Josh Watters (PhD student)
Thesis title: Conflicting Cosmopolitanisms: British International Schooling in Thailand

PhD Education
- Moray House School of Education and Sport
Contact details
- Email: j.e.t.watters@sms.ed.ac.uk
PhD supervisors:
Address
- Street
-
Moray House School of Education and Sport, IECS
- City
- University of Edinburgh (Holyrood Campus)
- Post code
- EH8 8AQ
Background
My doctoral research sits most comfortably within the sociology of education and looks at British schooling in Southeast Asia (particularly Thailand). I am interested in the proliferation of British international schools throughout the region and how it fits into a historical and global context.
I am a part-time doctoral student, completing my research alongside my work in teaching. I am in my sixteenth year of teaching and my career has taken me through a range of roles both in England and overseas.
Qualifications
MA, UCL Institute of Education
PGCE, University of Cambridge
GRNCM, Royal Northern College of Music
MusB (Hons), University of Manchester
Responsibilities & affiliations
British Association for International & Comparative Education (member)
British Sociological Association (member)
Research summary
- Cosmopolitanism
- Legacies of colonialism
Conference details
Watters, J. (2024, September 3–5). Becoming ‘siwilai’: British international schooling in post-colonial Thailand [Paper presentation]. BAICE Conference 2024: Transgression and transformation: (re)bordering education in times of conflict & crises, Brighton, UK.
Watters, J. (2025, April 22–25). Nostalgia and hegemony: Englishness in the Model Music Curriculum [Paper presentation]. RiME 2025: The 14th International Conference for Research in Music Education, UK.
Watters, J. (2025, April 23–25). Developing consciousness: teacher agency in Thailand’s British international schools [Paper presentation]. British Sociological Association 2025: Social Transformations, Manchester, UK.