Rob Foster

Academic Interests

Rob was formerly a secondary school teacher and manager and is now Head of Professional Development in the Faculty of Education at Edge Hill University. He leads one of the UK’s largest programmes for the professional development of teachers and the wider school workforce, including the ‘Every Child Matters’ agenda. His main research interests are in Citizenship and Identity Education and school-based models of teacher development, particularly comparative international perspectives on these issues. He is currently U.K. National Coordinator for the Childrens Identity and Citizenship in Europe (CiCE) network.

Some Recent Publications

Foster, R. and Kovalcikova, I. (2007). Children at risk: A cross cultural comparison of the education of asylum seeker children in Slovakia and the UK. In: Children Identity and Citizenship in Visegrad context. Presov: pp198 - 214

Dooly M., Foster R. and Misiejuk D. (2006) ‘Developing a world view of Citizenship Education in Higher Education courses’ In: CiCE Guidelines Series. London: London Metropolitan University Press.

Foster, R., Graeffe, L. and Zuzeviciute, V. (2005) ‘In-service Courses in Citizenship Education for European Teachers Comparative Perspectives on Principles and Practice’ In: CiCE Guidelines Series. London: London Metropolitan University Press

Foster R. and Groves, J. (2004) ‘Just because they don’t speak English doesn’t mean they’re thick: the integration of asylum seeker pupils into white mainstream UK education’.  Journal of Children’s Social and Economic Education, 6 (1) 34 – 50

Foster R. and Straker, K. (2003) UK and Romanian students’ perceptions of democracy and political issues – a cross-cultural comparison Journal of Children’s Social and Economics Education, 5, (2) 79 – 93

Selected Book Chapters

Foster, R. and Kovalcikova, I. (2007). Approaches to the Education of asylum seeker children in Slovakia and the UK: a cross-cultural comparison.In: Citizenship Education in Society. Alistair Ross (ed.) London: CiCE, pp. 535 – 543

Foster R. (2005) ‘No School Left Behind?' An Analysis of the Impact of Professional Development Activities for Citizenship Education Undertaken by Citizenship Co-ordinators in Secondary Schools in the North-West of England. In Teaching Citizenship, Alistair Ross (ed.) London: CiCE, pp. 233 - 240