School of Education

Educated at Stand Grammar School for Girls (in Whitefield, Manchester) I became an academic in 1990 after a 15-year career as a primary school teacher. Before coming to Leeds I worked at the University of Warwick. I enjoy European travel and learning foreign languages, and as a French student many years ago spent a period of study at the University of Dijon in Burgundy (now l'Université de Bourgogne). More recently, I spent five months in 2011 as visiting professor at the Institut français de l'éducation in Lyon. I remain a fluent French speaker and I speak reasonably fluent German. In my leisure time I enjoy the theatre and visiting historical sites. I am a fan of the website, Onehundredthousand words, and I am a lifelong Manchester United supporter.

Qualifications

• Teacher's certificate (with distinction), University of Manchester
• Diploma in Mathematical Education
• B.Ed (hons.) class I, Lancaster University
• MA in Education, Lancaster University
• PhD, University of Warwick
• Diplôme Approfondi de Langue Française (DALF) level C1

Research Interests

My substantive research interests lie in the broad field of professional working life, including professionalism, professional learning and development, and professional work cultures. I have carried out empirical studies of teachers' and academics' working lives, including factors influencing their morale, job satisfaction and motivation. Recently I researched what academics, university teachers and researchers think of the quality of academic leadership that they receive from professorial colleagues, and I then followed up that study with one of professorial academic leadership from the perspectives of professors themselves. I am currently carrying out a funded study of preparation and development of university professors. I enjoy developing theory and theoretical perspectives that are not context-specific, such as conceptual analyses and theoretical models. 

I have a strong interest in educational leadership and management (in particular, the much-neglected perspective of 'the led'). I locate much of my research in the context of higher education, but I also like to examine issues related to working life in the compulsory education sector. I am particularly interested in researcher development and the development of research cultures and research capacity.

My list of publications may be accessed by the link on the left of this page, or on my Google Scholar profile.

Recent and current funded research projects

Leading professors: examining the perspectives of the led in relation to professorial leadership - £9942 from the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education (with co-investigators Professor Steve Rayner from Oxford Brookes University and Dr Matt Homer, University of Leeds) 2011-12.

Professorial academic leadership in turbulent times: the professoriate's perspective - £10000 from the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education (with co-investigators Dr Justine Mercer from the University of Warwick and Dr Matt Homer, University of Leeds) March 2012- February 2013

'Leadership preparation and development for UK-based university professors' - £4000 from the British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society (BELMAS) September 2012-August 2013

Academic journal editors' professionalism: perceptions of power, proficiency and personal agendas - £10000 from the Society for Research into Higher Education, (with co-investigator, Dr Matt Homer) May 2013-April 2014

'The purpose of professors: professionalism, pressures and performance' - £2500 from the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education for a commissioned stimulus paper, 2012-13.

Editorial responsibilites

I am editor-in-chief of the International Journal for Researcher Development.

Recent and forthcoming speaking invitations

• December 3rd 2012, 'Developing as a researcher: becoming an "extended" professional', invited keynote address, Edinburgh Napier Researcher Development Conference.
• February 15th, 2013, ‘The Ps and Qs of researching academic working life’, invited keynote address at Comment, Critique and Contestation:Emerging Voices in Higher Education, University of Sheffield Ed.D in Higher Education Conference, Kenwood Hall Hotel, Sheffield.
• March 2nd, 2013, 'Key issues in leading and managing people in schools and colleges', invited keynote address at Inovação e Lideranças Escolares, 1ª Conferência Internacional (1st international conference on school leadership and innovation), Universidade Aberta, Portugal, at the Cidade do Engenho e da Arte, Fundão.
• May 17th 2013, 'Researching professionalism and professional development: concepts, theory and rigour', invited keynote address, University of Greenwich EdD weekend.
• June 6th 2013, '"Misleading" professors? Cautionary tales of ineffective or damaging professorial academic leadership', invited plenary presentation at Questioning Leadership in Higher Education, seminar at the University of Bristol Graduate School of Education.

Teaching

I currently teach on the MA in International Educational Management and am responsible for one of its modules: Developing Staff for Institutional Improvement.

PhD Supervision

I can offer postgraduate research supervision in the following areas, in which I have researched and published widely:

• morale, job satisfaction and motivation
• professional development
• professionalisation and professionalism
• educational leadership and management
• teaching and learning in higher education
• academic practice and working life in the higher education sector
• qualitative research methodology
• researcher development
• research cultures in HE

Current research students

• ALALI, Awf
• ALKANDARI, Eisa
• BERTANI-TRESS, Maria
• HOLDEN, Laura
• JIANG, Fang
• LODHI, Ahmad
• OLAKULEHIN, Felix