I am a professional. What does that mean? I am an educator, a teacher, a leader. I am a researcher. As I continue on my doctorate journey, I hope to be able to articulate what it means to be a professional in the field of education and how I can influence the education system.

I've been a teacher for 35 years - in the London boroughs of Hillingdon, Croydon, Sutton, and now in Surrey. I became a headteacher in 2001 and a National Leader of Education in 2012. I've led a Teaching School, believing that we can influence our education system through supporting teachers. I am now a Chief Education Officer in a large multi academy trust in the south of England.

We have a fragmented education system that is heavily criticised by the media and constantly meddled with by politicians. Our schools are challenged by underfunding and external pressures within a framework of accountability (quite rightly - it's public money) that does not work for every school.

My initial proposal for a research question in 2019 was: What are effective governance structures that support school improvement in a multi-academy trust? This has inevitably changed over the years as I have worked on my research. Follow my journey through the EdD. I hope there may be something on this site that is of use to you, and I hope that I will get some feedback on my academic thinking that will benefit my research.

I am proud to be a research student at the Institute of Education (IoE) at University College London (UCL). The Education EdD is a research degree for experienced professionals from education. It is a part-time degree, normally 5 - 7 years. There is an assessed taught element, an Institution Focused Study (unique to the UCL IoE EdD programme) and a thesis, making a distinct contribution to the knowledge in the field of study.

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I'd be very interested to hear from those in #UKEdGovs, opinions of senior leaders in schools (below the headteacher) joining local governing boards of other academies in their MAT as members of that board in their own right. More detail: clark.education/expert-leade...

— Alex (@alexc7.bsky.social) 2024-10-25T15:15:10.192Z

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    I’ve just finished reviewing a number of research grant applications. One of the things I noticed, and not in a good way, was that writers very often repeated themselves. That is, I not only read the same sentences, but also entire paragraphs and in some instances several paragraphs, in the answers to different questions. Now, […]

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  • What to do if your thesis doesn’t go to plan 5th March 2025
    In my post at the end of last year, I opened the door to more guest posts. Prof Tania Crotti stepped through that door, offering this interesting and insightful post on an aspect of thesis examination you may not have thought about before. Here’s a bit about Tania before we start: Associate Professor Tania Crotti  […]