الدكتورة أليسون ستروثرز
أستاذ مشارك
كلية الحقوق، جامعة وارويك
Education:
Ali graduated with a first class LLB from the University of Edinburgh and went on to complete the Diploma in Legal Practice, before qualifying as a solicitor with Shepherd and Wedderburn in Edinburgh in 2010. She then returned to the University of Edinburgh to study for an LLM in Legal Research, writing a dissertation on the compatibility of Human Rights Education in Scottish primary schools with the UN Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training. Following this, Ali was awarded a scholarship by the University of Warwick to study for a PhD, which she was awarded in 2015. Her PhD utilised mixed methods empirical research to better understand the barriers to HRE in practice in English primary schools.
Work Experience:
Alongside her Associate Professor role, Ali is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Human Rights in Practice at the University of Warwick. She has project managed two of the Centre’s projects on HRE: the first looking at the nature and scope of Human Rights Education within Initial Teacher Education in Scotland and the second developing and piloting educational resources with Warwickshire primary schools showing how Fundamental British Values can be taught through a human rights lens. She created the national School Tasking outreach project, which aims to widen access to legal education for children from less advantaged backgrounds. She is Book and Media Reviews editor for the Journal Human Rights Education Review, and has previously worked as a Human Rights Education Officer for the Black and Ethnic Minority Infrastructure in Scotland.
Publications:
Struthers, A., ‘The Great Anglo-Scottish Human Rights Divide’ (2022) 31(1) Scottish Affairs 21-40
Struthers, A., ‘Protecting Invisible Children in England: How human rights education could improve school safeguarding’ (2021) 4(3) Human Rights Education Review 45-64
Struthers, A., ‘Education, Austerity and the COVID Generation’ in Cowan, D. & A. Mumford (eds) Pandemic Legalities (University of Bristol Press, 2021) (This chapter discuss the stratified effects of COVID-19, and the responses to it, within the formal education sector in England)
Struthers, A., Teaching Human Rights in Primary Schools: Overcoming the barriers to effective practice (Routledge, 2020) (This book expands upon Ali’s thesis by exploring the barriers to educating about, through and for human rights and offering suggestions for how these barriers could be overcome) https://www.routledge.com/Teaching-Human-Rights-in-Primary-Schools-Overcoming-the-Barriers-to-Effective/Struthers/p/book/9781138706606
Struthers, A & J. Mansuy, ‘‘British Values Are Also Values All Around the World’: Teaching Fundamental British Values through a human rights lens’ (2020) 12(3) Journal of Human Rights Practice 696-710 (This article reports on the findings from an empirical project with Warwickshire primary schools to show how Fundamental British Values can be taught through the lens of human rights) https://academic.oup.com/jhrp/article-abstract/12/3/696/6031413?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Struthers, A. & D. Webber, ‘Critiquing Approaches to Countering Extremism: The Fundamental British Values Problem in English Formal Schooling’, (July 2019) (Successful bid to write peer-reviewed article for the Commission for Countering Extremism to feed into review of the Prevent Strategy) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/critiquing-approaches-to-countering-extremism-the-fundamental-british-values-problem-in-english-formal-schooling
Struthers, A., ‘Debunking the “Criminals’ Charter”: Education as an antidote to human rights sensationalism’ (2017) 2 European Human Rights Law Review 169-179 (This article argues that HRE is an importance means of countering the populist and damaging discourse around human rights that is often promulgated in the mainstream media) (this is on Westlaw, so I can’t find a link I’m afraid)
Struthers, A., ‘The Underdeveloped Transformative Potential of Human Rights Education’ (2017) 9(1) Journal of Human Rights Practice 68-84 (This article emphasizes the importance of empowerment as a central tenet of HRE within formal education) https://academic.oup.com/jhrp/article-abstract/9/1/68/2960615?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Struthers, A., ‘Teaching British Values in Our Schools: But why not human rights values?’ (2017) 26(1) Social and Legal Studies 89-110 (This article argues that the Fundamental British Values agenda has the potential to be alienating and discriminatory to minority groups, and that human rights is a more appropriate values framework for respect and inclusion within formal education) https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0964663916656752
Struthers, A., ‘Breaking Down Boundaries: Voice and participation in English primary classrooms’ (2016) 24(2) The International Journal of Children’s Rights 434-468 (This article draws upon empirical research conducted in primary schools across England to gauge the nature and extent of voice and empowerment and to understand better the reasons for apparent deficiencies in their practice) https://brill.com/view/journals/chil/24/2/article-p434_9.xml
Struthers, A., ‘Human Rights: A Topic Too Controversial for Mainstream Education?’ (2016) 16(1) Human Rights Law Review 131-162 (This article considers why teachers are hesitant about HRE by exploring their conceptions of human rights as too: (i) controversial; (ii) abstract; or (iii) biased a subject for young learners, and offers suggestions for overcoming these barriers) https://academic.oup.com/hrlr/article-abstract/16/1/131/2356197
Struthers, A., ‘Building Blocks and Beyond: How Human Rights Education in Initial Teacher Education May Help to Change the Human Rights Landscape in Scotland’ (2015) 47(2) Scottish Educational Review 5-19 (This article argues that HRE in Initial Teacher Education is important not only for equipping teachers with the confidence and skills to be able to provide effective and empowering education in this area in their classrooms, but also for contributing to a broader cultural change around human rights) https://www.scotedreview.org.uk/online-content/2015/issue-472/
Struthers, A., ‘Human Rights Education: educating about, through and for human rights’ (2015) 19(1) The International Journal of Human Rights 53-73 (This article highlights the usefulness of the tripartite framework of education about, through and for human rights for assessing and comparing state practice in the provision of HRE) https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13642987.2014.986652
Engagement: Ali created and runs the hugely successful School Tasking outreach competition for Widening Participation primary schools. She is also working on a project concerning the greater interrelation between human rights and school safeguarding. Ali has written articles for Lacuna Magazine on HRE in Mexico (https://lacuna.org.uk/openlacuna/faltan-43-can-human-rights-education-heal-mexicos-deep-wounds/) and on whether there is a possible human rights solution to our loneliness epidemic (https://lacuna.org.uk/equality/a-human-rights-solution-to-our-loneliness-epidemic/).