Dr. Achala Gupta, Associate Professor of Sociology of Education at the University of Southampton (UK), was visiting the Department of Primary Education from January 19 to 28, 2026. Dr. Gupta is Director of Internationalisation (Research) and Co-director of the Centre for Research in Inclusion at Southampton Education School.

One of Dr. Gupta's main areas of research focuses on shadow education, which overlaps significantly with Prof. Schüpbach`s research focus on extended education in primary schools. In the field of shadow education Dr. Gupta has coined new terms such as “Coached Habitus,” “Teacher Entrepreneurialism,” and “Shadow Education Timescape,” which have provided important foundations for new research approaches and are intended to contribute to a novel and deeper understanding of the interactions between education and society.

Dr. Gupta`s presentation “Sociology of shadow education: an appraisal of the often-hidden relationship between education and society” provided the audience at the faculty with an extremely interesting and inspiring insight into her research. We, and Dr. Gupta herself, as she told us, are very grateful for the many valuable discussions and for the enriching exchange of knowledge in the past days. Her stay enabled the creation of networks and laid the foundation for future joint research and collaborations.

Dr. Achala Gupta's research stay was funded by the Global Faculty program of Freie Universität Berlin.