Dr Pimlott-Wilson’s research focuses on the geographies of education, learning and employment. Her contributions to social and economic geography have been recognised by the Royal Geographical Society (Gill Memorial Award, 2020).
Helena’s current research spotlights the growing alternative and supplementary education industries. As Co-I on a Leverhulme Trust funded project, she examines the classed and racialised inequalities rewritten by the burgeoning private tuition industry. Her research also examines the growth of Forest School in mainstream school settings, examining the contradictions associated with nature-based learning and neoliberal school agenda. In other work, she investigates the school-to-work ambitions and family life aspirations of young people drawn from socio-economically diverse areas. Funded by the British Academy, this work explores the emotion burdens young people anticipate as they endeavour to achieve a successful future in the context of an individualising political milieu of aspiration and economic uncertainty. The research also looks at the combined effects gender ideology, local labour markets and family employment history have on youth transitions, employment aspirations and future outcomes.
Her research interests also encompass: (i) the reproduction of class privilege through internationally mobility for higher education and work placements for both UK and Kazakh students; (ii) children’s experiences of parental employment and gender roles (iii) how neoliberal education policy is implemented, experienced, accepted and resisted by diverse subjects of education. Focusing on primary education, this research is concerned with the localised implementation of neoliberal policy, the growth of enrichment activities and the interplay between parenting education and local moral geographies of mothering.
