Stephen Gorard has been a professor of education and social science at the universities of Cardiff, York and Birmingham, and adviser to UK Ministers, OECD and EU commissioners. He is a principal methods expert for the US Institute of Education Sciences, a member of the ESRC grants panel A, and has been heavily involved in national research capacity-building.

Stephen’s recent and ongoing research looks at whether mental constructs such as aspiration or sell-efficacy can lead to improved educational outcomes for individuals from poorer backgrounds, the causes and impacts of clustering children from poorer background in some schools, and how it is possible to judge fairly the performance of schools and teachers in breaking the link between pupil background and attainment.