Profile

Biography

I am a Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Educational Studies. My work both in UK and internationally focuses on STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and education for sustainability.  For many years I have been the lead consultant in a curriculum development project in Russia, where I am collaborating with Russian colleagues on the restructuring of the Technology curriculum in schools.  This is based on an active learning paradigm to develop children's creativity and personal learning and thinking skills, building training capacity to disseminate the reforms, and developing appropriate pre-service training courses.

I have worked as an consultant in design & technology, STEM and education for sustainability for a wide range of external organisations including the British Council, Design Council, Nuffield Curriculum Projects, Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, Practical Action and the National STEM Centre.

June 2010

I have spent the last month in Russia meeting educationalists, giving workshops and seminars on education for sustainable development - in particular on 'closed-loop thinking' and how this can be developed to inform both curricula and educational processes. These have been in St Petersburg, Nizhniy Novgorod, Khabarovsk, Komsomol'sk-na-Amure and Moscow. This builds on the work that I have done in Russia since 1996, in developing there child-centred teaching methods, especially in design & technology.

Research

Overview

My research interests centre around education for sustainable development, and how science education and technology education can be linked more creatively in schools. Recent publications include a series of textbooks and methodological guidance for Russian teachers (in Russian), and teaching packs on learning about sustainable development through Design & Technology. I lead a group of masters students who are studying for an MA in Education by Research with a focus on Education for Sustainable Development

Research group(s)

Because of the cross-curricular nature of my work I am linked to two research groups: