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Edge Hill University has appointed philosophy expert Professor David Aldridge as its new head of secondary and further education.

Professor Aldridge previously taught religious education in secondary schools for ten years before finding a passion for the philosophy of education. He went on to hold positions at King’s College London, Oxford Brookes University and Brunel University London and joined Edge Hill in November 2020.

Professor Aldridge said: “I’m over the moon to have joined Edge Hill’s education department. It has an excellent reputation for teacher training and the study of education.

“One of the key things that attracted me to the University is its commitment to producing ‘ethical practitioners distinguished by their intellectual engagement’. That’s an ideal I hold myself to and I want to support colleagues to do the same.”

Professor Aldridge’s research interests draw on the humanities and arts – philosophy, history, literature – to analyse educational practices.

Professor Aldridge added: “I think teachers should be well-rounded and intellectually curious people. I want to give teachers and students of education the confidence to question educational policies and institutions and the wisdom to challenge them where necessary.”

Most recently he has been looking at the increasing trend towards exams, data and outcomes and whether it will improve or damage education in the long run. It is policies like these that Professor Aldridge wants teachers to question so that they might one day influence policy themselves.