UCET blog review board
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(She/Her) Lyndsay Muir
Lincoln Bishop University
More about Lyndsay
lyndsay.muir@lincolnbishop.ac.ukLyndsay Muir is a graduate of Durham, Birmingham (UCE) and Manchester Universities. Her background is in applied drama, and she has worked in all phases of education, as well as in the creative industries and training sectors.
She is currently Senior Lecturer in teacher education at Lincoln Bishop University where she is the secondary PGCE lead for Equity, Diversity & Inclusion. Her PhD thesis was titled 'A Teacher's Progress - passing as a professional' and her research interests' range across teacher education, including the development of teachers’ professional identities, gender and sexuality, and drama praxis.
E: lyndsay.muir@lincolnbishop.ac.uk
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Caroline Smart
Sheffield Hallam University
More about Caroline
c.l.smart@shu.ac.ukI am Deputy Head of Sheffield Institute of Education (SIoE). This role includes responsibilities for Teaching and Learning, staffing, SCITT and share leading ITE across the institute. Prior to undertaking this role, I led Secondary Initial Teacher Education for undergraduate and postgraduate study where I worked closely with trainees, the secondary staff team, mentors in school and the wider partnership at Sheffield Hallam University. I have specific experience in teaching and supporting trainees, with a keen eye on the subject specific nature of secondary ITE.
Prior to joining Sheffield Hallam University, I worked in secondary schools, teaching science to students ranging from Y7-13, specialising in physics. Since joining Sheffield Hallam University I have taught across undergraduate and postgraduate secondary ITE courses. This has involved teaching science subject knowledge, science pedagogical knowledge and general education sessions.
My research interests relate to science education, the beliefs of individuals new to the profession toward science pedagogies, the subject specific element of ITE, overarching ITE curriculum and developing strong partnerships across ITE provision.
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Dr Niamh McGrogan
Bath Spa University
More about Niamh
n.mcgrogan@bathspa.ac.ukDr Niamh McGrogan is a Programme Director for the Primary PGCE in the School of Education at Bath Spa University. Her career began in children's social care services and counselling before progressing into education. During her teaching career in Kent, she obtained her Master's degree with the Open University and progressed to an academic career at Bath Spa University. Niamh is enthusiastic about supporting future teachers in their training and development, contributing to a high quality training programme that provides not only the minimum entitlement for teacher education but goes beyond this to offer an ambitious curriculum which promotes highly effective and inspirational practitioners. Niamh understands the challenges of adapting practice across the breadth of the primary national curriculum to meet the needs of children, and enjoys exploring this with colleagues, students and school partners. She is passionate about supporting Bath Spa Teachers (BSTs) to develop their approaches to teaching to ensure that their skills, knowledge and understanding are developed at every opportunity to the benefit of all the children they teach. She is also passionate about supporting teachers in engaging with and in research, and collaborates with both Bath Spa Teachers and school teachers to conduct research in the classroom to draw conclusions that can enhance development and understanding of practice. Her doctoral research investigated teachers' engagement in research in primary schools through such collaborative research activity, using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to understand teacher's lived experiences of engaging in Collaborative Close-to-Practice Inquiry.
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Ms Rachele Newman
University of Southampton
More about Rachele
rachele.newman@soton.ac.ukRachele is a Principal Teaching Fellow at University of Southampton working in the field of teacher education and development. She works to support pre-service and early career teachers as they learn the complex disciplinary and professional knowledge needed for a successful and rewarding career in teaching.
Having been Associate Programme Director and then Programme Director for the Secondary PGCE, Rachele is now Director of Initial Teacher Education. In this role, Rachele works extensively with schools and school leaders across Southampton city, Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset to support and develop teachers at all levels of their career.
Rachele’s research interests include teacher knowledge, teacher identity and professional learning.
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Ms Emily Henry
University of Southampton
More about Emily
e.henry@soton.ac.ukEmily has a background as an English and drama teacher in secondary schools in the Midlands and on the South Coast; she continues to work as an examiner for both A level Drama and Theatre Studies and GCSE English and has been a governor of a large secondary school. Emily has worked in leadership positions in schools for 15 years and was always involved in training and mentoring beginning teachers; she decided to move into teacher education in 2019 to specialise in this area. Initially, this involved working for Ark Schools as a training lead, offering support and coaching to trainees from a range of different subjects in London, Birmingham, Hastings and Portsmouth; in addition to this she was then invited to take on the role of English Subject Lead for Ark schools nationally which involved designing and delivering all English specific subject pedagogy for trainees. Her current role is that of English course tutor and Associate Programme Director for the Secondary PGCE at the University of Southampton where her responsibilities involve Partnership and curriculum design, including ITAP and Professional Studies.
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Dr Pinky Jain
More about Pinky
Dr Pinky Jain is Head of Teacher Education in the Carnegie School of Education at Leeds Beckett University. She has research interests in educating teachers with social justice at the core, exploring how teachers can be developed and supported to attain criticality, be reflective, and become research-informed practitioners. Pinky also leads CollectivED which is a research and practice centre for mentoring, coaching & professional learning in The Carnegie School of Education. The centre forms a community of professionals, academics and students with shared interests and aims to encourage and enable collaborative conversations which create powerful professional learning. CollectiveED also builds the capacity of educators to create contexts which support inclusive career-long and profession-wide learning, remove barriers to professional development and increase opportunities for educational change through enhanced professional agency and well-being.
Pinky also carries out research on mathematical pedagogies and the value of talk to support reasoning and develop a love for mathematics amongst reluctant mathematicians.
Throughout her career, Pinky has taught globally in a range of primary schools and HEIs before joining Leeds Beckett University in 2021 where she leads an enthusiastic, dedicated and committed team focused on teacher education.
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Dr Lizana Oberholzer
University of Wolverhampton
More about Lizana
l.oberholzer@wlv.ac.ukLizana Oberholzer is a senior lecturer in teacher education and programme lead for the University of Wolverhampton’s International MA in Education, as well as the Early Careers Framework and National Professional Qualifications for school leaders. She is passionate about teacher development and leadership development and is a member of the BELMAS Council. She supports the BELMAS Research Interest Group for governing and governance as a convenor. Lizana is a BAMEed Trustee, and supports WomenEd as a regional lead. She is actively involved in IPDA, and is currently the IPDA England Chair, as well as the Vice Chair of the IPDA International Committee. In addition, she chairs the UCET CPD forum, as well as the APPG SIG for Teacher Development. She is a proud trustee of a Multi Academy Trust, and is a committed educator, striving to provide learners with learning opportunities and life-chances.
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Ms Louise Atkins
More about Louise
Louise Atkins is an Associate Professor in Teacher Education and Early Childhood and took the position of School Lead: Head of Initial Teacher Education in the School of Education at the University of Greenwich in September 2019 and initially took up her Senior lectureship at Greenwich in September 2011. Before this, she mentored and assessed in other institutions and supported the development of programmes within Early Years. She has worked within the Early Years sector for 18 years.
Louise is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
At the University of Greenwich she leads Initial Teacher Education within the School of Education, lectures on the BA Hons Early Years degree and the Early Years Teacher Status programme.
Her areas of interest are mentoring, teacher development, safeguarding, creativity, curriculum development, outdoor learning across all phases of teaching and intergenerational practice in the Early Years
She is highly committed to raising the profile of Early Years within the sector and is dedicated to ensuring that all children get the best start in life.
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Mr Andy Bloor
University of Derby
More about Andy
a.bloor@derby.ac.ukAndy is a Senior Lecturer and Programme Lead at the University of Derby, where he leads the iPGCE programme. Andy's key areas of research are around Social Justice and support for SEND learners. Andy is the Chair of the UCET iPGCE / iQTS group, a Senior Fellow of the HEA and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
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Dr Amanda Nuttall
Leeds Trinity University
More about Amanda
a.nuttall@leedstrinity.ac.ukAmanda Nuttall is Associate Professor in Education at Leeds Trinity University. A former primary teacher, she moved into teacher education in 2013 and has led both undergraduate and PGCE programmes. Her research explores identity, belonging, and professional learning, drawing on narrative, creative, and embodied approaches, with expertise in life-history and film methods. Amanda’s doctoral work examined how teachers experience shifts in identity through Master’s-level research, and her broader interests include social justice in schooling and teacher education, teachers’ research and knowledge creation, and theorising professional development in relation to gender and class. She is committed to supporting early career researchers and fostering inclusive academic cultures.
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Dr Sarah Telfer
University of Greater Manchester
More about Sarah
S.Telfer@greatermanchester.ac.ukDr Sarah Telfer is an Associate TIRAE (Teaching Intensive Research Informed, Assessment Enabled) Professor in Education at the University of Greater Manchester. She is programme leader for Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes for the Further Education Sector (FES). Her specialist area of research is interest is the use of storytelling as a pedagogic tool.
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Dr Bryony Black
University of Sheffield
More about Bryony
Bryony is Director of Initial Teacher Education at The University of Sheffield. Prior to her move into teacher education, Bryony taught mathematics and held leadership roles in schools in Yorkshire for 12 years, as well as teaching and training teachers in Namibia for two years. Bryony's doctoral thesis focused on mathematics leadership in schools, and her other research interests centre around equality and diversity in the teaching profession. Bryony is Chair of the UCET Secondary Committee and a Senior Fellow of the HEA.
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Dr Jan Hetherington
University of Derby
More about Jan
j.hetherington@derby.ac.ukJan is currently a senior lecturer in Derby University IoES, Assistant Programme lead for PGCE (non QTS). Jan has spent over 30 years in schools, predominantly as a secondary school senior leader. Prior to joining University of Derby, she working in the central team of a large MAT as director of Apprenticeships, and Delivery Partner lead of school based PGCE as well as leading on whole trust CPD, including NPQs and L7 leadership qualifications. Jan is vice Chair of EDI at BELMAS, an international learning society focused on educational leadership management and administration. Jan is also a member of the L5 Specialist Teaching Assistant Apprenticeship trailblazer group.
Jan's research and thesis have explored educational policy and leadership, democratic principles in education leadership and the corporatisation of education.
Link to UoD staff bio page for Dr Jan Hetherington with more details regarding publications and conference activity. '
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Dr Tracy Wallis
University of Worcester
More about Tracy
t.wallis@worc.ac.ukDr Tracy Wallis – Vice-chair UCET Secondary Committee
I have worked in ITE for 16 years AT THE University of Wolverhampton as both a Senior, and later, a Principal Lecturer across both primary and secondary phases. During that time, I have been involved in Partnership working across school direct, core and employment -based ITE routes in the profession.
Prior to becoming Head of Department for Secondary I was Head of ITE Partnerships across primary and secondary. My experience in ITE has enabled me to witness and understand many of the emerging trends in HE-led & school-led ITT and school centred sector in both the political and national context. My doctoral thesis in particular focuses on the changes to ITE provision to a more schools-led approach due to the government White Paper in 2010. However, more recently, the introduction of the ITT Core Content Framework (2019) and the ITT Market Review (2021) have seen changes to both operational and strategic levels of working in ITE which I continue to work on with the ITE teams. I have played a central role in four inspections whilst at Wolverhampton and I have recently trained as an inspector of ITE.
Due to my vast experience and expertise in ITE, I possess a thorough knowledge, understanding and experience of delivering ITE quality assurance and enhancement processes. I have undertaken a variety of External Examiner roles at other ITE providers.
In my role as Head of Department for Secondary, I am currently working with my senior leadership colleagues in primary, early years and apprenticeships as well as the ITE teams to ensure our provision is ready for the new ITE criteria in 2024-25. Therefore, I have an excellent and on-going working knowledge of ITT quality assurance, compliance & the Market Review and of the demands of this piece of work and the criteria we are working to.
I have recently been appointed as Head of Department for Secondary & PCE at the University of Worcester, a role I am very excited to be taking up. I am also due to graduate in September with a Professional Doctorate in Education.
I am very much looking forward to my tenure as Vice-Chair of the Secondary committee and working with colleagues across the university led ITE sector even further.