My research focuses on how teachers learn, and the policy context within which this learning happens. This work enables me to conceptualise and explain the powers that influence teacher professional learning, and explores pedagogies for teacher learning that support a transformative and socially just disposition. Of central importance to me is the capacity for my research to speak to policy makers and practitioners alike, and to offer new ways of understanding and articulating how teachers learn in ways that embrace and support a diverse pupil population.  I enjoy both conceptual and empirical work, leaning towards a critical, interpretivist perspective on research. In particular, I have experience in critical discourse analysis, elite interviews, narrative interviews, focus groups, nominal group technique and both small and large scale surveys.

All of my teaching is informed by my research on teacher professional learning and teacher education policy. At the root of my teaching approach is a values-based commitment to furthering democratic learning and working for social justice through adopting an activist orientation. I am persuaded by the literature on transformative learning, and in particular, by the ideas promoted through ‘a politics of recognition’. This means that my teaching is characterized by openness, negotiation, authenticity and bravery, and that I use my teaching as a valuable source for my own professional learning.