Emeritus Professor Susan Webb
BA (hons), PGDip, PGCE, MA, PhD
School of Education
Emeritus Professor of Education
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Full contact details
School of Education
The Wave
2 Whitham Road
Sheffield
S10 2AH
- Profile
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Professor Webb has held senior leadership positions and responsibilities for lifelong learning and widening participation both in England, at the University of Sheffield and latterly in Australia, at Monash University. She transitioned to retirement in Australia from 2016 and retired fully in May 2020. Following the move to Australia in late 2010, she continued to develop her research in the field of lifelong learning and access and participation to tertiary education through securing external funding (Category 1 competitive funding) for the NCVER (National Centre for Vocational Education and Training Research project - NR11104-21043) on the ‘Geographical dimensions of social inclusion in education and training in Australia’ 2011 -2014.
This work led to several publications on gender, migration, education and deskilling, as well as work on gender and the effects of geography on post-school pathways to higher education and vocational education and training. Most recently until retirement, she was lead investigator for an ARC (Australian Research Council) competitive Discovery Project DP 170101885 ‘Vocational Institutions, undergraduate degrees: distinction or inequality?’ (2017-2020) focusing on a comparative study of higher vocational education in colleges (non-university higher education providers) in Australia and England. Additionally, she led until May 2020 and continues to be engaged on a longitudinal study of refugees’ access to education and employment (2016 – present) with colleagues from Monash University and Deakin University, Australia).
From 2016 Professor Webb changed her role from a full-time teaching and research professorship to a part-time professorship (research only). By this point in her career she had had 4 PhD completions in Australia, to add to the 16 completions whilst employed at the University of Sheffield. Subsequently, 3 more PhD students have successfully completed making a total of 23. In retirement Professor Webb remains academically active.
From January 2018 she has continued to support colleagues in the development of research links and publishing in widening participation and social justice by dividing her time between her commitments in Australia and England. For example, since 2017 to the present she has been a mentor on a writing development programme for widening participation practitioners initiated by OFFA in the UK and the Centre for Excellence and equity in Higher Education (CEEHE) at the University of Newcastle, Australia, which has resulted in mentees successfully publishing in peer reviewed journals. In 2020-21, she contributed to a Federal funded Department for Education and Training project with the University of Newcastle in Australia to undertake a systematic international literature review of research on widening access to higher education, including through considering the role of post-school vocational education and training.
- Research interests
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- Higher education and lifelong learning - policy analysis and effects on systems, staff and students
- Access, participation and social inclusion in tertiary education
- Learning cultures, learning identities and learning careers
- Learning transitions - school, tertiary education and employment
- Work-based learning, workforce development and skill utilisation
- Migration and learning, including experiences of skilled migrants and refugees
- Feminist theories and theories of social justice
- Publications
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Books
- The Palgrave International Handbook on Adult and Lifelong Education and Learning. Palgrave Macmillan UK.
- Forty Years of the International Journal of Lifelong Education, Volume II. Routledge.
Journal articles
- Adult learning in a migration society. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 42(4), 441-444.
- Lifelong education research over 40 years: insights from the International Journal of Lifelong Education. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 41(6), 537-548.
- Theorising adults, theorising learning. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 41(4-5), 399-404.
- Aligning skills and lifelong learning for human-centred sustainable development. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 41(2), 127-132.
- Forty years of the International Journal of Lifelong Education: reflections on a changing field. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 41(1), 1-4.
- English as a Business Lingua Franca: A Discursive Analysis of Business E-Mails. International Journal of Business Communication, 59(1), 83-103.
- Reassessing the social benefits of lifelong learning in light of the COVID pandemic. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 40(5-6), 435-438.
- Who is ‘competent’ to shape lifelong education’s future?. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 40(3), 193-197.
- Recognition and precarious mobilities: The experiences of university students from a refugee background in Australia. International Review of Education, 67(6), 871-894.
- Refugees and higher education, trans-national perspectives on access, equity and internationalization. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 40(3), 295-297.
- A year of COVID-19 pandemic: exposing the fragility of education and digital in/equalities. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 40(2), 111-114.
- Lifelong education international: forwards and/or backwards?. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 40(1), 1-4.
- ‘A degree is a degree’: understanding vocational institution’s bachelor degrees in Australia’s high participation system. International Journal of Training Research, 18(2), 93-100.
- Learning cities and implications for adult education research. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 39(5-6), 423-427.
- Educational research in authoritarian times. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 39(4), 333-338.
- Lifelong education, social inequality and the COVID-19 health pandemic. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 39(3), 243-246.
- Adult education, vocational education and economic policy: theory illuminates understanding. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 39(2), 133-138.
- Widening University Access for Students of Asylum-Seeking Backgrounds: (Mis)recognition in an Australian Context. Higher Education Policy, 33(2), 243-264.
- Data, artificial intelligence and policy-making: hubris, hype and hope. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 38(6), iii-vii.
- Conceptualising lifelong learning for sustainable development and education 2030. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 38(3), 237-240.
- “An inseparable aspect of citizenship”: marking a centenary in “universal and lifelong” adult education. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 38(2), 127-131.
- Acknowledging the Head, Heart, Hands and Feet: Research with Refugees and People Seeking Asylum in Higher Education. Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning, 21(2), 190-208.
- Skilled Migrants and Negotiations: New Identities, Belonging, Home and Settlement. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 40(2), 190-205.
- Unsettling equity frames in Australian universities to embrace people seeking asylum. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 38(1), 103-120.
- An authentic and generous adult educator: Peter Jarvis, 1937-2018. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 37(6), 637-658.
- Arthur L. (Butch) Wilson. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 37(6), 662-662.
- Adult education, mental health and mental wellbeing. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 37(4), 397-400.
- Economic theory, neoliberalism and the interests of educators. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 37(3), 279-282.
- University renewal: “The times they are a-changing”?. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 37(2), 147-150.
- Learning to manage the self and the hidden injuries of migration. Studies in the Education of Adults, 49(2), 157-176.
- Adult education and learning: endorsing its contribution to the 2030 Agenda. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 36(6), 625-628.
- Lifelong learning for quality education: exploring the neglected aspect of sustainable development goal 4. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 36(5), 509-511.
- Political populism and adult education. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 36(4), 383-386.
- The role of VET in the (dis)placing of migrants’ skills in Australia. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 69(3), 351-370.
- Thinking with and beyond Bourdieu in widening higher education participation. Studies in Continuing Education, 39(2), 138-160.
- Higher vocational education and social mobility: educational participation in Australia and England. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 69(1), 147-167.
- Vocational education and the field of lifelong education. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 36(3), 251-253.
- Academic journals and the politics of publication in adult, continuing and lifelong education. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 35(6), 587-589.
- NIACE: ‘atque in perpetuum frater ave atque vale’. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 35(4), 355-358.
- Refugee migration, lifelong education and forms of integration. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 35(3), 213-215.
- Editorial Transitions. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 35(1), 1-1.
- Book reviews. Studies in the Education of Adults, 47(2), 199-210.
- Neo-liberalism and the shifting discourse of ‘educational fairness’. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 34(6), 619-622.
- Global policy agencies and visions for twenty-first century lifelong education. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 34(5), 487-490.
- Journal listing and rating: who decides which journals ‘count’? What can academics do?. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 34(3), 247-250.
- Do we know enough about learning? Can we learn without knowing it?. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 34(2), 119-120.
- ‘It's who you know not what’: migrants' encounters with regimes of skills as misrecognition. Studies in Continuing Education, 37(3), 267-285.
- The feminisation of migration and the migrants VET policy neglects: the case of skilled women secondary migrants in Australia. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 67(1), 26-46.
- Widening participation, social mobility and the role of universities in a globalized world. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 33(6), 701-704.
- The MOOC phenomenon: toward lifelong education for all?. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 33(5), 569-572.
- Lifelong education and transnational migration. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 33(4), 435-439.
- Skills assessment, PIAAC and the adult literacy agenda. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 33(2), 121-124.
- Using the experiences of skilled migrants to reflect on continuing education policies for workforce and sustainable development. Encyclopaideia, 18(40), 69-86.
- Exploration, discovery, learning: mapping the unknown. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 32(6), 685-685.
- Online tutoring and emotional labour in the private sector. Journal of Workplace Learning, 24(5), 365-388.
- Challenging lifelong learning policy discourse: Where is structure in agency in narrative-based research?. Studies in the Education of Adults, 39(1), 5-21.
- Listening to Learners to Investigate the Viability of Technology-driven ESOL Pedagogy. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 1(2), 208-226.
- Can ICT reduce social exclusion? The case of an adults' English language learning programme. British Educational Research Journal, 32(3), 481-507.
- Reflecting on ‘what works’ in education research‐policy/practice relationships. Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 58(2), 205-222.
- Gender, Foundation Degrees and the knowledge‐driven economy. Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 58(4), 563-576.
- Book review. International Studies in Sociology of Education, 11(3), 279-285.
- YOUTH IS FOR INVESTMENT. Education + Training, 30(5), 18-18.
- ‘It is a university where I felt welcome’: poems of asylum-seeking students’ sense of coherence in Australian higher education. Higher Education Research & Development, 1-17.
- Shaping the field of lifelong education through three critical debates in the International Journal of Lifelong Education. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 1-23.
- Exploring students' feelings of place. Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, 31(3), 43-60.
- Academic identity in a changing Australian higher education space: the higher education in vocational institution perspective. International Journal of Training Research, 1-20.
- Bachelor degree participation in vocational institutions: examining the determinants of participation. International Journal of Training Research, 1-15.
- Social Capital and the Career Adaptability of Refugees. International Migration.
- Employee surveys: guidance to facilitate effective action. EWOP in Practice, 3(1).
Chapters
- Shaping the field of lifelong education through three critical debates in the International Journal of Lifelong Education, Forty Years of the International Journal of Lifelong Education, Volume II (pp. 13-35). Routledge
- Introduction— Lifelong education research over 40 years: insights from the International Journal of Lifelong Education, Forty Years of the International Journal of Lifelong Education, Volume II (pp. 1-12). Routledge
- Introduction, Equity and Access to High Skills through Higher Vocational Education (pp. 3-7). Springer Nature
- Higher Vocational Education and the Matter of Equity, Equity and Access to High Skills through Higher Vocational Education (pp. 9-35). Springer Nature
- Higher Education in Vocational Institutions in Australia: What’s Going On?, Equity and Access to High Skills through Higher Vocational Education (pp. 189-214). Springer Nature
- Unsettling equity frames in Australian universities to embrace people seeking asylum, Decolonising Lifelong Learning in the Age of Transnational Migration (pp. 103-120). Routledge
- Thinking with and beyond Bourdieu in widening higher education participation, Advancing Theory and Research in Widening Participation (pp. 22-44). Routledge
- Governance of private universities in Bangladesh: The myth of institutional autonomy, Education in the Asia-Pacific Region (pp. 279-297).
- Introduction to the Handbook, The Palgrave International Handbook on Adult and Lifelong Education and Learning (pp. 1-8). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- Adult education learned societies: Professionalism and publications, The Palgrave International Handbook on Adult and Lifelong Education and Learning (pp. 741-759).
- Reframing Educational Research In Farnsworth V & Solomon Y (Ed.) Routledge
- Researching Transitions in Lifelong Learning In Field J, Gallacher J & Ingram R (Ed.) Routledge
Conference proceedings papers
- The Palgrave International Handbook on Adult and Lifelong Education and Learning. Palgrave Macmillan UK.
- Professional activities and memberships
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Sue Webb is co-editor of the International Journal of Lifelong Education.
Through her role as journal editor and her membership of Learned Societies she regularly acts as peer reviewer for scientific committees, such as the Society for Research in Higher Education (SRHE) and the Standing Conference for University Teaching and Research in the Education of Adults (SCUTREA), for various adult and lifelong learning and gender focused education journals, as well as, for funders such as the ARC, Australia and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC, UK).
She is or has been an international editorial board member for the journals Studies in the Education of Adults, RELA – European Journal for the Research on the Education and Learning of Adults, Teaching in Higher Education and the newly named Access: Critical explorations of equity in higher education.
She has been an Expert Panel member for European research on social inclusion and the use of ICT in language learning. Most recently, she was appointed to the International Labour Organisation/UNESCO Committee of Experts on the Application of the Recommendations for Teaching (CEART) for 2021-2026, a committee comprising just 12 Experts from across the world that oversees the application and any allegations of infringements in relation to these teaching recommendations in all sectors of education.