Professor David Hartley, BA MEd PhD

David Hartley is Professor of Education (Professional Learning). He taught for nine years in primary and secondary schools. He was formerly Professor of Educational Theory and Policy at Dundee University. He was co-convenor of the Teacher Education Research Network of the European Education Research Association (EERA), and Programme Chair of the Teachers’ Work/Teachers’ Unions special interest group of the American Educational Research Association. He has served as a council member of the General Teaching Council for Scotland and of the Scottish Council for Research in Education. His research interests are in the sociology of professional learning; pedagogy and social change; theories of management and leadership in education; the expressive aspects of education; the form and content of teacher education.

Dr Jane Leadbetter, BSc (Hons.), PGCE, MEd (Ed Psych), PhD, AFBPsS, C Psychol

Dr Jane Leadbetter is tutor in educational psychology and is Director of the doctoral programme for practicing educational psychologists in the School of Education, University of Birmingham. She was a member of the University’s Centre for Sociocultural and Activity Theory Research. Her doctoral research utilised activity theory to investigate and conceptualise professional practices of psychologists and teachers and she now teaches on two doctoral programmes where she introduces sociocultural and activity theoretical approaches to understanding organisations. Her current interests centre on learning in the workplace, using activity theory within educational psychology practice and supporting change processes within organisations. She continues to work a day a week as a Senior Educational Psychologist for Birmingham Children’s Services. She is one of the research team on the four-year ESRC funded Learning in and for Interagency Working project, which draws upon activity theory and which is developing ideas on individual and organisational learning. Jane has presented at key national and international conferences on her own research and that of the current national research programme, including presentations at the International Society for Cultural and Activity Research (ISCAR) in Amsterdam, 2002, and Seville, 2005 and at the Nordic-Baltic Conference on Cultural and Activity Research in Ronneby, Sweden, in 2001 and Copenhagen, 2004.

Dr Deirdre Martin

Dr Deirdre Martin is a senior lecturer in the School of Education.  She runs the masters programme in Speech and Language Difficulties and contributes to masters and doctoral level research training. She has a number of doctoral students, some of whom are researching in the area of organisational learning. Prior to working in higher education she was a speech and language therapist.  One of her research is orientated by socio-cultural activity theory to examine aspects of organisational learning in the implementation of government policy about ‘joined up’ thinking and working among professionals working with children at risk (Every Child Matters 2003).   This research interest involves me in a variety of research projects.  She is a co-director with Dr Jane Leadbetter in a major national project, linked with international projects, concerning organisational learning for multi-agency and multi-disciplinary working around young people at risk, “Learning in and for inter-agency working” led by Professors Harry Daniels and Anne Edwards (ESRC TLRP 2004-7). Dr Martin has presented work on this project at a symposium at the BERA conference (2006).  She is also currently co-organiser of a three-university ESRC funded research seminar series, “Integrating services into schools: policy, discourse and research” (ESRC 2006-7).   This research orientation has led to two further projects with a local authority.  One project looked at intra-professional learning between therapists and bilingual co-workers in a Speech and Language Therapy service (Martin 2005).  A further externally funded project examined the integration of Speech and Language Therapy services into secondary schools (Children’s Fund Dudley LA 2005-6).  Deirdre has two further areas of research interest: speech, language and communication needs in education, and language and literacy disability in cultural and linguistic diversity. 

Dr Nick Peim, BA MA PGCE University of Cambridge, PhD

Dr Peim is Senior Lecturer in Education. His research interests include: the governance of education and education as governance: schooling as governmentality; the history of the school as a social technology; contemporary philosophies and education and education research, including poststructuralism – Derrida, Foucault, Lacan, Lyotard – and its antecedents in Marx, Nietzsche, Freud and Heidegger. He has further interests in theories of the global in the work of Said, Spivak, Appadurai, Castells, Bauman and others. He has published in the area of language, identity and education: theories of language, culture and social class; and in curriculum politics: subject identities, literacy issues and the social dimension of knowledge.

Dr Christopher Rhodes (Hons), MA, PhD, PGCE

Dr Christopher Rhodes is  Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Birmingham. He directs the Doctor of Education (EdD) degree in Leaders and Leadership in Education and supports a number of PhD students in the field of educational leadership and management. He is a member of the editorial board and is reviews editor for the journal Educational Management Administration and Leadership and has recently joined the editorial board of Educational Review. Memberships include the international professional development association, the standing conference for research in educational leadership and management and the British educational leadership management administration society. Recent research projects include an analysis of leadership talent identification, development, succession and retention funded by the National College for School Leadership and an evaluation of the NPQH in the East Midlands funded by the East Midlands Leadership Centre. He has strong interests in leadership distribution and multi-agency working and is presently developing projects in these areas. Recent Publications include:

Dr Paul  Warmington, BA (Hons), PGCE, PhD

Dr Paul Warmington is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education, University of Birmingham. He was a member of the University’s Centre for Sociocultural and Activity Theory Research; his research and teaching are strongly informed by social and cultural theory. Paul’s theoretical interests include Marxism and education, cultural-historical activity theory and critical theories of race and ethnicity. He has extensive experience of researching and teaching around widening participation, work-related learning and social justice.  He was Senior Researcher on the recently completed ESRC funded Learning in and for Interagency Working project, which drew upon innovations in activity theory.  Paul has presented at key international socio-cultural conferences, including the International Conference on Researching Work and Learning, Capetown (2007); the International Congress of the International Society for Cultural and Activity Research (ISCAR), Seville, 2005; the Nordic Conference on Cultural and Activity Research Conference, Copenhagen (2004).  He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Vocational Education and Training.