About Us

Research Interests: Financing education; education administration and planning; education of working children; globalisation and education policy.

Biography: Hillary Dachi started his career as a primary school teachers, working in several primary schools in Mbinga and Bagamoyo districts of Tanzania.  He completed a B.Ed. and then a M.A. in education at the University of Dar es Salaam, at the same time as tutoring at the Institute of Adult Education, Dar es Salaam.  In 2000 he completed his doctoral studies at the University of Bristol with a thesis on 'Household private costs and the resourcing of public primary schooling in Tanzania', after which he returned to the University of Dar es Salaam to take up a lectureship in the Department of Educational Planning & Administration.

Research Interests: Meta-data analyses; quantitative and qualitative multi-variate techniques; cost-benefit and cost-utility analyses linking funding to performance.

Biography: As a secondary school teacher in mathematics and science, Mario Pillay introduced these subjects using ICTs at technical high schools.  He was promoted to a lecturer position at a higher education institute for educators.  He then moved on to the inspection service, where he evaluated teachers of mathematics, science and computer science, after which he joined the Department of Education to carry out research on education provision, assessment and funding.  During the turbulent years in education in South Africa he joined the Education Foundation Trust, a non-government research organisation.  During this period he lectured to education planners from 14 African countries on the use of information for planning. 

Research Interests: Promotion of gender equality; HIV/AIDS counselling and education; ICTs to support basic education.

Biography: Jolly Rubagiza taught briefly in a secondary school in Uganda and later worked with various NGOs in the field of HIV/AIDS Counselling and Education before returning to Rwanda.  She has a MA in International Education from the University of Sussex, UK.

Research Interests: The cultural and gender dimensions of school leadership; improving leadership development in rural deprived schools in Africa; school leadership for peace building and social cohesion; strategies for enhancing performance management in deprived schools.

Biography: George Oduro hails from a rural area of Ghana. As his family were unable to finance his post-primary education, he obtained 'O' levels through self-tuition and later, when he was a primary school teacher, 'A' levels.  In 1994, he obtained a B.Ed. (Hons)  in Educational Foundations from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana.  He was then employed by the University of Cape Coast and completed first a MPhil and then a PhD in Educational Leadership and Policy at the University of Cambridge.  Between 2003 and 2004, Dr Oduro worked as a research associate on three leadership-related projects directed by Prof. John MacBeath at the University of Cambridge’s Faculty of Education

Research Interests: Education and national development; comparative and international education; assessment of student achievement; overseas students in higher education.

Biography: John Lowe was a science teacher for many years in Kenya and in the Solomon Islands. In both places he was also involved in professional development and national assessment activities. He has been a lecturer in the education department at the University of Bath for ten years, lecturing and researching in education and development, assessment, educational policy and other areas. He has consultancy and research experience in several countries, including Guyana, China, Somalia, Eritrea, Poland, Rwanda.

EdQual UK
Graduate School of Education
University of Bristol

Research Interests: Primary education and educational quality in Sub Saharan Africa especially Tanzania; teacher professionalism and identity; comparative education.

Biography: Angeline Barrett worked for a number of years as a maths and physics teacher in Further Education colleges in England and in secondary schools in Tanzania, before studying a M.Ed. in International Education Management at Leeds University, UK.  In 2005, she was awarded a Ph.D. by the University of Bristol for her research comparing Tanzanian with English primary school teacher identity. She took up a full-time position with EdQual after completion of an ESRC postdoctoral fellowship.

Universidad de la Frontera, Chile

The Aga Khan University, Pakistan

EdQual UK
Graduate School of Education
University of Bristol

Research Interests: Education quality in low income countries; globalisation and education policy; the achievement of minority ethnic learners in the UK; education management and policy in South Africa.

Biography: Leon Tikly started his career as a science teacher first in London comprehensives and then in a school for South African refugees in Morogoro, Tanzania.  He completed his postgraduate studies at the University of Glasgow.  His PhD thesis is on Education Policy in South Africa Since 1947.  He then worked as a policy researcher at the Education Policy Unit, University of the Witwatersrand during the transition period between apartheid and democracy in South Africa where he helped to formulate education policy for the new provincial and national governments.  On returning to the UK Leon has worked as a lecturer in international and comparative education at the University of Birmingham before taking up a position at Bristol.

Nikki Hicks is half of the EdQual RPC Administration Team in Bristol. She has been working in Research Project Support at the Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol since 2003. Prior to this, she worked in Research, Strategy, Communications and Public Relations for a number of blue-chip companies based mainly in London.

Ellie Tucker was appointed in March 2006 to job share with Nikki Hicks, with special responsibility for supporting research communication.  She previously worked at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex as a Programme Administrative Coordinator on a large DFID-funded Development Research Centre on Citizenship, Participation and Accountability.