Professor Martin Ashley

Centre Director

Academic Interests

Professor Martin Ashley joined Edge Hill University as a Reader in September 2007 and was appointed Professor in Education and Head of Research in May 2008 after establishing the Centre for Learner Identity Studies and the Sounding Edge music education project.

He was previously a Reader in Education at UWE Bristol for two years and before that Principal Lecturer and Programme Leader for the Professional Doctorate in Education (EdD) and the Education Studies undergraduate programme where he developed the “3+1” BA with PGCE with a focus on primary performing arts. He developed his interest in boys’ identity whilst serving as a primary teacher through an MPhil study that employed attachment theory to examine primary school boys’ social disaffection.

Later, a PhD on young people’s value orientations to the natural world employed a methodology of surrogate economic calculus and led to a lasting interest in spirituality and identity. This was instrumental in the award of a DfES contract to research Steiner Education with Professor Philip Woods.

Martin Ashley still publishes in the field of environmental education and sustainablity but he has researched extensively and published widely on the subject of boys and singing, particularly since the award of an AHRC research leave fellowship to study that topic. He is currently working with the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain on a new AHRC funded project to develop a major new resource to educate boys about their voices and stimulate their interest in singing. He has also researched both boys and dance and girls and physics and is interested in all aspects of role identity transgression.

Some Recent Publications

Ashley, M. (2009) Time to Confront Willis's Lads with a Ballet Class? A case study of educational orthodoxy and white working class boys, British Journal of Sociology of Education, 30 (2), 179 - 191.

Ashley, M. (2008) Slappers Who Gouge Your Eyes: vocal performance as exemplification of disturbing inertia in gender equality. Gender and Education, iFirst, 4th July, 1- 16.
http://pdfserve.informaworld.com/20632_750430022_794772910.pdf

Ashley, M. (2008) Boyhood Melancholia and the Vocal Projection of Masculinity. Thymos: Journal of Boyhood Studies, 2 (1) 26 - 35

Ashley, M. (2008) Here’s What You Must Think About Nuclear Power: Grappling with the spiritual ground of children’s judgement inside and outside Steiner Waldorf Education. International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, 13 (1) 65 - 74

Ashley, M. (2006) You Sing Like a Girl? An exploration of boyness through the treble voice. Sex Education: sexuality, society and learning. 6 (2) 193 - 205.

Ashley, M. (2006) Finding the Right Kind of Awe and Wonder: the metaphysical potential of religion to ground an environmental ethic. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 11 88 – 99.

Just Published

Ashley, M. (2008) Teaching Singing to Boys and Teenagers: the young male voice and the problem of masculinity, Lampeter: Edwin Mellen Press.
http://www.mellenpress.com/mellenpress.cfm?bookid=7481&pc=9
Ashley, M. (2008) Rudolph Steiner. In P.Woods (ed.) Alternative Education in the 21st Century: Philosophies, Approaches, Visions. London: Palgrave McMillan

Forthcoming new book: