Position
Principal Lecturer in Education
Profile
Currently I teach on the Primary PGCE the MA Education and the latter stages of the Primary BEd, I Chair the Faculty Research Ethics Committee.
After training as a secondary maths teacher in 1983 I worked for two years in an 11-14 high school organised along primary lines teaching general subjects and specialising in maths, science, DT and PE.
I then became second in charge of a small village primary school before becoming an advisory teacher for primary science and technology in Birmingham in 1988.
Following two years as a senior teacher in a large Birmingham primary school, where I also organised the city-wide Primary Science Focus exhibition for 3 years, I was seconded to Newman and Westhill Teacher Training Colleges before spending seven years at the University of Northampton as a Senior Lecturer in Primary Science Education and School Partnership Tutor.
During this period I was also elected to serve as the Secretary of the ASE’s Primary Committee and established a national body to represent tutors managing school placements in ITT.
I then spent 3 years with the Centre for Educational Leadership and Management at the University of Leicester, teaching on masters and doctorate programmes whilst completing my own doctorate.
I then returned to the classroom for 18 months, working in both primary and secondary schools, before being appointed to the University of Bedfordshire where I have led and developed the BEd in Primary Education and the MA Education Programmes. I now teach on the Primary BEd and PGCE courses, where I have responsibility for the elements developing practitioner- researchers, including the organisation of the Primary Research Conference.
I currently organise the annual Primary Research Conference where undergraduate and postgraduate student teachers present their research activity to their peers.
External Roles
I currently external examine at The University of Ulster and have previously examined at Birmingham City University, MarJohn (Plymouth) and St Martin’s (Lancaster)
Publications
Books
- Burton, N, Brundrett, M & Jones, M Doing Your Education Research Project Sage, 2008
- Burton, N. &. Brundrett, M. Leading the Curriculum in the Primary School Sage, 2005
- Brundrett, M., Burton, N,. and Smith, R (Eds) Perceptions of Educational Leadership Sage Publications, 2003
- Burton, N. &. Brundrett, M. (Eds) The Beacon School experience: developing the curriculum Peter Francis Publishers 2002
- Anderson, Briggs and Burton Managing Finance and External Relations Paul Chapman Publishing, 2001
- Middlewood, D. and Burton, N. (Eds) Managing the Curriculum Paul Chapman Publishing, 2001
- Brundrett, M. & Burton, N. (Eds) Case studies in excellence: the Beacon School experience Peter Francis Publishers, 2000
Refereed Journal Articles
- 'You looking at me?': investigating 9 and 13 year-olds' ability to encode and decode nonverbal communication and demonstrate 'emotional literacy' with Esther Dickson; Education 3-13 265 – 276 39/3, 2011
- “Where did the science go? Disappeared or Dissolved?” Education 3-13 38/4 369-379, 2010
- “Personal Intelligences – the 4th pillar of school principalship?” Management in Education 22/3 34/42 (with Schneider, A), 2008
- “School culture and climate in the context of inclusion of students with learning disabilities in mainstream secondary schools in Tel Aviv, Israel” International Journal for Inclusive Education 10/6 495-510 (with Dr Tsafi Timor ), 2006
- “An Ideal Type? The characteristics of effective school leaders…” Management in Education 19/2 6-9 (with Schneider, A), 2005
- The effective principal: a case study of Ying Wa College, Hong Kong, Management in Education, 19, 4: 28 – 31 (with Brundrett, M. and Yeung, J.), 2005
- “Motivation, stress and learning support assistants: an examination of staff perceptions at a rural secondary school” School Leadership and Management 25/3 199-210 (with Hammett, N), 2005
- “Science Leadership in the Primary School” Science Teacher Education 41 12-13, 2004
- “Managing TAs in the Primary School” School Leadership and Management 24/2 125-138 (with Mistry and Brundrett), 2004
- “Beacon School Leadership: an evaluation” International Studies in Educational Administration. 29 (1): 19-28. (with Brundrett), 2001
- “Beacon School Leadership: nurturing success?” Management in Education 14/5 pp25-6 (with Brundrett), 2001
- “The First Year of Beacon School Status: maintaining excellence and sharing success” School Leadership and Management (V20/4) pp489-498, 2000
- “School Improvement: a basis for a vision?” Management in Education (V14/2) pp9-10, 2000
- “Costing models for undergraduate primary ITE” Higher Education Quarterly (V54/3) pp259-273, 2000
- “An evaluation of the first 12 months of Beacon Schools” TES Oct 1999
- “Predicting the impact of the implementation of the DfEE Circular 4/98 for primary ITE in England and Wales” Journal of Further and Higher Education 23/2 pp269-275 (with Janet Machin UCN), 1999
- “Calculating the cost of an undergraduate ITE course” International Journal of Educational Management 12/6 pp260-269, 1998
- “Investing in people, investing in education: is staff potential being met?” International Journal of Educational Management 9/2 pp18-26, 1995
Book Chapters
- “The Effective Deployment of Resources” in Brundrett, M (2010 (ed) Principles of School Leadership Sage
- “The Research Process” in Zwozdiak-Myers, P. (2007) (ed) Childhood and Youth Studies Learning Matters
- “Financial Resource Management” in Brundrett and Tyrrell Learning to lead in the Secondary School (2004)RoutledgeFalmer
- “Resource and Environment Management” in Brundrett and Tyrrell Learning to lead in the Secondary School (2004)RoutledgeFalmer
- Brundrett, M. & Burton, N,. ‘Leading high-performing schools’ in Brundrett, M., Burton, N,. and Smith, R (2003)(Eds) Perceptions of Educational Leadership Sage Publications
- “Models of curriculum organisation” (with Middlewood, D.) in Middlewood, D. and Burton, N. (Eds) (2001) Managing the Curriculum PCP
- “Curriculum planning” in Middlewood, D. and Burton, N. (Eds) (2001) Managing the Curriculum PCP
- “Managing financial resources for the curriculum” in Middlewood, D. and Burton, N. (Eds) (2001) Managing the Curriculum PCP
- “A vision for primary science” in Silcock, P. (Ed) 2001 The Future of the Primary Curriculum Peter Francis Publishers
- “An evaluation of the first 12 months: the management implications” in Brundrett, M. & Burton, N. (Eds) 2000 Case studies in excellence: the Beacon School experience Peter Francis Publishers
- “The efficient and effective deployment of staff and resources” (p122-37) in Brundrett, M. (Ed) 1999 The principles of school leadership Peter Francis Publishers
Other Publications
- “Shhhhh! – scientists at work!” (with Katrina Grant) STE 52, 2008
- “Dynamic concept mapping for AfL” (with Rebecca Edwards) STE 52, 2008
- “Who wants to be a primary science subject leader?” (With Tom Bolshaw) STE 51, 2008
- “Using DT to teach AfL” (with Jane Walker) Science Teacher Education 50, 2007
- “Are You Talking to Me?” (with Stacey Howarth) Science Teacher Education 50, 2007
- “Resourcing Teacher Education” editor of the conference proceedings for the ATSE Annual Conference held at Caerleon Campus, University of Wales 1-3 September, 2006
- “Science Education for the Real World” editor of the conference proceedings for the ATSE Annual Conference held at St Mary’s, Belfast 1-3 September, 2005
- “Creativity Beyond Compliance” editor of the conference proceedings for the ATSE Annual Conference held at DMU, Bedford 1-3 September, 2004
- Costing teacher education: perceptions and practice (Doctoral Thesis), 2001
Contact details
T: +44 (0)1234 793166
E: neil.burton@beds.ac.uk
