Dr Rosemary (Rosie) Ridgway is an associate professor (Education) in the School of Education at Durham University. Her work focuses on improving educational experiences and outcomes for disadvantaged learners and students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Drawing on her early career as a teacher in the North East of England, Rosie combines practical classroom knowledge with research insight to examine how teaching practices, professional learning and educational policies have let down disadvantaged young people and their teachers, and how educational systems can better support diverse learners.
Rosie’s research and teaching have helped her to explore what counts as ‘evidence’, who gets to decide, and how these assumptions shape decisions in classrooms and teacher education. Her work includes developing critical data and statistical literacy through initiatives such as ProCivicStat and collaborations with Science, Maths and Related Technologies (SMaRT) at Northumbria uni, helping learners to engage thoughtfully with data and use evidence to understand complex social issues. Her current undergraduate teaching centres disability, special educational needs, social exclusion and inclusion, and she designs CPD and outreach learning opportunities for the children’s workforce. Rosie is co-lead of the education strand of the GCCS, a position she took up in 2025 and where she focuses on developing training and educational materials that build awareness of Contextual Safeguarding and foster collaborative, cross‑sector approaches to supporting young people.