Staff Profile

Simon McGrath is Professor of Education in the School of Education, University of Glasgow and a Visiting Professor at Nelson Mandela University, South Africa. He works on a range of aspects of the education-development relationship, particularly on vocational learning and diverse forms of work, and on integral human development. Most of his work has been in Africa though has done some work in Europe, Asia and the Pacific. He has been a government scientific advisor in both UK and South Africa, and has done extensive international policy work, most especially for UNESCO, the Commonwealth and SADC.

Selected Publications: 

2021 [with Volker Wedekind, Jo-Anna Russon, Presha Ramsarup, David Monk and Luke Metelerkamp] “Conceptualising regional skills ecosystems: Reflections on four African cases” International Journal of Training and Development 25

2020 [with Lesley Powell, Joyceline Alla-Mensah, Randa Hilal and Rebecca Suart] “New VET theories for new times: The critical capabilities approach to vocational education and training and its potential for theorising a transformed and transformational VET” Journal of Vocational Education and Training https://doi.org/10.1080/13636820.2020.1786440

2020 [with Presha Ramsarup, Jacques Zeelen, Volker Wedekind, Stephanie Allais, Heila Lotz-Sisitka, David Monk, George Openjuru and Jo-Anna Russon] “Vocational education and training for African development: A literature review” Journal of Vocational Education and Training 72/4.

2019 [with Lesley Powell] Skills for Human Development. Routledge, Abingdon.

2019 [with Martin Mulder, Joy Papier and Rebecca Suart] Handbook of Vocational Education and Training. Springer, Cham.

2018 Education and Development. Routledge, Abingdon.