
Dr Rafael Mitchell
PGCE, MA, PhD
Current positions
Senior Lecturer in Education
School of Education
Contact
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Biography
Research interests
I am co-director of the University of Bristol’s Centre for Comparative and International Research in Education (CIRE), and serve on the Executive Committee of the British Association for International and Comparative Education (BAICE).
My research focuses on schooling, pedagogy, and teachers’ work in Africa, and democratising knowledge production in education. This has involved collaborations with researchers and practitioners around the world, and international organisations, including UNESCO, the British Council, FAWE and the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning.
Recent and ongoing projects include:
- Recognising the ‘extended’ work of English teachers in a post-conflict context: Lessons from Tigray, Ethiopia. An English Language Teaching Research Award (ELTRA) project, in collaboration with Dr Nigusse Weldemariam Reda and colleagues at Mekelle University (2025-2026).
- Teacher professional development in Africa: A critical synthesis of research evidence. A British Council-funded collaborative study with colleagues in Ethiopia, Ghana, Rwanda, Tanzania and South Africa, presented as a position paper for Innovation Africa 2025.
- Ministries of Education (MOE) leadership of equitable, quality education for all during crises. A UNESCO-IIEP funded study (2020-2022) to synthesise evidence from Burkina Faso, Kenya, Jordan, leading to the ‘endogenous systems leadership’ framework.
- Transforming Education for Sustainable Futures (TESF) – Co-Investigator leading the capacity mobilisation strand of this £4.75 mill Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) network (2020-2023). TESF supported 67 projects led by researchers in Rwanda, Somalia/Somaliland, South Africa and India.
- South-West Anti-Racist Education Forum – A collaboration between schools, universities and civil society organisations in Bristol and surrounding areas, which has operated since 2020 with funding from Research England and others.
Full list of publications.
I welcome requests for doctoral supervision and collaboration relevant to my research interests.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
Teacher professional development in Africa: A critical synthesis of research evidence
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of EducationDates
27/09/2023 to 29/02/2024
Anti-Racist Education Forum
Principal Investigator
Description
This project mobilises research, resources, relationships and networks to promote anti-racist learning and action for schools in Bristol, the South-West and beyond. It responds to specific challenges faced by Bristol,…Managing organisational unit
School of EducationDates
01/12/2022 to 31/07/2023
The status of Comparative International Education (CIE) in PG Education degrees
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of EducationDates
01/06/2022 to 31/05/2023
Developing an indigenous model of crisis-sensitive educational leadership in Botswana
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of EducationDates
10/03/2022 to 01/07/2023
Southwest Anti-Racist Education Forum
Principal Investigator
Description
The Southwest Anti-Racist Education Forum is a collaboration between schools, universities and civil society organisations in Bristol and the surrounding areas for the purposes of:
- Strengthening connections between individuals and…Managing organisational unit
School of EducationDates
03/03/2022 to 31/07/2022
Publications
Selected publications
01/01/2023Peer support in sub-Saharan Africa
International Journal of Educational Development
Lesson observations in sub-Saharan Africa
Cambridge Journal of Education
Black teachers’ experiences of reporting racist incidents in English schools
School Leadership & Management
Education research in sub-Saharan Africa
Comparative Education Review
Teacher professional development in Africa
Teacher professional development in Africa
Recent publications
17/01/2025Using Critical interpretive Synthesis (CIS) for Theoretical Development
Sage Research Methods Cases
Black teachers’ experiences of reporting racist incidents in English schools
School Leadership & Management
Endogenous systems leadership of education provision during crises in low- and middle-income countries
Prospects
Teacher Professionalism in the Global South
Teacher Professionalism in the Global South
Teacher professional development in Africa
Teacher professional development in Africa
Teaching
I teach on a range of comparative and international education-related units from undergraduate to doctoral level, including:
* Education viewed from the Global South (2nd year UG)
* Globalisation and Education (3rd year UG)
* Education and International Development (MSc)
* Comparative Research (EdD)
I have supervised 10 doctoral research projects to completion, and welcome requests for doctoral supervision in my areas of specialism.