Heather Piper is a Professorial Research Fellow in the Education and Social Research Institute (ESRI) at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. Her research interests are eclectic, tending to feature a contrarian approach, conceptual critique, and qualitative methods. A consistent theme since 2003 has been the problematic consequences of policy and practice premised on the avoidance of all risk, particularly as applied to the role of adults acting in loco parentis, in schools, childcare, and sports coaching contexts. 

She has led two substantial research projects, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, focussing on the experience of adults acting in loco parentis (as volunteers or professionals) and how it has been affected by high levels of public anxiety around intergenerational touch and the perceived risk of abuse. In education, childcare, and sport coaching contexts, the result has been a plethora of regulatory codes and guidelines, characterised by varying degrees of proscription and prescription,  which aim to govern practice and performance. Although presented as being about child protection, in practice these are more obviously designed as defensive measures to protect adults (and their employers) from any possible allegation of inappropriate action or abuse. Many adult respondents expressed real concern that such guidelines were often impractical and unfit for purpose, reducing their ability to get the job done, while also having extremely negative effects on self concept, relationships, and trust. In some cases, continuing to work with children and young people in any capacity was seen as an unattractive option. Related research focused on the impact on adults operating in loco parentis of allegations of inappropriate behaviour. These have become more frequent as the profile of child abuse has been raised in recent decades and, even when shown to be false, the personal and professional damage is likely to be lasting and profound.

From this varied research, often with colleagues, a wide range of books and journal papers have resulted. She has jointly edited a special edition of the journal Sport, Education and Society (summer 2013; 18,3), including her paper (with Dean Garratt and Bill Taylor) ‘Child abuse, child protection, and defensive touch in PE teaching and sports coaching’. Responding to recent reports of crisis in music education, with James Duggan and Stephen Rogers, she has authored a paper: ‘Managerial discourse, child safeguarding, and the elimination of virtue from in loco parentis relationships: an example from music education’, which will shortly be published in the journal Power & Education (autumn 2013; 5, 3).

Prior to entering academia in the late 1990s, Heather had a 15 year career in social work, specialising in children and families, and particularly in the sharp end of child protection work.