Susan James Relly

Professor Susan James Relly

Head of School

School of Education

Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Economics

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.

Susan completed a B.Ed at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Australia, and read for a MSc in Comparative and International Education and a DPhil in Education at the University of Oxford. Susan’s entire career has been in education in various forms: she taught in secondary schools in Australia and England before starting her academic career.

Susan’s research interests are in the following areas:

Technical and vocational education and training policy
Vocational excellence
Apprenticeship
Work based and professional learning
Quality and esteem in FE
Territory landscape
Skills economy

Susan is an Honorary Research Fellow and former Deputy Director of the Department of Education at the University of Oxford.

  • Journals
    Year Citation
    2022 James Relly, S., & Laczik, A. (2022). Apprenticeship, employer engagement and vocational formation: a process of collaboration. Journal of Education and Work, 35(1), 1-15.
    DOI Scopus11
    2022 Relly, S. J., & Robson, J. (2022). Unpacking the tensions between local and national skills policy: employers, colleges and Local Enterprise Partnerships as collaborative anchors. London Review of Education, 20(1), 12 pages.
    DOI Scopus1
    2021 James Relly, S. (2021). The political rhetoric of parity of esteem. Oxford Review of Education, 47(4), 513-528.
    DOI Scopus10
    2021 James Relly, S. (2021). Moving from competence to excellence: the role of training managers in providing pedagogical leadership in UK further education. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 45(5), 704-716.
    DOI Scopus4
    2016 Chankseliani, M., & Relly, S. J. (2016). Three-capital approach to the study of young people who excel in vocational occupations: A case of worldskills competitors and entrepreneurship. International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training, 3(1), 46-65.
    DOI Scopus5
    2016 Tholen, G., Relly, S. J., Warhurst, C., & Commander, J. (2016). Higher education, graduate skills and the skills of graduates: the case of graduates as residential sales estate agents. British Educational Research Journal, 42(3), 508-523.
    DOI Scopus36
    2016 Chankseliani, M., James Relly, S., & Laczik, A. (2016). Overcoming vocational prejudice: how can skills competitions improve the attractiveness of vocational education and training in the UK?. British Educational Research Journal, 42(4), 582-599.
    DOI Scopus30
    2015 Chankseliani, M., & James Relly, S. (2015). From the provider-led to an employer-led system: implications of apprenticeship reform on the private training market. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 67(4), 515-528.
    DOI Scopus7
    2015 Wilde, S., & Relly, S. J. (2015). WorldSkills UK training managers: Midas touch or fool's gold?. International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training, 2(2), 85-98.
    DOI Scopus3
    2013 James, S., Warhurst, C., Tholen, G., & Commander, J. (2013). What we know and what we need to know about graduate skills. Work, Employment and Society, 27(6), 952-963.
    DOI Scopus42
    2012 Keep, E., & James, S. (2012). A Bermuda triangle of policy? 'Bad jobs', skills policy and incentives to learn at the bottom end of the labour market. Journal of Education Policy, 27(2), 211-230.
    DOI Scopus47
    2010 Caroli, E., Gautié, J., Lloyd, C., Lamanthe, A., & James, S. (2010). Delivering flexibility: Contrasting patterns in the French and the UK food processing industry. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 48(2), 284-309.
    DOI Scopus22
    2008 Lloyd, C., & James, S. (2008). Too much pressure? Retailer power and occupational health and safety in the food processing industry. Work, Employment and Society, 22(4), 713-730.
    DOI Scopus59
    2006 James, S. (2006). To Cook or not to Cook: Participant Observation as a Data Collection Technique. Studies in Educational Ethnography, 12, 35-50.
    DOI Scopus1
    2006 James, S. (2006). Learning to cook: Production learning environment in kitchens. Learning Environments Research, 9(1), 1-22.
    DOI Scopus15

  • Book Chapters
    Year Citation
    2022 Relly, S. J. (2022). Understanding the Purpose and Standing of Technical and Vocational Education and Training. In S. Billett, E. Stalder, V. Aarkrog, S. Choy, S. Hodge, & A. H. Le (Eds.), The Standing of Vocational Education and the Occupations It Serves. Current Concerns and Strategies For Enhancing That Standing (Vol. 32, pp. 49-62). Springer International Publishing.
    DOI Scopus5
    2019 James Relly, S., & Keep, E. (2019). Recognizing and Developing Vocational Excellence Through Skills Competitions. In Handbook of Vocational Education and Training (pp. 1205-1217). Springer International Publishing.
    DOI
    2012 Keep, E., & James, S. (2012). Are Skills the Answer to Bad Jobs? Incentives to Learn at the Bottom End of the Labour Market. In Are Bad Jobs Inevitable? (pp. 240-253). Macmillan Education UK.
    DOI
    2010 Grunert, K. G., James, S., & Moss, P. (2010). Tough meat, hard candy: Implications for low-wage work in the food-processing industry. In Low-Wage Work in the Wealthy World (pp. 367-420).
    Scopus8
    2008 Dutton, E., Warhurst, C., Lloyd, C., James, S., Commander, J., & Nickson, D. (2008). "Just like the elves in Harry Potter": Room attendants in United Kingdom hotels. In Low-Wage Work in the United Kingdom (Vol. 9781610443647, pp. 96-130).
    Scopus18
    2008 James, S., & Lloyd, C. (2008). Supply Chain pressures and migrant workers: Deteriorating job quality in the United Kingdom food-processing industry. In Low-Wage Work in the United Kingdom (Vol. 9781610443647, pp. 211-246).
    Scopus19
    - Front Matter (n.d.). In Balancing the skills equation (pp. i-ii). Bristol University Press.
    DOI
  • Position: Head of School
  • Phone: 83135692
  • Email: susan.jamesrelly@adelaide.edu.au
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: 10 Pulteney Street - Nexus 10 Tower, floor Eighth Floor
  • Org Unit: School of Education
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