Ms Anna Pilson

• PhD in Education, (ESRC-funded), University of Durham (due to submit 2023)
• PGCert Research Methods (2019)
• PGDip Mandatory Qualification for Teachers of Children and Young People with Vision Impairments, University of Birmingham (2014)
• MA Education, University of Durham (2012)
• PGCE QTS Secondary History, University of Durham (2005)
• BA (Hons) History, University of Liverpool (2002)

Anna joined the Department for Disability, Inclusion and Special Needs as a Lecturer in Education of Children and Young People with Vision Impairments in January 2022, following a decade working as a Qualified Teacher of Children and Young People with Vision Impairments (QTVI).

She is Programme Co-ordinator for the Mandatory Qualification for Teachers of Children and Young People with Vision Impairments. This course (approved by the National College for Teaching and Leadership) is the largest of its kind in the UK.

Anna is also currently undertaking her doctorate at the University of Durham, School of Education, where her ESRC-funded research involves working with visually impaired young people in a collaborative autoethnographic project. She is interested in conceptualisations of ‘voice’ in educational policy, practice and research, how educators and researchers can best centre the ‘voices’ of visually impaired young people in their practice, and, most importantly, how visually impaired young people can direct the impact of their own ‘voice’.

Anna’s research is concerned with challenging the oppressive and marginalising forces of dis/ableism in education and society. Her research interests include: Critical Disability Studies, Participatory Action Research, Conceptualisations of Voice, Autoethnography, Vision Impairment, Teacher Education.

She is a member of the Vision Impairment Centre for Teaching And Research (VICTAR) (birmingham.ac.uk), an affiliate member of the University of Sheffield iHuman multidisciplinary research collective, and works in an advisory capacity for the Standards and Testing Agency, Department of Education.

Course Leader of Mandatory Qualification for Teachers of Children and Young People with Vision Impairments MA/Postgraduate Diploma.

Anna is not currently undertaking supervision activities.

Research interests:

• Critical Disability Studies
• Participatory Action Research
• Autoethnography
• Vision Impairment

Current projects:

Doctoral research utilising collaborative autoethnography with visually impaired children and young people (ESRC-funded via NINE DTP).

• Affiliate member of iHuman research collective, University of Sheffield. 2019-present.
• Inclusion Expert role, Standards and Testing Agency, Department for Education. 2019-present.
• Member of British Sociological Association and British Educational Research Association. 2018-present.