Peter Blatchford

Peter Blatchford is Emeritus Professor in Psychology and Education at the IOE, where he has spent most of his academic career. He was Head of the Department of Psychology and Human Development from 2001to 2003 and Acting HOD in 2017. Peter’s academic roots are in developmental psychology, and throughout his career he has been seeking to better understand social and developmental processes in classroom settings. He has published 20 books and over 100 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters. He directed a large-scale programme of research on the educational effects of CSPAR based at the IOE. In the course of this longitudinal research, Peter had the privilege to work with a large team, including Penelope Barton, Paul Bassett, Harvey Goldstein, Clare Martin, and Tony Russell. A key publication was the book: Blatchford, P., and Russell, A. (2020). Rethinking Class Size: The Complex Story of Impact on Teaching and Learning. London: UCL Press. Free to download: uclpress.co.uk/size. Most of these researchers then moved on to the large-scale five-year DISS, which Peter also directed, and which was funded by the English and Welsh Governments. Rob Webster joined the DISS research team and then subsequently co-directed with Peter two Nuffield-funded projects on pupils with special educational needs in mainstream schools – the MAST and the SENSE projects. Work with Tony Russell and Rob Webster on alternative ways of deploying Teaching Assistants has led to publications including Webster, Russell, and Blatchford (2016), and extensive impact national and internationally.

Peter returned to the topic of class size and directed a Leverhulme-funded international network on ‘Class Size and Effective Teaching’. In addition, Peter co-directed with Maurice Galton and Peter Kutnick an ESRC-funded programme of research on collaborative group work (SPRinG) and, with Peter Kutnick, studies of grouping practices in primary and secondary schools. He has worked with Ed Baines for a number of years on peer relations and social life in schools and school breaktimes, with research funded by Nuffield and Spencer Foundation – see Blatchford, P., Pellegrini, A. and Baines, E. (2016) The Child at School: Interactions with Peers and Teachers (2nd Edition). Routledge. Peter was Honorary Professor at the Educational University of Hong Kong, and the collaborations there led to the 2016 book Class Size: Eastern and Western Perspectives (edited by Blatchford, Chan, Galton, Lai, and Lee). Most recently, he is mapping out the idea of an eco-relational approach to classroom learning as part of a three-year Leverhulme-funded Major Research Fellowship