Dr Rachel Shanks | The 51cg

Dr Rachel Shanks

LLB, MA, PhD, SFHEA, MCLDSC

Interdisciplinary Inst. Dir. - Social Inclusion & Cultural Diversity

Accepting PhDs

51cg

Email Address: r.k.shanks@abdn.ac.uk
School/Department: Provost

Biography

I research school uniform, dress codes and appearance policies, in particular how school uniform can be made more affordable, comfortable and sustainable.

In 2020 I issued a policy briefing on the affordability of school uniform in secondary schools in Scotland and discussed this with politicians across Scotland. Following these discussions, the manifestos for the Scottish Parliament elections in 2021 of three political parties included a commitment to national guidance on school uniform. Since then introducing national guidance on school uniform has been included in the Scottish Government programme of government and a national consultation on school uniform took place in 2022.

I have worked in higher education, community education, the trade union movement and the voluntary sector. In higher education, I have been a law lecturer, worked in the 51cg’s former Centre for Lifelong Learning and I am currently a Senior Lecturer in Education.

In the late 1990s, I led the Trade Union Congress partnership project Bargaining for Skills, in the East and West Midlands regions in England, working with trade unions, employers, colleges and Training and Enterprise Councils. I have also been an adult education tutor and worked for the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux (NACAB) and a local Citizens Advice Bureau.

Interdisciplinary Symposium 2026

Join us for the fourth annual Interdisciplinary Symposium, hosted by the Interdisciplinary Institute. Building on the momentum of previous years, Interdisciplinary Symposium 2026: From Insight to Impact will bring together staff and students from across the University on Wednesday 28th October to share ideas, showcase innovative work, and explore how interdisciplinary approaches can drive meaningful change. The event is open to all 51cg staff and students.

Learn more and register

Memberships and Affiliations

Internal Memberships

Member of the 51cg Research Committee, the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee and the Education Committee
Member of the Centre for Citizenship, Civil Society, and Rule of Law ()
Member of the Centre for the North
Member of the Aberdeen branch of the University and College Union (UCU)

External Memberships

External Adviser for 2025-
Member of 2025-
Trustee of 2024-
External Examiner University of Glasgow, MSc and MEd in Educational Studies 2024-2027
Member of West Lothian Council and Improvement Service External Reference Group for a Child Poverty Accelerator Fund project 2024-2026
Associate Editor of 2021-2026
Member of the
Registered Member of the
Member of the
Member of the
Member of the

Prizes and Awards

Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (Advance HE) for the Teaching Qualification Further Education/ BA Professional Development Team, 2021.

Research

Research Overview

I research school uniform, dress codes and appearance policies, in particular how school uniforms can be made more affordable, comfortable and sustainable.

I also research professional learning and mentoring covering both formal and informal learning, in particular during teacher induction.

Children and young people's rights combine my legal and community work background and my interest in social justice.

Research Areas

Accepting PhDs

I am currently accepting PhDs in Education.

Please get in touch if you would like to discuss your research ideas further.

Email Me

Education

Supervising
Accepting PhDs

View Research Area

Research Specialisms

Work-Based Learning
Social Policy
Education Policy

Our research specialisms are based on the Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) which is , published under the licence.

Current Research

Mentoring

I am part of the European Educational Research Association-funded project .

Past Research

I was a Co-Investigator of (MQuITE)

Collaborations

I am a member of an international research network Children’s Human Rights Education which is being funded by the Swedish Research Council between 2021 and 2025. The members of this network aim to strengthen international collaboration in research into human rights education for children. Theory development, joint publications and funding applications are planned. The network has included researchers from regions that are underrepresented in children’s rights research.

Supervision

My current supervision areas are: Education.

Current PhD Students

Shirley Gonsalves - Secular Mindfulness and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, with Prof Kate Smith
Sara Stroud - Radical placemaking in Aberdeen, with Dr Joe Pierce and Dr Rebecca Macklin

Completed PhDs

2026 Mohsen Jabali - Interactive Whiteboards, Dialogic Interactions, and Communicative Skills in Saudi Primary English as a Foreign Language Classrooms

2026 Tomisin Fadamoro - Integration of Blended Learning into the Nigerian Education Curriculum: STEM Teachers’ Perception of the Learning Management System (LMS) Technology

2025 Katrina Foy - Unearthing the New: A Diffractive Exploration of Digital Pedagogy as an Assemblage of Humans, Tools, Spaces and Ideas

2025 - ‘Diversity of Destinies’: The Impact of Islamic State on Higher Education in Eastern Syria

2025 Touria Jouilla - Exploring student services in Further Education access programmes

2024 Tracy Robbie - Teachers and local authority youth workers: a new collaborative model for supporting young people from disadvantaged backgrounds?

2023 - The Translation and Enactment of the Principle of Inclusive Pedagogy by Experienced Teachers

2021 Annette Moir - Exploration of children’s awareness of their coping strategies and enhancement of their resilience skills

2020 - Educators' views, experiences and approaches to cultural diversity: understanding pre-registration adult nursing education at a Scottish university

2020 Maryam Alnoaimi - Citizenship Education in the Kingdom of Bahrain: A case study exploring perceptions of school principals, senior teachers, teachers and students

2019 - Business Social Media Use by Remote Rural Micro Tourism Enterprises in the Scottish Highlands

2019 Madhawi Alharbi - Using Mobile Games in Teaching English as a Foreign Language Vocabulary at a Saudi Female High School (lead supervisor)

2019 Khanchai Wongchana - Thai University Student and Teacher Perceptions of Studying Tourism through English Using a CLIL Approach

2017 David Johnston - A Socio-Cultural Perspective on 'Belonging'

2017 Geraldine Prince - Art-Making and the Interpretation of Cultures: Cross-cultural teaching and learning in Edinburgh and Dubai

Funding and Grants

Co-investigator of NIHR Global Health Research Group project on promoting children’s and adolescents' mental wellbeing in sub-Saharan Africa. The 51cg, the University of Rwanda and Addis Ababa University are working together to design, deliver and evaluate the impact of a mindfulness intervention in schools on child and adolescent mental wellbeing in sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2021 I received pump-prime funding for interdisciplinary research from the 51cg for work on the Affordability and Sustainability of School Uniform. This pilot study has investigated the impact of school uniform banks on the affordability and sustainability of school uniforms in Scotland.

Principal Investigator of : New teachers’ responses to COVID-19: building on Initial Teacher Education for their professional learning.

Co-Investigator of (MQuITE) in Scotland funded by the Scottish Government 2017- A longitudinal study involving all higher education institutions that provide initial teacher education in Scotland.

Co-Investigator of (2018-22) Political Concepts in the World (). The POLITICO PhD programme builds on the success of the interdisciplinary training provided by the 51cg’s Centre for Citizenship, Civil Society and the Rule of Law (), which specializes in the global application of political ideas.

Teaching

Non-course Teaching Responsibilities

NVivo training for staff and postgraduate students

NIHR Global Health Research Group on promoting children’s and adolescent’s mental wellbeing in sub-Saharan Africa Project Lead for capacity building and training.

Publications

Update

51cg

Biography

Interdisciplinary Symposium 2026

Memberships and Affiliations

Prizes and Awards

Research Overview

Research Areas

Accepting PhDs

Education

Research Specialisms

Current Research

Mentoring

Past Research

Collaborations

Supervision

Current PhD Students

Funding and Grants

Non-course Teaching Responsibilities

Teaching children’s rights from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child through school uniform and dress code policies

A Comparative Analysis of Teacher Induction: Purposes, Practices and Curriculum Ideologies

Using New Materialism to Examine What School Uniform Policies Do to Students

A systematic review of definitions of rights education for children: Children's rights education (CRE), children's human rights education (CHRE), and other rights education subtypes

Sparking ‘Aha’ Moments: A Resource for Teaching Research Methods

Education for Democracy: Political Participation and Practise in Schools

Theory and Mechanisms of Change in School-Based Mindfulness Interventions: A Disciplinary Review

School Climate and Pupils' Wellbeing and Mindfulness

Conceptual Architecture for a Critical Realist Synthesis of a Universal School-based Mindfulness Intervention

From Research Briefing to National Guidance: Influencing School Uniform and Clothing Policy in Scotland

Customised Diversity? Education, capitalism and diversity in the digital present: An Editorial

The Effects of Poverty on School Education – Research from the Poverty and Education Network

School clothing grant and school uniform policies in Aberdeen

School Clothing in Scotland Research Brief

Informal coaching and mentoring and an 'informal turn' in teacher professional learning

Conclusion: ‘Looking back to look forward’

Introduction: The threads of school uniforms woven in/with/through countries

Pupil participation in secondary school uniform policies in Scotland

School Uniforms: New Materialist Perspectives

The materiality and materials of school uniforms at a local and global level

Why do girls have to wear ties at school in the UK?

Blended learning: Gain for higher education

Beyond the Pandemic: Poverty and School Education in Scotland

Mind the gap: Teacher induction in Scotland

Is there a point to compulsory school uniform?

L’uniforme peut-il vraiment favoriser l’égalité entre les élèves ?

‘The prison of the body’: school uniforms between discipline and governmentality

School uniforms are meant to foster a sense of belonging and raise achievement – but it’s not clear that they do

Employability and school uniform policies: Projecting the employer’s gaze

Cost and Affordability of school uniform and child poverty

Shifting selves and spaces: Conceptualising school emergency remote teaching as a third space

A Comparative Study of Barriers to Mentoring Student and New Teachers

A Cultural History of School Uniform. Kate Stephenson Exeter: University of Exeter Press (2021) 232pp., hardback £75.00 ISBN: 9781905816538

Making Waves: a cross-study analysis of young people's participation arenas in Scotland’s schools

Schooling in Citizenship and Political Community

A comparative study of mentoring for new teachers

School Clothing Grant in Scotland: Policy Briefing

New Teachers’ Experiences Of The Transition Into Teaching

School Uniform: It's Different for Girls

New Teachers’ responses to the Covid-19 pandemic

New teachers’ responses to COVID-19 in Scotland: doing surprisingly well?

Developing a context-appropriate framework for measuring quality in initial teacher education

Teaching in a Third Space during national COVID-19 lockdowns: in loco magister?

30 years of ICT in education: reflecting on educational technology projects

Technology-enabled professional learning in remote rural minority language classrooms

Affordability of secondary school uniform in Scotland: Policy briefing

Introduction. Development of Teacher Preparation in Scotland

Teacher Induction

Teacher Preparation in Scotland

Using blog posts for peer to peer learning and summative assessment

Participation, diversity, involvement and engagement in local and global contexts

Universal to targeted Community Learning and Development: changed work and a changing profession

Alfabetização Micropolítica e Formação Profissional de Professores Iniciantes

Perspectives on Spaces for Teaching and Learning

Human and Technological Resources Needed to Develop and Sustain A City-Wide Educational Data Observatory

Students' voices in Higher Education research

Teacher Education in the Arctic

MINE - Mobile learning in Higher Education

Human elements and the pragmatic approach in the Australian, Scottish and Swedish standards for newly qualified teachers

Vital but Neglected: The informal learning of new teachers in Scotland

Issues and impact of the Named Person Legislation in Scotland

Part-Time Study and E-Learning in Europe: Insights from Erasmus+ PT&SCHE Project