Gerard
Ferrer Esteban

Gerard Ferrer Esteban's academic background includes a PhD in Sociology and a degree in Education Studies from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). He is co-coordinator of the UOC's Laboratory of Social Education (LES) research group and a member of the UAB's Global and Comparative Studies in Education (GLANCE) research group.  His main fields of research are comparative education, education policy, research methods, and teaching and learning strategies. He has worked as a researcher on the ERC-funded project REFORMED at the UAB (Department of Sociology), conducting mixed-method approaches to explore the effects of school autonomy and performance-based accountability policies on relevant measures such as those concerning learning outcomes, equity and other non-cognitive competencies. Dr Ferrer Esteban has also worked as a researcher in the field of education policy and school effectiveness at the Agnelli Foundation in Italy. There, he was involved in research projects dealing with assessment, teaching and formal education, some of which he carried out jointly with the Italian education authorities. This experience allowed him to take part in expert panels and technical groups, advising on education policies and professional standards. He has also worked as a full-time assistant lecturer in the UAB's Department of Social Pedagogy and as an adjunct instructor in the UAB's Department of Educational Theories and Social Pedagogy and in the University of Girona's Department of Pedagogy. During his predoctoral period, he was a visiting researcher at the European University Institute in Italy.