, Network Effect, Pristina, Kosovo May 2009
  • “Securing a Human Rights Culture in Societies Emerging from Conflict through the Protection, Promotion and Fulfillment of Children’s Rights in School” (with L. Lundy) Irmgard Coninx Stiftung, Ninth Berlin Roundtables on Transnationality, Civic Education in Divided Societies, WZB and Humboldt-University Berlin, October 2008
  • ‘Framing Human Rights Education’ Idaho Human Rights Education Centre, Boise, Idaho, June 2008
  • ‘Ensuring children's rights to have their views taken into consideration in the development of educational policy: the potential of e-consultation’ (with L. Lundy), British Education Research Association Conference, Institute of Education, London, September 2007
  • ‘E-consultation with pupils- a pilot study’ (with L. Lundy), European Conference on Educational Research, University of Ghent, September 2007
  • ‘Citizenship, Controversial Issues and Human Rights’ as part of an ESRC-TLRP seminar series: ‘Learning to teach in post-devolution UK: The transition from initial teacher education through induction to early professional development in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales’, University of Ulster, January 2007
  • ‘Human Rights Education: Lessons from Northern Ireland’ Department of Constitutional Affairs, London, February 2006
  • ‘Using Human Rights Education to Build a Culture of Rights’ at ‘Building a Culture of Rights Conference, Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, Belfast, December 2006
  • ‘Securing a Human Rights Culture in Conflict-Affected Societies’ (with L. Lundy) Conference on ‘Judges, Transition and Human Rights’, Queen’s University Belfast, Human Rights Centre, October 2005
  • ‘Citizenship Education in Northern Ireland: from policy to practice’ at ‘Creating Citizens? Issues for Citizenship through Education in Ireland’ Conference, UCD, Department of Politics and International Relations, November 2005

Selected Curriculum Publications:

I have also written a number of curriculum publications to support teaching and learning in citizenship education including:

  • Emerson, L. (2012) Tacking Controversial Issues in the Citizenship Classroom. Dublin: Curriculum Development Unit. 84pp.
  • Emerson, L. (2010) From Prison to Peace: learning from the experience of political ex-prisoners. Belfast: Prison to Peace Partnership. 70pp.
  • McEvoy (Emerson), L. (2009) Making Human Rights Real: Teaching Citizenship through Human Rights. London: Amnesty International. 180pp.  (here)
  • McEvoy (Emerson), L. (2006) Exploring the Criminal Justice System. Belfast: Northern Ireland Office
  • Co-author: Learning for Life and Work (Books 1, 2, 3) (2007, 2008, 2009) Hodder Education
  • Co-author: Local and Global Citizenship: Key Stage Three Resource. Belfast: CCEA (here)
  • Co-author and co-editor: Bill of Rights in Schools (2005) Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (here)

Community Involvement:

  • Northern Ireland Country Co-Lead (with Michael Arlow), Five Nations Network (here)
  • Member, Prison to Peace Partnership: Citizenship and Reconciliation Working Group  (here)
  • Member, Committee on the Administration of Justice  (here)