Dr F. Burgers (Floris)

As an educational anthropologist, I am interested in the relationship between education and society. I engage with questions concerning how education shapes and transforms society and, conversely, how the societal context resonates within education. My primary focus lies in the relationship between education and inequality, equal opportunities, and meritocracy.

My work consists of two research lines. As a postdoctoral researcher, I conduct research on educational inequality in the Netherlands across various projects and in collaboration with different partners. I examine how different actor groups within the Dutch education system—parents, teachers, school leaders, school boards, and policymakers—perceive educational equity. I am involved in the development and research of a serious policy game aimed at fostering collective action networks for educational equity at the municipal level. Additionally, I study the effectiveness of extended learning programmes in promoting equal opportunities and investigate the impact of detracking on educational equality

The second research line concerns my PhD research on education in Uganda. For my dissertation, I conducted two years of ethnographic fieldwork in a small village in Sironko, a rural district in Uganda. There, I examined how improved access to schooling drives various social changes—ranging from new marital dynamics to shifting international relations to the rise of football. My dissertation, Schooling and Social Change Among the Bagisu of Uganda, explores these transformations and how they are facilitated by education.