Professional Learning, Teacher Education and Practice-Focused Research

This Thematic Research Group includes research in the Initial and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) of Teachers; Work-Based Learning and Informal Learning as well as research which focuses upon the nature of practice and the processes through which practice improves. 
It draws eclectically from the disciplines of Philosophy, Education, Sociology, Anthropology as well upon contributions from Socio-cultural and Cognitive Psychology.

The ETF funded PRP has enabled us to make major advances in developing an integrated understanding of the relationships between practice, theory and research across the FAVE sector and beyond.
The role and potential of practice-focused research in educational improvement and its contribution to theory development has been picked up nationally by policy professionals, education leaders and practitioners across the UK, in the Republic of Ireland, Australia and Finland.

Professor Maggie Gregson and Yvonne Dixon-Todd provide a critical analysis of how standards in vocational education are or are not realised in informal and formal settings in the workplace.

Associate Professor Trish Spedding draws upon story and narrative inquiry to challenge the hegemony of popular models of teachers’ CPD and professional learning.

Dr Marina Sawdon illustrates important links between professionalism, professional learning and conscientiousness. 

Dr John Unsworth provides striking examples of simulation as a vehicle for professional learning in healthcare.

Professor Monika Foster offers a framework to capture and analyse in-depth and incremental experiences of international students within and beyond Higher Education (HE).