Aurora Lopez-Fogues
Eduwel -PhD, Faculty of Social Sciences
Contact
Biography
Aurora Lopez-Fogues joined the School of Education of Nottingham in 2010 becoming an ESR- EduWel - Marie Curie fellowship holder and part of the Centre for Research in Higher, Adult and Vocational Education (HAVE). In 2005 she obtained the Licenciatura in Business and Management at the Polytechnic University of Valencia. She completed her MA in Global Studies in 2007, after having studied in Leipzig (Germany), Vienna (Austria) and Stellenbosch (South Africa). In the last University she also collaborated as an intern carrying a research about identity in South Africa. After finishing her studies she worked as a Regional Development and European Funding consultant for a multinational firma (IDOM SA) in Madrid (Spain). In 2009, she became a teacher in a Vocational Education Training college where she worked until she joined the School of Education. Her main areas at the college were in management and business education for people above 19 years old as well as coordinator of the Erasmus Mobility Program.
Aurora's broad areas of research interest include:
Educational theories and policies
Pedagogy of education
Critical theory
Social justice
Further Education / VET
Capability Approach
Research Summary
PhD work in-progress and member of the Centre for Research in Higher, Adult and Vocational Education (HAVE)
The voices of Vocational Education and Training (VET); an analysis of disadvantage in a college in Spain within the Capability Approach
Educational reforms are at the Centre of European debates. However, reference to Vocational Education (VET) is often made in terms of skills and employability. In contrast to this economic approach to VET, this proposal draws on Sen's notion of capabilities and positions people at the forefront aiming to:
- gather the disparity of aspirations, experiences and practices among those involved in VET education and,
- broaden the current understanding of the least advantaged in VET including, learners' ability to pursue valuable beings and doings.
This research proposes to build a grid of "valuable functionings" across the dimensions of autonomy, participation and work, bringing together the voices of those involved in VET in an analytical and empirical manner. By analyzing a Spanish post-sixteen college using the capability lenses, the research hopes to draw attention to the heterogeneity understanding of VET and to the multi dimensional aspect of disadvantage.