Lorella Terzi is Professor and Research Degrees Leader in the School of Education. Terzi works on the normative dimension of educational policy and practice, specialising in questions of justice and equality, inclusive and special education, and disability studies. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, Terzi's research addresses models of disability, fair educational provision for students with disabilities and special educational needs and its policy implications, educational excellence, and well-being.

Research Projects

‘Can Do, Will Do? A study to test the proposition that music may potentially play a unique role in enhancing the well-being of children and young people with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD)’. The project aims to evaluate the impact of musical engagement on the well-being of children and young people with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD).  The project is conducted with Professor Adam Ockelford (Co-I) and is funded by the Society of Research in the Psychology of Music Education (SEMPRE).

 ‘Child Poverty and Education: Philosophical Reflections’. Funded by the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain (PESGB), with Professors Elaine Unterhlater and Judith Suissa (UCL). The project brought together educators, practitioners, NGOs and applied philosophers to reflect on questions of child poverty and education. The project is currently continuing as a blog, curated by Yuxin Sue (UCL).  https://www.childpovertyandeducation.org.uk

Associations

Lorella Terzi is an elected Fellow of the Human Development and Capabilities Association (HDCA), a global community of academics and practitioners that seeks to promote the ideas of human development and the capability approach, and relate these to the policy and practice arenas. 

Terzi is a member of the Advisory Council of Music of Life, a charity aimed at offering music provision for all children with special educational needs and disabilities. She has also served for two consecutive terms on the Executive Committee of the Society for Applied Philosophy (2007-2011)

Terzi is a member of the Advisory Editorial Board for the British Journal of Special Education; Support for Learning and the Journal for Research in Special Educational Needs. She is also a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Philosophy of Disability and of Frontiers In Education (Special Educational Needs).

Publications

Terzi has written numerous jornal articles and book chapters on questions of disability, justice, and the capability approach. Her more recent publications include: Terzi, L. (2025). ‘Defending Well-being as an Aim of Education: insights from the capability approach' in Journal of Philosophy of Education; Terzi, L., Unterhalter, E., and Suissa, J. (2023) ‘Philosophical Reflections on Child Poverty and Education’ in Studies in Philosophy and Education;, and, Terzi, L. (2023) ‘The Capability Approach as a Foundation to Moral Education’, in Yacek, D., Gary, K., and Jonas, M. (eds) ‘Moral Education in the 21^st Century’. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Other publications include the monograph L. Terzi, Justice and Equality in Education, Continuum (2008 and 2010), Winner of the 2011 Nasen Award 'The Special Educational Needs Academic Book' and the edited volume (2009), Special Educational Needs: A New Look, by Brahm Norwich and Baroness Mary Warnock, Continuum, London and New York, and Tuttle-Mori (Japanese translation).

Biography

After reading Philosophy and Pedagogy (Major: Theoretical Philosophy) at the University of Bologna, Italy, Lorella Terzi obtained her Master's in Educational Leadership and Management and her PhD in Philosophy of Education from the Institute of Education, London (now the UCL Institute of Education). She held a Visiting Research Fellowship at King's College, London, in 2007. She has been visiting Professor at the Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Pedagogy, and Applied Psychology at the University of Padova, Italy, since 2018. Before entering academia, Terzi was seconded to the Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, with posting in Vienna, Austria; Rotterdam, Netherlands, and London, UK.

Contact Details: Froebel College, School of Education, University of Roehampton, Roehampton Lane, London SW15 5PJ

BA (First Class Hons), MA, PhD

• British Educational Reseaerch Association (BERA)
• Society for Applied Philosophy (SAP)
• Higher Education Academy (HEA)
• Human Development and Capability Association (HDCA)
• Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain (PESGB)
• Society for Philosophy and Disability (SPD)
• British Philosophical Association (BPA)