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Dr Jon Rainford

Profile summary

  • Regional Academic Staff
  • Staff Tutor
  • Faculty of Wellbeing, Education & Language Studies
  • School of Education, Childhood, Youth & Sport
  • jon.rainford

Professional biography

Jon has been an Associate Lecturer at the Open University since 2018, teaching across various modules in Social Science and Health and Social care. Since 2022 he has been a Staff Tutor in the School of Education, Childhood and Youth Studies. Prior to working for the Open University, Jon had a broad career in education both in compulsory and higher education. He completed his PhD at Staffordshire University in 2019 which focused on widening participation policy and practice.  He has written numerous publications on widening access and has a particular interest in the way technology can be embedded in a post-pandemic world and the role creative methods can play in research and evaluation. 

He has been a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy since 2019.

Research interests

Jon's research interests span a number of areas related to education. His primary research focuses on the policy and practices related to widening participation. In recent years this has exnaded to involve exploring the digital's role in advancing the participation outreach work. More recently he has been working on research projects exploring the transitions of neurodivergent students, masculinities and higher education, and the successes of part-time doctral researchers. He also has methodological interests which centre on the role of creative methods in qualitative research.

External collaborations

Co-convenor for British Sociological Association Sociology of Education Study Group

Publications

Exploring the Transitions of Neurodivergent Access Students to Level One Study: Narratives of Study Skills and Support (2023-01-24)
Bhandari, Renu and Rainford, Jon
International Journal of Educational and Life Transitions, 2, Article 5(1)

Stripping back the novelty: A critical reflection on the dual use of a comic-based approach to engage participants and publics (2021-09-01)
Rainford, Jon
Methodological Innovations Online, 14(3) (pp. 1-12)

How institutional doxa shapes access to higher education through framings of ‘potential’ (2021)
Rainford, Jon
Power and Education, 13(3) (pp. 171-186)

Are we still “raising aspirations”? The complex relationship between aspiration and widening participation practices in English higher education institutions (2021)
Rainford, Jon
Educational Review ((Early Access))

Introduction: The case for a ‘business of widening participation' (2022-10-10)
McCaig, Colin; Rainford, Jon and Squire, Ruth
In: McCaig, Colin; Rainford, Jon and Squire, Ruth eds. The Business of Widening Participation: Policy, Practice and Culture (pp. 1-18)
ISBN : 9781800430501 | Publisher : Emerald Publishing Limited | Published : Bingley

Increasing and Widening Participation in the Market: System Differentiation at the Institutional/Sectoral Level (2022-10-10)
McCaig, Colin and Rainford, Jon
In: McCaig, Colin; Rainford, Jon and Squire, Ruth eds. The Business of Widening Participation: Policy, Practice and Culture (pp. 57-78)
ISBN : 9781800430501 | Publisher : Emerald Publishing Limited | Published : Bingley

Operationalisation of Widening Participation in Practice (2022-10-10)
Rainford, Jon
In: McCaig, Colin; Rainford, Jon and Squire, Ruth eds. The Business of Widening Participation: Policy, Practice and Culture (pp. 79-100)
ISBN : 9781800430501 | Publisher : Emerald Publishing Limited | Published : Bingley

Conclusion: Evolving Markets; Where Next for the Business of WP? (2022-10-10)
McCaig, Colin; Rainford, Jon and Squire, Ruth
In: McCaig, Colin; Rainford, Jon and Squire, Ruth eds. The Business of Widening Participation: Policy, Practice and Culture (pp. 187-206)
ISBN : 9781800430501 | Publisher : Emerald Publishing Limited | Published : Bingley

Using Theory-Based Approaches to Embed Evaluation within a Small Specialist Performing Arts Institution (2022-05-09)
Rainford, Jon and Baptista, Vanessa
In: Dent, Samuel; Mountford-Zimdars, Anna and Burke, Ciaran eds. Theory of Change (Great Debates in Higher Education) (pp. 81-99)
ISBN : 978-1-80071-790-9 | Publisher : Emerald Publishing Limited | Published : Bingley

The Business of Widening Participation: Policy, Practice and Culture (2022-10-10)
McCaig, Colin; Rainford, Jon and Squire, Ruth eds.
ISBN : 9781800430501 | Publisher : Emerald Publishing Limited | Published : Bingley

Holding a Prism - Reflecting on the challenges and changing expectations through the experiences of Neurodiverse students transitioning from interdisciplinary Access to specific disciplines (2022)
Bhandari, Renu and Rainford, Jon
In : Future of Interdisciplinary Teaching & Learning @ The OU Conference (21-22 Jun 2022)

Exploring the transitions of Neurodivergent Access students to Level One Study: Narratives of Study Skills and Support (2022-08-19)
Bhandari, Renu and Rainford, Jon
The Open University