As a group of researchers we share a vision that educational research can improve both the theory and practice of teaching and learning. Our interests span primary, secondary, further education and University.

We are especially interested in how teachers learn to teach and then move along a continuum of expertise from novice to expert. We are concerned with how expertise develops and also is developed, for example through models of expert teaching of which there are many examples around the world. These models focus on how to recruit the best teachers and retain them, especially in the classroom so requiring career paths which have status and reward and are comparable to leadership.

We are also very focused on leadership in education and how it empowers or constrains good teaching and student learning. We view ‘school improvement’ as a dynamic process involving all teachers and students and with attention to schooling in a democratic society where developing active citizenship is a key imperative.

We view education and educational research as emancipatory and as inclusive of all learners and this entails a vigilant attention to social disadvantage and to the way ethnic and other minorities are recognised and provided with a socially just education.

We want happy and safe schools, managed by excellent and caring senior leaders who support aspirational and emancipatory teachers who develop all students to the best of their abilities.

Recent work has included an evaluation of the work of the Chartered College of Teaching [CCT] and its pilot ‘Chartered teacher’ programme. The CCT has received the group’s report and we are working on journal articles.

We are developing a proposal for a funded national investigation into the professional lives of Ethnic Minority Teachers and Leaders in Education to provide evidence to policy makers about the barriers and enablers for EMTs to enjoy successful careers in schools.

Members of the group are involved in other current projects for example:-

The Lead Practitioner Project – which is investigating the emergence of this key role, especially in Multi Academy Trusts and to what extent it is becoming a career path perhaps comparable to the Advanced Skills teacher.

The Professional Lives of English Language Arts Teachers – this is an international project with colleagues in the USA and Australia. It investigates the nature of professional life and its challenges in constraining times. It seeks to understand the place of resilience and adaptation that may enable teachers to maintain satisfying careers but also to explore the difficulties and disaffections that may seriously undermine professional integrity.