Dr Rachel Mathieson is a research fellow at the Centre for Curriculum, Pedagogy and Policy, at the School of Education, University of Leeds.

Rachel has spent her working life in the field of education, moving between teaching and research. She has taught in primary and secondary schools, as well as in higher education. Prior to joining the University of Leeds, she was director of music in a sixth-form college, and still runs a choir and orchestra.

Rachel has a DPhil in education and a PhD in music education. She came into the core maths project as the main qualitative researcher, working with case study schools across England. As well as having an interest in post-16 education policy, Rachel is conducting research into teachers’ experiences of conflict in the workplace, which is bound up with the current teacher retention and mental health crisis. During her career as a school teacher, Rachel was a union rep, and she continues to involve the teaching unions as important partners in her research.