Professor Graeme Douglas

School of Education
Professor of Disability and Special Educational Needs
Co-director VICTAR

Contact details

Telephone: +44 (0)121 414 6736
Email: g.g.a.douglas@bham.ac.uk

Address: School of Education
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston, Birmingham
B15 2TT, United Kingdom

Graeme is Professor of Disability and Special Educational Needs in the School of Education, University of Birmingham. He was the head of the Disability Inclusion and Special Needs (DISN) department (2015-2020). DISN is the largest department of its kind in the UK and comprises over 25 academics researching and studying in the field of inclusion, SEN and disability. He is also the co-director of the Vision Impairment Centre for Teaching and Research (VICTAR).

Qualifications

PhD
BSc.(Hons)

Teaching

Graeme’s main teaching activities are in the area of research methods training for research students. He contributes to College of Social Science (CoSS) Postgraduate Research Training. His teaching particularly focuses upon methods of data collection and analysis and research design, as well as a particular interest in researching disability. He also supervises masters and doctoral research students working in the area of vision impairment in particular, and disability and SEN in general.

Postgraduate supervision

Graeme Douglas has broad research interests in the social and educational inclusion of people with vision impairment. This specifically includes: the views and circumstances of people with vision impairment; education and vision impairment; various aspects of reading/information access and vision impairment; and research methods. Central to his work is a commitment to representing disabled people’s views and opinions.

Publications

Recent publications

Book

McLinden, M, Douglas, G, Hewett, R, Cobb, R, Keil, S, Lynch, P, Roe, J & Stewart Thistlethwaite, J 2023, Promoting Equitable Access to Education for Children and Young People with Vision Impairment: A route-map for a balanced curriculum. Routledge.

Article

Akbayrak, K & Douglas, G 2021, 'Examining specialist teachers’ conceptualisations of their roles in supporting learners with vision impairment: a comparative analysis of Turkey and England using Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory', European Journal of Special Needs Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2021.1989129

Hewett, R, Douglas, G & McLinden, M 2021, '“They were questioning whether I would even bother coming back”. Exploring evidence of inequality in “access”, “success” and “progression” in higher education for students with vision impairment', Educational Review.

Frank, H, McLinden, M & Douglas, G 2020, 'Accessing the curriculum; university based learning experiences of visually impaired physiotherapy students', Nurse Education in Practice, vol. 42, 102620. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2019.102620

Dobson, G & Douglas, G 2020, 'Factors influencing the career interest of SENCos in English schools', British Educational Research Journal, vol. 46, no. 6, pp. 1256-1278. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3631

McLinden, M, Ravenscroft, J, Douglas, G, Hewett, R, McCann, E & Roe, J 2020, 'Promoting a balanced early years curriculum for young children with vision impairment: developing and sustaining personal agency through a bioecological systems perspective', British Journal of Visual Impairment, pp. 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1177/0264619619901036

Dobson, G & Douglas, G 2020, 'Who would do that role? Understanding why teachers become SENCos through an ecological systems theory', Educational Review, vol. 72, no. 3, pp. 298-318. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2018.1556206

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

McLinden, M, Douglas, G, Hewett, R, Thistlethwaite, J & Lynch, P 2019, Evidence-based practices for teaching learners with vision impairment. in Oxford Encyclopedia of Inclusive and Special Education. Oxford Research Encyclopedias: Education, Oxford University Press.