Our Projects
Projects
On this page, we have listed projects that CenTCS members have worked on since our launch in Spring of 2024. While we each have various strands of work in our individual research portfolios, these projects align particularly well with the CenTCS Research Compass. Here, these projects are organised in three groups: Signature Projects, Other Current Projects, and Completed Projects. Signature Projects are the current projects that we are collectively supporting in accordance with our Ways of Working, with the objective of having specific CenTCS outputs in the short term. On the Research Compass page, click on each theme to see the projects organized by Compass theme. Within each section, projects are organized by the Lead's last name.
Signature Projects
Special issue of Educational Review titled "Asset-based parent engagement in education: Reimagining partnerships between parents and educators"
Max Antony-Newman (lead), Brianna L. Kennedy
Keywords: parent engagement; asset-based approaches; funds of knowledge; community cultural wealth
What the attainment gap misses: Hidden computational strengths in Scottish learners
Utkun Aydin (lead), Ismail Özgür Zembat
Keywords: computational problem solving; attainment gap; socio-economic inequality; international large-scale assessments; mathematics education
Sustainable Designs for Living and Learning (SDLL): Embedding Multilingualism into Learning for Sustainability
Lavinia Hirsu (lead), Alison Phipps, Dobrochna Futro, Pinar Aksu, Fhiona Mackay, Karen Faulds (SCILT), Jane Catlin (University of Strathclyde)
Keywords: multilingualism, language learning, sustainability, arts-based
Reimagining collective learning: Shared expertise for inclusive schools
Aileen Kennedy, Utkun Aydin (co-leads), Brianna L. Kennedy, Cristina Mio, Ruth Unsworth
Keywords: professional learning; workforce redesign; team-based expertise; inclusive education
Handbook of teacher education and professional learning for educational change
Aileen Kennedy, Brianna L. Kennedy, Ismail Özgür Zembat (co-leads), Carol Campbell (University of Edinburgh), Kat Brack
Keywords: transformative professional learning; educational change; cross-national contexts
Quality Teaching in Scotland
Brianna L. Kennedy (lead), Rhona Brown, Aileen Kennedy, Lauren Boath, Jenny Gore (University of Newcastle), Drew Miller (University of Newcastle), Nicole Mockler (University of Sydney)
Keywords: Quality Teaching, professional learning, partnerships, equity
Fostering international development of research-practice partnerships
Brianna L. Kennedy (lead), Paula Arce-Trigatti (NNERP)
Keywords: Research-Practice Partnerships (RPPs), knowledge mobilisation, cross-institutional collaboration, international research networks
Teachers and communities
Brianna L. Kennedy (lead), Rhona Brown
Keywords: culturally responsive teaching; funds of knowledge; communities; teacher professional learning; social justice
Supporting educators’ use of the Frame Shifting Approach to practitioner inquiry
Brianna L. Kennedy (lead), Lauren Boath, Amy Murphy (University of Georgia, United States)
Keywords: practitioner inquiry/enquiry; professional learning; habits of mind; three domains of teaching
Toolkit for reflecting on the use of Digital and AI Technologies in Learning and Teaching
Mark Peart (lead), Gabriella Rodolico, Leon Robinson, Lavinia Hirsu
Keywords: pedagogical reasoning; decision-making; reflective practice; digital technologies; AI
Scaling educational and policy impact through co-designed digital and AI professional learning and educational resources: A collaborative pathway of knowledge exchange and toolkit dissemination (SCOPED)
Mark Peart (lead), Gabriella Rodolico, Lavinia Hirsu
Keywords: Professional Learning; AI in Education; decision-making; reflective practice
Archaeocamp: Heritage, place-based education and belonging for transformative educational experiences
Nicole Smith, Gareth Beale (co-leads), Kenny Brophy, Lizzie Robertson, Elizabeth Robertson, Edward Stewart (Archaeology Scotland)
Keywords: place-based education; outdoor education; belonging; heritage; environment
Theorising transformative change in schools
Ruth Unsworth (lead), Brianna L. Kennedy, Ismail Özgür Zembat
Keywords: transformative change; teacher agency; impact; the role of schools in society
Other Current Projects
Beyond the classroom: Strengthening pupil engagement, attendance and belonging through alternative education and community partnerships
Mark Breslin (lead), Jesse Mitchell
Keywords: school attendance; pupil engagement; sense of belonging; alternative education provision; identity; gang culture and prevention; community partnerships in education
School exclusion and situated instructional belonging
Brianna L. Kennedy (lead)
Keywords: school exclusion; belonging; disengaged youth; NEET
The Playing Teacher Project
Kathryn Spicksley (lead)
Keywords: mentoring; recruitment; retention; professional identity
The International Teacher Education Research Collective (ITERC) edited research collection volume 2
Ruth Unsworth (CI), Dion Russelbaek Hansen (SDU, Denmark) (PI); Tony Carusi (Massey, NZ); Henry Kwok (Chinese University of Hong Kong)
Keywords: ITERC; international teacher education research; uncertainty and radical thinking in teachers' professional work
How I Communicate
Rebecca Wood (lead), David Mason (King's College London) , Elaine McGreevy (Independent Speech and Language Therapist), Shanshan Xu
Keywords: communication; minimally-speaking; non-speaking; autism
Completed Projects
2025/26 Project Stream 1 - Transformative Professional Learning
Ismail Özgür Zembat (Lead), Brianna L. Kennedy, Lauren Boath, Kat Brack
Keywords: transformative professional learning; transformative teaching and learning; transformative change in schools and society; social justice
2025/26 Project Stream 2 - (Dis)connections and Boundaries
Brianna L. Kennedy (Lead), Deniz Ortactepe-Hart, Max Antony-Newman, Ruth Unsworth, Francisco Valdera-Gil, Lixin Li, Rebecca Wood, Rhona Brown, Claire Ramjan
Keywords: teachers and communities; funds of knowledge; diversity; school connections; minoritized pupils, families, and communities
2025/26 Project Stream 3 - Learning Futures
Aileen Kennedy (lead), Utkun Aydin (co-lead), Cristina Mio, Mark Peart, Ruth Unsworth, Brianna L. Kennedy
Keywords: Educational futures; onto epistemology; research methods; research-practice partnerships
Teacher agency and innovation in Tanzania
Rhona Brown (lead), Janice Kim, Nkanileka Mgonda (University of Dar es Salaam), Allen Rugambwa (Independent Consultant), Jacqueline Halima Mgumia (University of Dar es Salaam / Imagine Education)
Keywords: teacher agency; Tanzania; secondary
Using insight from teachers’ stories of Professional Update to enhance policy and practice
Aileen Kennedy (Lead), Kat Brack, Debbie McLeod (University of Strathclyde)
Keywords: Professional Update; professional review and development; accountability; narrative Inquiry
Inclusive and social justice-oriented pedagogies in ELT
Deniz Ortactepe Hart (lead)
Keywords: social justice pedagogies; intersectionality; language education
Pre- and in-service teachers’ educational use of technology across Glasgow City
Mark Peart (lead), Simon Kelly (Glasgow City Council), Chris Meir (Glasgow City Council)
Keywords: pre-and in-service teachers; technology for education; professional learning needs
A guide to place-responsive pedagogy in the outdoors
Ruth Unsworth (CI), Lucy Sors (PI) (York St John University)
Keywords: place-responsive pedagogy; learning outdoors
New Materialism and the study of classroom practices
Ruth Unsworth (lead), Mark Murphy
Keywords: studying change; complexity of teaching; situational views of teaching
Towards a Weak Ontology of Education
Ruth Unsworth (lead), Gunnlaugur Magnússon (University of Uppsala, Sweden), Dion Rüsselbæk Hansen (SDU, Denmark), Matthew Clarke (University of Aberdeen), Stephen Heimans (University of Queensland, Australia), Anne M. Phelan (British Columbia University, Canada)
Keywords: education as complex and rich relational activity; education as transformative through language, subjectivity, and the vitality of unexpectedness