Dr Kate Attfield

Research Groups

• I am a member of the Cardiff Education and Social Justice Research Group (CESJRG)
• I am a member of the Qualitative Research Methods and Social Theory Research Group (QRMST)
• I am a member of Centre for Applied Research in Inclusive Arts and Design (CARIAD)
• I am a member of the external Wales BSL and Deaf Research Group (WBDRG)
• I am a member of the Cardiff School of Education and Social Policy REF working group

Memberships

• I am Co-Chair of the Cardiff Met Deaf and BSL Working Group
• I am Co-Chair of the Cardiff School of Education and Social Policy Research Seminar Series

Research Interests

My research interests have led me to under-researched, hard-to-reach communities. My PhD was on the British Sign Language signing Deaf community in the UK, their aspirations and societal position. Underlying my broad sociological research interests is a focus on inclusive citizenship. My current research projects are on holistic pedagogy, on the Triple X experience, on Deaf citizenship and on scholar-practitioner reflections. I have secured external research grants from Hermes Trust, Anthroposophical Society in Great Britain, Welsh Government, and from the ESRC, as well as from internal Global Academies funding.

Journal article Attfield, K. (2023) ‘“You don’t know how big this heart is”: Parental accounts of Triple X super-daughters’ life course and emerging community citizenship’ Community, Work and Familyhttps://doi.org/10.1080/13668803.2023.2181054

Conference publication Attfield, K. (2023) ‘The unique, spiritual and insightful education of Waldorf pedagogy’, Spiritual-intellectual education and training in the XXI century, IndexCopernicus H.S. Skovoroda KHNPU.

Journal article Attfield, K. (2022) ‘The ‘feeling-life’ journey of the grade school child: An investigation into inclusive young citizenship in international Waldorf education’, Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy, DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/15505170.2022.2034682

Journal article Attfield, K. (2021) ‘The young child’s journey of ‘the will’: A synthesis of child-centered and inclusive principles in international Waldorf early childhood education’, Journal of Early Childhood Research, DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/1476718X211051184

Journal article Attfield, K. (2021) ‘Triple X superwomen: their post-compulsory education and employability’, Journal of Education and Work, vol 34. DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/13639080.2021.1875126

Journal article Attfield, K. (2020) ‘Triple X supergirls: their special educational needs and social experience’, International Journal of Educational Research, vol 102. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2020.101588

Book chapter Attfield, R. and Attfield, K. (2019) ‘Principles of Equality: Managing Equality and Diversity in a Steiner School’ [Online First]. IntechOpen, DOI https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86748

E-resource chapter Attfield, K. (2019) ‘Qualitative Individual Interviews With Deaf People’. In: SAGE Research Methods Foundations, Eds. Delamont, S. and Atkinson, P. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781526421036780341

Journal article Attfield, R. & Attfield, K. (2016) ‘The Concept of ‘Gaia’’, Electronic Life Sciences. DOI https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470015902.a0026698

Presenter Nov 2022 H. S. Skovoroda University, Kharkiv, Ukraine International Conference on ‘Mental and intellectual education and training in the XXI century’. Paper entitled ‘The unique, spiritual and insightful education of Waldorf pedagogy’

Presenter Sept 2022 Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands, International Workshop on ‘Klinefelter syndrome, Trisomy X and XYY: A life-course perspective’. Paper entitled ‘Triple X super-daughters: parental reflections on adult daughters’ life experiences’

I worked on the CEN13 Traveller Community children and primary education research project as a consultant working with Bangor University, funded by the Welsh Government. More recently I have been a researcher for CESJRG working on behalf of the Welsh Government on a pilot project investigating Wales School Attendance since Covid. I am involved in a CARIAD research project, and also in an external research group on BSL and Deaf issues hosted by Cardiff University, with members from across Wales. I am a Topic Co-Editor for Frontiers in Education for a special edition on the international growth of Waldorf education. I am also a reviewer for several academic journals. I have established a Waldorf Research partnership with Ukrainian colleagues from Skovoroda University, Ukraine. I am a member of the X/Y Chromosome Variations International Network.​

I have been a lecturer at Cardiff Met since February 2019 teaching on the Health and Social Care degree programme. This utilises my professional experience of having been a statutory social worker, and a supported housing manager working for a housing association and Welsh Government. I was also a British Sign Language interpreter, policy writer and collective advocate for the British Deaf Association, which is the subject of my PhD.

To follow through my civic missions, I have been a member of the Board of Directors at Cardiff Steiner School for 10 years, with a role of strategic oversight. I am also a non-executive director of Waldorf Modern Teacher Education, a Steiner teacher training Community Interest Company operating for the UK. In addition I teach therapeutic art classes for the Cardiff Met Widening Access Summer School.

I am University Co-chair of the Deaf and BSL Working Group. I informally interpret for the University at Open days. I am Co-Chair of the CSESP Research Seminar Series. I am a Fellow of the HEA and have participated in their panels. I am a PhD, Prof Doc and DMan supervisor. I was awarded the University Student Led Teaching Awards Personal Tutor of the year 2021​.