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The Childhood, Law & Policy Network (CLPN)

Ms Pavithra Sarma

Pavithra

PhD student, Moray House school of Education and Sport (MHSES), University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Email: p.sarma@sms.ed.ac.uk

Profile

Pavithra (Pavi) is an SGSSS ESRC-funded PhD student at Moray House with an interdisciplinary background, a home educating parent to one of her children, an anti-racism consultant, and a researcher exploring de/post/anticolonial forms of work and thinking. Pavi's Master's piece (her third) and PhD work explore home education and self-directed learning using postcolonial radical feminist autoethnography. Pavi's background is inter-disciplinary with a focus on the intersects between climate justice, human rights, equity, maternal health, property investment and racialisation. Pavi has also worked in community engagement, third sector, and on domestic violence, enabling her to see the lacunae between policies, theories and practice, thus facilitating her own (un)learning around Whiteness and the need to address injustices and inequities from an intersectional and anticolonial lens. 

Research

Publications

  • Blog post on RIGEN about neurodivergence and anti-racism: https://www.ed.ac.uk/education/rke/our-research/social-justice-inclusion/rigen/rigen-blogs/blog-7-a-very-personal-account-of-the-impact-of-ra
  • Study on the 'Impact of Covid-19 on children of colour in Scotland': https://www.qmu.ac.uk/research-and-knowledge-exchange/qmu-research/covid-19/impact-of-covid-19-on-children-of-colour-in-scotland/  (Write-up in progress)
  • http://funningandallthat.blogspot.com/2020/01/just-listen-please_2.html
  • https://funningandallthat.blogspot.com/2020/07/is-scottish-education-system-racist.html
  • Review of 'Interpretations of informed choice in antenatal screening: a cross-cultural, Q-methodology study', MIDIRS Midwifery Digest, September 2012, volume 22, number 3
  • 'Growing up in Scotland: Birth Cohort 2. Results from the First Year': https://www.gov.scot/publications/growing-up-scotland-birth-cohort-2-results-first-year/; (Background sections included in the introductions to chapters 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 10). Published: 19 Feb 2013

Expertise

Areas of consistent learning and (un)learning: Early years (including pregnancy, birth and postpartum); De/post/anticolonial approaches to research and learning; Children's rights; Neurodivergence; Race inequities and inequalities; Racialisation and impact on CYPOC (Children and Young People of Colour); Child-led/ child-centred/ self-directed learning and pedagogy; Intersectional oppressions; Home education; Parental rights; community engagement
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