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Continuing the exploration of liminality, join Dr Lisa Cherry in conversation with Tracey Smith, who taught for many years in primary schools in Oxfordshire. She was Headteacher for Bladon, Tower Hill and New Marston Primary Schools in Oxfordshire, before becoming Head of Primary Teacher Training at the University of Buckingham. Tracey returned to Headship as Executive Headteacher of two Faringdon Primary Schools before continuing working with teacher training and supervision at the University of Buckingham. Tracey is also a trainer and consultant for Values-based Education and is in the process of completing her EdD entitled 'Working-Class Teachers and the Issue of Belonging in a Middle-Class Profession'. She has co-authored a book on Teacher Training with Barnaby Lenon (Hachette) and is writing her second book entitled: A Framework for Values-Based Education: From Vision to Practice (Emerald Publishing)

In this conversation, Lisa and Tracey explore how liminal transitions shape teacher identity, belonging and retention, with a focus on working class teachers navigating middle class norms. Stories, theory and practical steps show how mentoring, culture and values-based leadership turn the uncertainty times of a liminal space into growth.

Topics covered include:

• Defining liminality and communitas in schools
• Class, accent and identity pressures in early career
• Values-based leadership, psychological safety and agency
• Reading culture through staff room signals and tacit rules
• Representation as aspiration for pupils and teachers
• Gramsci, Hall and the theory behind belonging
• Practical rituals that build shared trust and ease transitions
• Leadership attention to staff wellbeing as a lever for outcomes

You can connect with Tracey on LinkedIn HERE.

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Join Dr Lisa Cherry in conversation with Annalisa Toccara-Jones on liminality and adoption.

Annalisa is a Doctoral researcher in Journalism at the University of Sheffield, an award-winning cultural producer, communications strategist, and graduate teaching associate. As an adoptee, her research explores how UK adult adoptees use social media to challenge dominant adoption narratives and highlight the colonial logics that shape UK adoption, drawing on decolonial theory, the theory of intersectionality, and critical adoption studies. She teaches on media, identity, and social justice, and her work spans digital storytelling, community engagement, and lived-experience-led practice. Outside academia, she supports charities and creative projects with narrative strategy and ethical communications focused on adoption, racialised care, and wider public dialogue.

You can find her on:

LinkedIn

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Learn more about Lisa here:
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Join Dr Lisa Cherry for Episode One in this 6-Part series on liminality. Lisa is in conversation with Professor Bjørn Thomassen, Professor in Global Political Sociology at Roskilde University, to unpack liminality. They explore the in‑between phase after an old identity collapses and before a new one takes hold and why that space is powerful, precarious and everywhere in modern life. Starting from rites of passage, we look at what happens when there’s no recognised guide to carry us through and how that vacuum can invite both care and manipulation.

Together, we map the difference between chosen and forced transitions, the craft of “ceremony masters” in today’s systems, belonging and home, showing how poorly designed services can trap people in extended liminal states.

Connect with Bjorn on LinkedIn here.

If this conversation gave you language for your work or your life, share it with a colleague, leave a review, and subscribe so you don't miss the next episodes in the Liminality series.

References mentioned:

Horvath, A., & Szakolczai, A. (2019). The political sociology and anthropology of evil: Tricksterology (1st ed.). Routledge.

Szakolczai, A., & Thomassen, B. (2019). From anthropology to social theory: Rethinking the social sciences. Cambridge University Press.

Thomassen, B. (2014). Liminality and the modern: Living through the in‑between. Routledge.

Turner, V. (1969). Liminality and communitas. In The ritual process: Structure and anti-structure (pp. 94–113). Aldine Publishing

Van Gennep, A. (1960). The rites of passage (M. B. Vizedom & G. L. Caffee, Trans.; S. T. Kimball, Intro.). The University of Chicago Press. (Original work published 1909)

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Thank you for listening! Please share and subscribe the practice wisdom in this episode and create social change, one connection at a time. If you're feeling it, then leave a comment too!

Learn more about Lisa here:
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In this 6-part series, we will be exploring liminality in multiple ways, merging this understanding of in-betweenness with belonging and considering its relevance in making sense of people's experiences in education, in health and in children's services.

Share far and wide, inviting people to subscribe to the podcast so that they don't miss out on the weekly episodes once they land!

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Learn more about Lisa here:
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In this somewhat different episode for the podcast, Dr Lisa Cherry reads the Introduction of her upcoming book for you, which is out on 31st December 2025 and can be pre-ordered here. This book takes the reader on a journey around the country and across various different sectors to explore the aspect of Trauma Informed Practice that can be the most ignored and the most difficult to understand; collective care for those who are doing the work.

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Learn more about Lisa here:
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Join Dr Lisa Cherry in conversation with Beth Vecchione on Care to Dance, a venture set up by Beth to bring the power of dancing to children experienced in, or experiencing care.

Care to Dance can be found HERE! And you can connect with Beth HERE!

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Learn more about Lisa here:
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Join Dr Lisa Cherry and Amelia Brunt in conversation on trauma, whether supervision is s*xy and meeting yourself more deeply!

*Since this podcast was recorded we have added a new date for the training that was mentioned which you can find here.

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Learn more about Lisa here:
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Join Dr Lisa Cherry and Whitney Iles speak on growing up with trauma, to working with communities living with violence, neurodivergence and moving into her body to begin to heal.

Support the show

Thank you for listening! Please share and subscribe the practice wisdom in this episode and create social change, one connection at a time. If you're feeling it, then leave a comment too!

Learn more about Lisa here:
www.lisacherry.co.uk

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Connect on Linkedin, BlueSky and Instagram and Substack by searching for Dr Lisa Cherry