
Ms Ratha Perumal
Senior Lecturer
Senior Lecturer
Department of Education , School of Childhood and Social Care
Qualifications
- MA Education, University of East London
- Bachelor of Laws (LLB), University of Warwick
OVERVIEW
An ex-lawyer working in higher education, I work as a Senior Lecturer on the MA Education programme in the Department of Education at the University of East London (UEL), and a Graduate Teaching Fellow and Hourly Paid Lecturer at the School of Education, Communication and Society, King’s College London (KCL). My teaching and scholarly work focus on educational inequality, with particular attention to race and equity in higher education.
I have considerable expertise in addressing attainment disparities and embedding evidence-informed, measurable interventions that achieve equitable student outcomes. My work is informed by both research and institutional practice, and I bring a critical, system-level lens to the conceptualisation and responses to racialised disparities in student success. During a recent secondment as Academic Director at UEL’s Office for Institutional Equity, I led pan-institutional projects designed to tackle inequities in student outcomes and experience. These initiatives were delivered collaboratively with professional services, academic departments, and senior leadership, and centred on the structural conditions that shape student access, success, and progression.
At both UEL and KCL, I have taught across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. At UEL, I have held Programme Director roles at both MA and UG levels, convened modules, and contributed to curriculum and assessment design. I supervise dissertations at both institutions and remain actively involved in cross-institutional equity work that connects teaching, research, and policy.
Through my experience working across both a post-1992 university and a Russell Group institution, I see first-hand how sector-wide policy discourses are interpreted and enacted differently within specific institutional contexts, often leading to divergent, unexpected strategies and outcomes. Such insights continue to inform my doctoral research, wider scholarly activity, and professional practice.
Current research
- Developing a granular understanding of the degree award gap in higher education, including factors that can contribute to its formation and persistence in a range of higher education institutional context(s).
- Examining university structures that can contribute to disparities in student attainment & outcomes in higher education; how student (protected) characteristics interact with institutional structures, and the impact of relational factors (in university spaces) on student attainment disparities.
- Investigating effective pedagogies that meaningfully support the educational engagement and progress of multilingual learners (or, pupils with English as an Additional Language (EAL).
External roles
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Safeguarding Governor at Mossbourne Victoria Park Academy
I steward a Little Free Library in Hackney, east London. Learn more about LFLs at the Little Free Library website
Publications
Browse past publications by year.
Full publications list
Visit the research repository to view a full list of publications
- Effective Teachers of Multilingual Learners: A Mixed-Method Study of UK and US Critical Sociocultural Teaching Practices TESOL Quarterly. 58 (1), pp. 195-221. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.3224
