Aina Tarabini is Full Professor of Sociology of Education at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and Director of the GEPS Research Centre. Her research focuses on social inequalities in education, with particular attention to secondary education and the mechanisms through which education systems contribute to the (re)production and transformation of social inequalities.
More specifically, her work examines processes of educational (dis)engagement, dropping out, and early school leaving; explores young people’s educational trajectories, experiences, and identities; and analyses curriculum, pedagogy, and teachers’ practices and beliefs from a critical sociological perspective. Grounded in a social justice framework, her research foregrounds the relational dimensions of education and attributes a central role to affective and care relations in processes of learning and school engagement. Overall, she seeks to connect the subjective, institutional, and systemic dimensions of inequality through a qualitative-driven approach.
Currently, Professor Tarabini is the Principal Investigator (PI) of a competitive grant investigating the impact of curricular policies, pedagogical practices, and students’ social contexts on the construction of learner identity across secondary education (LEARNER Project). She is also the co-PI of the Acompanya’m Project, which applies an innovative quasi-experimental design to assess the impact of guidance policies aimed at supporting educational transitions and reducing early school leaving.
In addition, she serves as Editor of Critical Studies in Education and is on the Editorial Boards of the British Journal of Sociology of Education and International Studies in Sociology of Education. She is a Board Member of the European Sociological Association’s Research Network on Sociology of Education (RN10) and Principal Convenor of the British Sociological Association (BSA) Bourdieu Study Group.
