Max R. Ashton is a doctoral candidate at the School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Wales. His research takes a post-qualitative approach, entangling diverse ‘methods’ of ‘data’ production with Deleuzean and Baradian theories to multivalently explore encounters with sex, gender, relationships, and sexuality within education. Max’s forthcoming PhD thesis, ‘Re/Assembling Welsh Relationships and Sexuality Education’, explores the complexity and contestation of Wales’s national journey towards a statutory, three-to-sixteen school-based relationships and sexuality education (RSE) curriculum between 2019 and 2021.

Max’s project addresses the following research questions:

1. How do RSE-providing teachers in Wales negotiate in-service professional development in a changing policy context?

2. How do RSE-providing teachers in Wales employ in-service professional development in diverse practice settings?

3. How can complex formulations of teachers’ in-service professional development contribute to deepening understandings of professional development in RSE?

4. How can complex formulations of teachers’ classroom practice contribute to deepening understandings of RSE provision in Wales?