Dr Melanie Ehren

Speaker Summary

Melanie Ehren is a Professor in Educational Governance at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She combines a strong disciplinary background in educational and school effectiveness with a comparative approach to understanding outcomes of education systems. Her international work on accountability, inspection, evaluation and improvement has included various countries in the EU, Africa, Asia and the U.S, including visiting scholarships at Harvard University and Columbia University and consultancies for the OECD, UNICEF, and the EU.

Areas of Expertise

Inspections and Standards – Research – System Reform – Whole School Improvement

Full Profile

Examples of current and past projects:
• Dutch research council (NOW) funded study on inspections of organisational networks to address complex societal challenges
• ESRC funded synthesis study on teacher agency and accountability in six low and middle income countries (India, Nepal, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Honduras, South Africa)
• ESRC funded study on ‘Accountability, capacity and trust to improve learning outcomes in South Africa
• EU Erasmus+/KA2 comparative study on polycentric inspections of networks of schools across four countries.
• EU-funded comparative study on the impact of school inspections in six European countries.
• Nuffield funded project on the Nature, Prevalence and Effectiveness of Strategies used to Prepare Pupils for Key Stage 2 Maths Tests.

Key publications:
– Ehren, M.C.M., Hutchinson, J. and Munoz Chereau, B (2023). Place-based Disparities faced by Stuck Schools in England: a Contextual Understanding of Low Performance and the role of Inspection Outcomes. School Effectiveness and School Improvement.
– Ehren, M.C.M. (2022). A conceptual framework for trust in standardised assessments: commercial, quasi-market and national systems. European Journal of Education, 00, 1-12. http://doi.org/10.1111/ejed.12544
– Ehren, M.C.M., Madrid, R., Romiti, S., Armstrong, P. W., Fisher, P., & McWhorter, D. L. (2021). Teaching in the COVID-19 era: Understanding the opportunities and barriers for teacher agency. Perspectives in Education, 39(1), 61-76.
– Ehren, M., Paterson, A., & Baxter, J. (2020). Accountability and trust: Two sides of the same coin?. Journal of Educational Change, 21(1), 183-213.
– Ehren, M.C.M. & Perryman, J. (2018). Accountability of school networks: who is accountable to whom and for what? Educational Management Administration & Leadership 2018, 46(6) 942–959. DOI: 10.1177/1741143217717272

Sessions Featuring Dr Melanie Ehren: