Dr Claudia Schneider

Courses taught:

• International Social Welfare and Social Policy (Postgraduate)

Claudia's main area of teaching and research concerns migration studies, social theory and research methods (quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods).

[email protected]

Background

Claudia completed her PhD (London School of Economics and Political Science, Sociology) in 2006 on German asylum policy and she has led and co-led several national and European research projects on migration and welfare since 2005, eg a longitudinal study on migration from the new European countries in the east of England (funded by the East of England Development Agency 2008-2011) and a project on migrants' needs as part of a wider European project (funded by Community Action Dacorum 2007). In 2012 she co-convened with Professor Madeleine Arnot at Cambridge University/ Faculty of Education the BAICE (British Association for International and Comparative Education) 2012 conference on 'Education, Mobility and Migration'.

Claudia is currently co-leading (with the Faculty of Education, Cambridge University) a research project on pupils who have English as an additional language (2013-2015; funded by the Bell Foundation). The project addresses social, linguistic and educational issues in the context of migrant children in schools. She’s published a number of research reports and articles on migration which were submitted to the REF in 2021 and 2014. She's the supervisor of several national and international PhD students and she's leading the FHEMS Core Research Group of Social Inclusion for which she has organised several international workshops over the past years.

Research interests

• Migration
• Structure-agency aspects of social theory
• Mixed methods

Dr Claudia's research interests encompass different migration movements including forced migration (asylum seekers and refugees) and voluntary migration (for employment, education etc.). Since 2005, she has researched the employment, educational and social contexts of European citizens arriving from the Accession countries which joined the EU in 2004. She applies sociological theories (relating to structure and agency and systemic theory) to the context of migration and has developed conceptual frameworks for different contexts, e.g. policy making of admission policy (Schneider 2006). She has recently engaged with the concept of transnationalisation and linked social theory with transnational aspects of higher education (Schneider 2013) and school education. She applies quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods to her research and leads the mixed methods courses for the postgraduate research programme.

Areas of research supervision

• Migration 
• Structure-agency aspects of social theory
• Mixed methods

Claudia's research interests encompass different migration movements including forced migration (asylum seekers and refugees) and voluntary migration (for employment, education etc.). Since 2005 she has researched the employment, educational and social contexts of European citizens arriving from the Accession countries which joined the EU in 2004. She applies sociological theories (relating to structure and agency and systemic theory) to the context of migration and has developed conceptual frameworks for different contexts, e.g. policy making of admission policy (Schneider 2006). She has recently engaged with the concept of transnationalisation and linked social theory with transnational aspects of higher education (Schneider 2013) and school education. She applies quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods to her research and leads the mixed methods courses for the postgraduate research programme.

Currently supervising the following PhDs:

 

• Migration, social theory, mixed methods
• Migrant healthcare workers and European welfare states: comparative analysis of UK and Norway (PhD, ongoing)

• Migration and adult education: a comparative analysis of Germany and England (PhD ongoing)

• The role of teachers with a migrant background in Germany (PhD ongoing)

• Unaccompanied minors in Germany

• An evaluation of evidence-based programmes in England  (ProfDoc ongoing)

• Analysis of poverty programmes and social work in Georgia (PhD ongoing)

• Analysing online collective action in the context of care policies in England (successful completion 2014)

Teaching

Comparative Social Policy and Social Welfare (MSc International Social Welfare and Social Policy);  Theory workshops (MSc Major Project/ Dissertation); Mixed methods (Cross Faculty Research Training); modules on research methodology, migration and undergraduate dissertation (BA Social Policy).

Qualifications

• PhD (Analysing Immigration Control Policy — A Case Study Regarding the Amendment of Art. 16 (2) of the German Constitution)
• London School of Economics and Political Science Oct 2006
• BA (Hons) Sociology London School of Economics and Political Science July 1991

Memberships, editorial boards

Member of CAMMIGRES (The Cambridge Migration Research Network)

Research grants, consultancy, knowledge exchange

• 2017-20: Norwegian Research Council - Claudia Schneider (Paid consultant). Lead university: Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Language, Integration, Media: A Majority-Inclusive Approach to Migration (LIM).
• 2014-16: The Bell Foundation (joint project between ARU and Faculty of Education, Cambridge University). Grant holder/PI for ARU: Claudia Schneider. The education of socially disadvantaged EAL students in UK schools: effective matching of needs to provision..
• 2009-12: Community and Voluntary Forum for the Eastern Region (COVER). Joint grant holder and PI for ARU with Deborah Holman. Evaluation of Team East for Skills 2012 Volunteering into Employment Programme (overall project funded by the EU Social Fund).
• 2008-11: East of England Development Agency (EEDA). Grant holder and PI for ARU with Deborah Holman: Longitudinal study of migrant workers in the East of England.
• 2007: Community Action Dacorum. Grant holder and joint PI with Deboarh Holman: Research updating current picture on migrant workers in the East of England. Meeting Information Needs of Economic Migrants (MINEM) (overall project funded by European Social Fund).

Selected recent publications

• Arnot, M., Schneider, C. and Welply, O. (2016) (eds.) Education, Mobilities and Migration: People, Ideas and Resources. Routledge: London. 
• Schneider, C. and Arnot. M. (2017) An exploration of school communication approaches for newly-arrived EAL students: applying three dimensions of organisational communication theory. Cambridge Journal of Education, p. 1 - 18 (online June 2017). DOI: 10.1080/0305764X.2017.1329399. 
• Schneider, C. (2017) A conceptual framework for analysing admission policy: a case study of recent developments in Germany’s asylum policy, Two Homelands 45, Special Issue: The Vulnerability of Refugees in Europe, 11- 26. 
• Schneider, C. (2016) Transnationalisation and school education: the interconnection between structures, actors and mechanisms, Globalisation, Societies and Education, p. 1-14 (online July 2016).  DOI: 10.1080/14767724.2016.1195725. 
• Evans, M., Schneider, C., Arnot, M., Fisher, L., Forbes, K., Hu, M. and Liu, Y. (2016) Language Development and School Achievement: Opportunities and Challenges in the Education of EAL Students. The Bell Foundation. (Co-lead author/PI) 
• Arnot M., Schneider, C., Evans, M., Liu, Y. Davies-Tutt, D. and Welply, O. (2014) Language Education and Social Disadvantage: School Approaches to the Education of EAL students in England. The Bell Foundation. (Co-lead author/PI) 
• Schneider, C. (2013). Researching transnationalisation and higher education in the context of social mechanisms, Journal of Contemporary European Studies 21(4): 480-495.
• Arnot M., Schneider C. and Welply O. (2013). Education, mobilities and migration: people, ideas and resources (Editorial for Special Issue), Compare 43 (5): 567-579.
• Schneider, C. and Holman, D. (2011). Complex and multi-layered processes of decision making on length of stay: European citizens from A8 and A2 countries in the UK, Migration Studies: Two Homelands (34): 85-97.
• Schneider C., Goodacre J. and Holman D. (2012). Evaluation of Team East for Skills Volunteering into Employment Programme (Final Report), COVER.
• Schneider C. and Holman D. (2011). Longitudinal study of migrant workers in the East of England (Final Report), East of England Development Agency.