About Professor Maggie Gregson
I am a Professor of Vocational Education and Director of the Centre for Excellence in Teacher Training (SUNCETT) at the University of Sunderland. My research interests include, studies in the fields of practice-focused research; vocational education; assessment; reflective practice; professional learning; initial and continuing teacher education; and approaches to educational evaluation and improvement.
Most recently, my research explores the nature of educational practice and the relationship of practice to theory in vocational education, including processes and stages in the development of different forms of knowledge, skills, and the advancement of craft.
I have extensive experience working with national UK government agencies and policy professionals in the design and development of national professional standards for teachers. I have also conducted research in joint curriculum planning and multimodal assessment in T Levels and other vocational subject specialist curricula including the development of creative pedagogic strategies across vocational subjects and disciplines.
As guest editor and author, my recent publications include two Special Issues in Post Compulsory Education for the Journal of Education Science (2020) and (forthcoming 2025). I have also co-authored and edited several books including, Reflective Teaching in Further Adult and Vocational Education (2015, 2020, Bloomsbury), Practice-Focused Research in Further Adult and Vocational Education: Shifting Horizons of Practice, Theory and Research (2020 Palgrave Macmillan).
My work is of particular relevance to policy professionals and those working in all sectors of education with responsibility for an interest in developing approaches to the improvement of educational practice that involve practitioner research.
Teaching and supervision
I was Principal Investigator for the customised National Practitioner Research Programme (PRP) from 2018-2024 funded by the Education and Training Foundation which included customized MA Short Course MPhil pathways. The MPhil which in addition to 20 sector practitioners on the customised. As Director of Studies, I currently supervise 14 PhD students.
Completed supervisions since 2014:
- Dr John McVey (2014)
Expansive and Restrictive Learning Environments in Engineering Apprenticeship Training
Co-Supervisor: Dr Lawrence Nixon Faculty of Education and Society
- Dr Ian Whyte (2015)
What Makes a Good Sports Coach? A Deweyian analysis
Co-Supervisor: Dr Lawrence Nixon Faculty of Education and Society
- Dr Sam Broadhead (2016)
Practical Wisdom in Access to Arts Education
Co-Supervisor: Professor Mike Collier Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries
- Dr Michael Smith (2020)
How Can I Be Sure? Revisiting Assessment Practices in GCSE English in the Further Adult and Vocational Education (FAVE) Sector
- Dr Brian Todd (2020)
Formative Assessment in Engineering Apprenticeships
Co-Supervisor: Dr Lawrence Nixon Faculty of Education and Society
- Enda McBrien (2021)
Stand Like a Boxer: In defence of vocational education
- Martell Baines (2022)
Their Defining Moments: critical influences upon progression into the Arts, considered through the lenses of Bernstein’s Pedagogic Rights
- Daniel Creed (2022)
Curriculum Design in Study Programmes in Further Adult and Vocational Education: the neglect of the curriculum process model and its consequences in practice
- Frances Norton (2023)
Critical Thinking: Can it be taught or can we only create conditions in which it can flourish?
- Celia Geen (2023)
Putting Practice First: Teacher-led professional development in action (2017-2021)
- Vasso Kontou (2023)
A Critical Review of Private Tuition in the UK
- Christine Osborne (2024)
Mind the Gap: Formative Assessment in GSCE English
Current PhD supervisions Director of Studies:
- Mark Beetlestone
Game On, or Game Over? An exploration of gamification in vocational education - Simon Bond
Audio-visual feedback in FE: solving problems or creating new ones? - Andrew Buglass
Engaging the Artist as the Educator: Can Representing Experiences of Educational Practice through Art Improve Pedagogical Reflection? - Oliver Cameron-Swan
Observe, Imitate, Modify, Transcend: capturing stages and processes in the development of art and craft practices in vocational education contexts. - Will Cossey
Kaleidoscopes: Forms of Knowledge and Pedagogy in Film and Media Education - Jamine Course
Hobson’s choice: When home education is not an option but a systemic instrument of exclusion masquerading as a choice. - Martin Hoskin
Leading Educational Change and Improvement from the Ground Up: What Impact Does the Systematic Empowerment of Teacher Agency Have on Professional Development and Improvement of Educational Practice? - Linda Hunter
Caught in the Grip of a Clockwork Universe: jazz-hands, razzamatazz and the lure of techné in formative assessment in GCSE resit English. - Mark Hyde
Swimmin’ Against a Tide of Social and Cultural Prejudice in Education: Reuniting the vocational and the academic in the study of language - Tom Mudd
Character Building Builds Character: Dungeons and Dragons in the Quest for GCSE English Success in the Realms of Further Education - Breda Shanahan
Apprenticeship: Restoring Imagination and the Senses to Vocational Education - Dawn Smith
Bridging the Gap: an investigation into English teaching in FE - Carrie Walton
But you’re a teacher too: a critical exploration of the notion of the dual professional and its consequences in practice.
Interests
- Teacher education
- Practitioner-research
- Practice-focused research
- Professional learning
- Vocational education
- Reflective practice
- Practice-focused research
- Educational evaluation and improvement
- Policy development and its impact upon practice
Research
Principle Investigator for the National Practitioner-Research Programme funded by the Education and Training Foundation, 2018-2024.
Further information
I am currently a member of three national Expert Panels for the Education and Training Foundation (ETF). I am Chair of the T-Level Professional Development Construction Expert Panel, a member of the T-Level Professional Development External Advisory Group, and a member of the T-Level Professional Development Teaching Expert Panel.
In 2013, I was invited to contribute to the work of the Commission for Adult and Vocational Teaching and Learning (CAVTL).
I am a peer reviewer for several publishers including Open University Press, Palgrave Macmillan, and Bloomsbury. I am also peer-review for several prestigious journals including, the Journal of Vocational Education and Training, the Journal of Education, Technology and Society, the Journal of Education Science, and the International Journal of Engineering Education and Lifelong Learning. I also serve on the Editorial Board of Intuition, the professional journal of the Society for Education and Training.
I have conducted research in collaboration with several other universities including, the Learning and Skills Research Network project 'Thinking Skill Frameworks for Post-16 learners: an evaluation' (led by David Moseley, Newcastle University 2004) and the ESRC project 'The Impact of Policy upon Practice' (led by Professor Frank Coffield, UCL, 2008-2011).
In 2006, with my colleague Trish Spedding, I co-designed the original SUNCETT project. This project is currently one of the longest-standing practitioner-research programmes on the FE landscape in England. I am now leading the latest ETF-funded Practitioner Research Project, which supports practitioner research at MA/MPhil level on a national scale. This project runs for five years from 2018-2023.