I successfully completed a Doctorate in Education (EdD) in 2021 and have expertise in qualitative research methods, as well as a special interest in the philosophy of education, history and philosophy of science and psychosocial methodology. My thesis was entitled Evolution and the Controversy: Existential and Psychoanalytic Perspectives. This research examined affective responses to evolutionary concepts that may in turn may explain the rejection of the scientific explanation. Concepts presented by evolution can be perceived as potentially disturbing to all; ideas about change, uncertainty, absence of purpose or plan, extinction and struggle, as well as challenges to identity arising from the emphasis on our place in the natural world alongside other animals. Drawing on a psychoanalytical theoretical framework, I used Free Association (FA) in narrative interviewing to examine novice educators’ unconscious and conscious emotional responses to evolutionary concepts. My findings suggested that the ideas inherent in evolution reveal disturbing existential questions. I proposed that the role of existential concern, its impact on our relationship with the natural world, and our emotional response to evolution have not been fully appreciated and that affective and existential issues require greater examination in the context of teaching and learning.

Subject Specialism Research Group: Knowledge and Quality in School Subjects and Teacher Education network (KOSS) – nature of knowledge research.