My role as Director of Research in 2016 and 2017 was to support academic staff working in education to develop their research expertise and profiles, to help ensure that teaching becomes a more evidence-based profession, as well as coordinating the drive towards improving the education submission for REF 2020 and directing the PhD programme in education. As Emeritus Professor I am continuing to co-supervise PhD students and conduct research and publish in my field.

Background 

My first job was working for four months as a residential social worker in a school for emotionally disturbed and intellectually disabled children in the USA. I then taught physics for one year in England before moving to Auckland, New Zealand, where I taught maths and physics and worked with slow learners at a high school for two and a half years. After that I taught a high school special class of children with moderate learning difficulties for three years. 

I then trained and worked for seven years in Auckland as an educational psychologist in pre-school, primary and high schools. I then lectured in special education at Auckland Teachers’ College for two years, and set up a one year full-time training course for teachers of the visually impaired. After that I worked at Manchester University as a researcher on children with Down's syndrome and their parents for fifteen months, then lectured at Hull University in educational psychology, special education and counselling for twelve years.

In 1997 and 1998 I worked in Barbados as a government consultant on special education for two years, setting up a range of levels of teacher training for special needs. I then worked as Director of Research in the Education Department at Hull University for two years, before being appointed as Professor of Education at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand where I worked for twelve years. During my time there I taught a range of under-graduate and post-graduate courses, and conducted research on parental involvement, ability grouping and children with emotional and behavioural difficulties. I also worked on the development and teaching of an innovative national blended-learning post-graduate programme for training specialist teachers. In both 2006 and 2012 I was a member of the national panel that assessed the quality of research of academics in the field of education throughout New Zealand.

I have published over 200 journal articles and book chapters, and thirteen books, on topics including: parent involvement, special needs education, bullying, inclusive education, children's mental health, educational psychology and teacher education. My latest books are: Inclusive Special Education (2014) and Parental Involvement in Childhood Education (2011), both published by Springer in New York.