I am a professional. What does that mean? I am an educator, a teacher, a leader.  I am a researcher. As I embark 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 33 years - in the London boroughs of Hillingdon, Croydon, Sutton, and now in Surrey. I've been a head teacher since 2001 and a National Leader of Education since 2012. I've led a Teaching School, believing that we can influence our education system through supporting teachers.

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 is: What are effective governance structures that support school improvement in a multi-academy trust? This will inevitably change over the next few years as I embark on 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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  • Saving words – check your citations 18th September 2023
    It’s amazing how much citations can add to your word count. Before you know it, you’ve amassed a few hundred words just filling in brackets. Of course you need citations. You can’t just leave them out. You can’t just assert. … Continue reading →

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  • The enshittification of academic social media 10th July 2023
    If I started Thesis Whisperer today, 10th of July 2023, you would never hear about me. I built a readership in my little corner of academia, and some measure of influence, by sharing my work online. When people ask how I got to 100,000 followers on social media, I used to share two tips: 1) […]