Education
PhD: Education
Title: Investigating school leadership at a time of system diversity, competition and flux.
Funding: ESRC +4 award.
Institution: The University of Manchester.
Supervisors: Professor Helen Gunter and Professor Mel West.
Dates: 2011-2015.
Awards:
American Educational Research Association Division A 2016 Outstanding Dissertation Award
British Educational Research Association Doctoral Thesis Award 2016
British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society Thesis Award 2016
Faculty Award for Outstanding Achievement 2015.
Includes ESRC-accredited training in educational research methods; research design, qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and analysis, sampling, inferential statistics, critical reading and writing, ethics and trustworthiness. All modules passed with Distinction.
Master's degree: MA educational leadership and school improvement
Dissertation title: Lesbian, gay and bisexual identity and school leadership: English school leaders' perspectives (see file below).
Institution: The University of Manchester.
Dates: 2010-2011
Grade: Distinction (with a Distinction in each module and the dissertation).
Awards: Winner of Platt Prize for outstanding achievement in a Master's degree in the School of Education.
BA (hons) French and Spanish
Institution: The University of Leeds.
Dates: 1992-1996
Grade: 2:1
Professional accreditation
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
PGCE Secondary: French and Spanish
Institution: The University of Leeds.
Dates: 1998-1999
Trinity Certificate in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages)
Institution: Golders Green College.
Date: 1996
Grade: A
Employment
Role: Lecturer, then Senior Lecturer in Management and Leadership
Employer: The University of Manchester
Dates: 2014-present
Description: In addition to my research activities, I am Research Co-ordinator for the Manchester Institute of Education and convenor of its research group, Critical Education Policy. I spent five years in charge of MIE's MA Educational Leadership.
Role: Assistant Headteacher
Employer: Kidbrooke School
Dates: 2007-2010
Description: I oversaw the professional development of over 160 people, developing systems and practices which led to the award of Investors in People in 2010.Wider responsibilities beyond CPD included the line management of Technology, Aim Higher and media resources; Initial Teacher Training; Newly Qualified Teachers; induction for new staff and promoted staff; the Master's in Teaching and Learning; rewards and behaviour policy; performance management; Threshold applications; and the recruitment and management of long-term supply staff.
Role: Head of Modern Foreign Languages
Employer: Hampstead School
Dates: 2003-2007
Description: I became Head of Department after just over three years in teaching, and took the department to being amongst the highest attaining in the school. The curriculum offer ranged from Entry Level qualifications in foreign languages for business to early-entry GCSE. We sent A level French students to Oxford to read languages in two consecutive years.
Role: Teacher of French and Spanish
Employer: Hampstead School
Dates: 1999-2003
Description: I taught both languages to classes of Key Stage 3-5, preparing lessons, assessing work, conducting speaking examinations, organising trips abroad and preparing students for external assessments.
Role: ESOL teacher
Employer: Appel School of English, Paris, France
Dates: 1997-1998
Role: ESOL teacher
Employer: Golders Green School of English
Dates: 1996-1997