Dr Lewis Barrett-Rodger is Deputy Headteacher of a primary school in Essex, nationally recognised as a centre of excellence for outdoor learning. He has over a decade of leadership experience in primary education, with a specialist focus on early mathematics and learning outside the classroom (LOtC). Alongside his school leadership role, he is a course lead and PGCE tutor for an initial teacher training provider and serves as an Honorary Visiting Fellow at Anglia Ruskin University.
His doctoral research explored the lived experiences of children learning mathematics outdoors, drawing on hermeneutic phenomenology to investigate how place, play, and pedagogy intersect in the mathematics classroom. His broader research interests include outdoor learning, early mathematics education, and phenomenology as an applied research methodology in educational settings.
Dr Barrett-Rodger is a frequent speaker at national conferences and seminars, where he shares insights on embedding LOtC within curriculum design, reimagining early mathematics pedagogy, and adopting phenomenological approaches in practitioner research. He also delivers the Level 3 Award in Learning Beyond the Classroom, supporting educators to integrate meaningful outdoor experiences into their school ethos and practice.
As a Visiting Fellow at ARU, he co-leads the Phenomenology Interest Group and supports doctoral researchers working within interpretive and practice-based paradigms. His work bridges theory and practice, with a commitment to developing rich, child-centred pedagogies rooted in lived experience and place-responsive learning.