University of Stirling

School of Education

Staff

 

Dr Mark Priestley

Mark Priestley  

Reader in Education

  Dr Mark Priestley
address

Room A31, Pathfoot Building
School of Education
University of Stirling
Stirling
Scotland

FK9 4LA
telephone

Tel: + 44 (0) 1786 466272
email Email: m.r.priestley@stir.ac.uk
web Web: www.ioe.stir.ac.uk

Background:

I have taught History, Geography, Humanities and Social Studies in a number of secondary schools in England and New Zealand. In New Zealand, I was the Coordinating Lecturer of Christchurch College of Education's Nelson campus from January 1999 until June 2000. In my current post at Stirling, I was  the Director of Initial Teacher Education between 2004 and 2007, and Director of the First Year Undergraduate Programme between 2009 and 2011. I am currently Director of the School of Education's Curriculum and Learning Research Programme. I was Editor of the Scottish Educational Review between 2007 and 2010, and am presently Chair of the Editorial Board.

Selected Recent Publications:
  1. Priestley, M., Robinson, S. & Biesta, G.J.J. (in press). Teacher Agency, Performativity and Curriculum Change: Reinventing the Teacher in the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence? In B. Jeffrey & G. Troman (Eds.), Performativity across UK education: ethnographic cases of its effects, agency and reconstructions. Painswick: E&E Publishing. Online here.
  2. Priestley, M. & Miller, K. (2012) Educational change in Scotland: Policy, context and biography, The Curriculum Journal, 29[1], 99-116 Online here.
  3. Priestley, M., Edwards, R., Miller, K. & Priestley, A. (2012) Teacher agency in curriculum making: agents of change and spaces for manoeuvre, Curriculum Inquiry, 43[2], 191-214 . Online here
  4. Wallace, C. & Priestley M. (2011) Teacher beliefs and the mediation of curriculum innovation in Scotland: A socio-cultural perspective on professional development and change, Journal of Curriculum Studies, 43[3], 357-381. Online here
  5. Priestley, M. (2011) Whatever happened to curriculum theory? Critical realism and curriculum change. Pedagogy, Culture and Society, 19[2], 221-238. Online here
  6. Priestley, M., Miller, K., Barrett, L. & Wallace, C. (2011) Teacher learning communities and educational change in Scotland: the Highland experience. British Educational Research Journal, 37[2], 265-284. Online here
  7. Priestley, M. (2011) Schools, teachers and curriculum change: a balancing act? Journal of Educational Change, 12[1]. 1-23. Online here
  8. Priestley, M. & Humes, W. (2010) The Development of Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence: amnesia and déjà vu. Oxford Review of Education, 36[3], 345-361. Online here (direct link to free download from the journal) or here
  9. Edwards, R., Miller, K. & Priestley, M. (2009). Curriculum-making in school and college: The case of hospitality. The Curriculum Journal, 20/1, 27-42. Online here
  10. Priestley, M. & Sime, D. (2005). Formative assessment for all: a whole school approach to pedagogic change. The Curriculum Journal, 16/4, 479-492. Online here
  11. Hayward, L., Priestley, M. & Young, M. (2004). Ruffling the Calm of the Ocean Floor: Merging Practice, Policy and Research in Assessment in Scotland. Oxford Review of Education,30/3, 397-415. Online here
  12. Priestley, M. (2002). Global Discourses and National Reconstruction: the impact of globalization on curriculum policy. The Curriculum Journal, 13/1, 87-104. Online here

Complete list of publications

Research Interests:

My main research interests concern the school curriculum, and especially the processes of curricular change. I was principal investigator of the 'The Social Practices of Curriculum Development in Highland Schools' research project and co-investigator for the ESRC funded 'Cultures of Curriculum Making in Schools and Colleges' project (both completed in 2008). Other research interests lie in the provision of the Social Subjects within Scotland's school curriculum. Current and recent research projects include Building upon success: extending and sustaining curriculum change in partnership with the Highland Council, and the ESRC funded Teacher Agency and Curriculum Change. I also led the recent ESRC funded Curriculum for the 21st Century seminar series. Project outputs (for example working papers) are available for these projects by following the links above. Follow my blog at http://mrpriestley.wordpress.com/

Doctoral Supervisory Interests

This member of staff is interested in supervising doctoral students in the following subject areas:

  • The school curriculum
  • Secondary school pedagogy
  • The culture and organisation of secondary schools
  • Educational change
  • The teaching of the social studies (especially History)

Current doctoral supervision includes:

  • Curriculum for Excellence and the formation of an Early Level
  • Beliefs and Practices of English Teachers towards Washback on EFL Teaching: Case Studes of the Air Force Academy and the Air Force Institute of Technology in Taiwan
  • Educational Change: Malaysian Experience Reforming Assessment
  • Social Capital, Young People and Enterprise
  • Does Academy Status in England increase the autonomy of a school?