Natasha Robinson

Natasha’s research focuses on social cohesion and identity in post-apartheid South Africa, exploring the role of history curriculum and narrative in students’ understanding of structural privilege.

Previous to beginning her DPhil Natasha graduated from the London School of Economics with a BSc in Social Anthropology (2012), and from the University of Oxford with an MSc in Comparative and International Education (2015).

During her MSc she worked as a research assistant to Dr. David Johnson, conducting a preliminary evaluation of the DFID sponsored TESS-India teacher training program. The data she collected in this capacity included survey data of 1000 students and interviews with 53 teachers across 15 schools in Karnataka, and went on to form the basis of her dissertation on student-centered learning in India.

Over the past year Natasha has worked as a freelance researcher for a range of organizations including the University of Oxford, the OECD, the Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention, JET Education, and Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Recent research projects have involved studies in India and Nigeria exploring the relationship between schooling and religious intolerance; a longitudinal study in Sierra Leone investigating the comparative learning outcomes of government and low-cost private schools; an analysis of South African Grade 9 textbooks exploring the representation of issues relating to social cohesion, as well as extensive work on teacher training and teacher professional standards.