Professor Kay Livingston
- Professor of Educational Research Policy and Practice (Culture, Literacies, Inclusion & Pedagogy)
telephone:
01413303059
email:
Kay.Livingston@glasgow.ac.uk
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9831-9575Biography
Kay Livingston is Professor of Educational Research, Policy and Practice at the School of Education. She works closely with policy-makers, school leaders, teachers and key educational stakeholders at international, national and local levels. She is currently the Impact Champion for the School of Education, working with colleagues to develop and record the impact of their research beyond academia.
Since a secondment to an agency of the European Commission in Brussels in 1997, Kay’s work has had a strong international focus. She has developed knowledge and expertise in education systems across Europe. She is a member of the European Commission’s (EC) Education and Training (ET2020) Strategic Working Group on Schools and previously a member of the ET2020 Working Group on Teacher Education. She works with senior policy officials from Ministries of Education in the EU countries and has contributed to EC publications. For example, Shaping Career-long Perspectives on Teaching (2015); Erasmus+: A practical guide for school leaders (2015) and Supporting teacher and school leader careers: a policy guide (2020). She was a member of an International Evaluation Team invited by the Norwegian Research Council to undertake an evaluation of educational research in Norway (2016 - 2018). She is currently the Chair of Nordforsk’s Scientific Advisory Group (2018-2023) for research undertaken through their Education for Tomorrow initiative. She was a member of the Association for Teacher Education in Europe’s Administrative Council (2009 – 2019) and Chair of the Association’s Research and Development Community on the Professional Development of Teachers (2013 - 2020). She is an Associated Expert of the European Institute of Education and Social Policy. Kay is providing expert advice to the EC funded project, Enhancing learning through digital tools and practices: how digital technology in compulsory education can help promote inclusion (2020 – 2021) and to the EC funded project, How can policy reform for broad competence development in school education be effectively designed and implemented? (2021).
In 2007 – 2012 Kay undertook a secondment to Learning and Teaching Scotland, which became part of Education Scotland (a Scottish Government Agency with responsibility for supporting and improving education) as Director of International, Research and Innovation and Member of the Corporate Management Team. In this post she gained experience in the policy community and was responsible for research and innovation projects in a wide range of areas including: teacher professional development; leadership and mentoring; international and intercultural education; citizenship and sustainable development education; digital literacy; educational change and improvement. She was a member of the National Partnership Group set up by the Scottish Government to develop proposals in response to the report of a review of teacher education (Teaching Scotland’s Future, Donaldson, 2011) and was Chair of the National Partnership Group’s Sub-group on the Career-long Professional Learning of Teachers.
Former posts include Director of Scottish Teachers for a New Era at the University of Aberdeen (2005 –2007) and Director of the Quality in Education Research and Development Centre at the University of Strathclyde (2001- 2005).
Kay was Editor of the European Journal of Teacher Education (2005 – 2020) and Co-editor of the Curriculum Journal (2013 -2018). She was a member of the Editorial Board of the Asia Pacific Journal of Teacher Education.
Research interests
Her research interests include:
- continuum of teacher education: understanding teachers as learners across all stages of their career
- mentoring newly qualified teachers and teachers in the career-long professional learning phase
- partnerships in teacher education
- interaction between research, policy and practice in school education and in teacher education and interaction between curriculum, assessment and pedagogy
- system and practice change processes
- international and intercultural education
- inclusive education
- digital literacies, including digital assessment.
Grants
Grants
- Assess@ Learning Policy Experimentation (2019 – 2023) funded by the European Commission
- Teach-up Policy Experimentation (2017 – 2020) funded by the European Commission
- Researching an intentional approach to developing character in Scotland’s Schools (2018 – 2020) by Character Education Scotland
- Impact of British Council International Programmes on closing the attainment gap for students in Scotland (2018) funded by British Council Scotland
- Mentoring to Improve Teacher and Pupil Learning (2012 – 2019) funded by Aberdeenshire Council
- Mentoring to close the learning gap (2016 – 2018) funded by Stirling Council
- Mentoring to Improve Teacher and Pupil Learning (2015 - 2017) funded by Aberdeen City Council
- Acknowledging learner assessment evidence in the Broad General Education of Curriculum for Excellence for use in qualifications in the Senior Phase (2014 – 2015), funded by the Scottish Qualifications Authority
- Teaching Scotland's Future: Further Developing and Sustaining a Strengthened Model of Professional Learning through Mentoring Processes in the Context of Career-long Professional Learning, (2014) funded by Education Scotland.
- Teaching Scotland's Future, Mentoring Pilot Partnership Project, (2013), funded by Education Scotland
- Literature Review on Teacher Education in the 21st Century (2010), funded by Scottish Government
- Evaluation of Curriculum for Excellence: Draft Experiences and Outcomes (2009) funded by Learning and Teaching Scotland
- Literacy Across the Curriculum (2008 – 2010) funded by Perth and Kinross Council
She has been Principal Investigator/Project Manager/Research Team Member of numerous research projects from 2001 to 2007 (with grants from £10,000 up to £2 million in the UK, across European countries and USA). For example:
Principal Investigator of Future Learning and Teaching Projects funded by Scottish Executive Education Department (SEED) – evaluating the SCHOLAR Programme – an online learning programme; Cooperative Learning Project; and Arts Across the Curriculum; Principal Investigator of Post-16 Pedagogy and Thinking Skills funded by Learning and Skills Development Agency; Principal Investigator of Disadvantaged Teenagers and Technology, funded by Sage Foundation in New York which investigated ICT projects in USA and Europe designed to motivate disengaged teenagers to take an active role in their own learning; Principal Investigator of evaluation of Scotland South Africa Interchange funded by SEED; Principal Investigator of evaluation of the Developing Effective International Education Project funded by SEED. Principal Investigator of evaluation of International Education funded by Glasgow City Council; Principal Investigator of evaluation of Learning to Learn Programme in South Tyneside Schools funded by Tyneside Economic Development Cooperation; Principal Investigator of evaluation of Digital Glasgow: Attitudinal and Behavioural Study funded by Scottish Enterprise (Glasgow). Research Director of Scottish Teachers for a New Era, funded by Hunter Foundation, University of Aberdeen and the Scottish Government.
She was Co-investigator of the evaluation of the Assessment is for Learning Project funded by SEED; a member of the research team evaluating the Blueprint Programme funded by Home Office; and a member of the research team investigating Supporting Group Work in Scottish Schools: age and urban rural divide (2003 – 2004) funded by Economic and Social Research Council.
She was a member of the Steering Group for the SYNEVA Thematic Network, investigating the synergy between internal and external assessment of schools across Europe, funded by the European Commission and a member of the SEQuALs Project, funded by European Commission, which implemented international professional development courses on school leadership and on synergy between school self-evaluation processes, external evaluation and school improvement.
Supervision
Currently supervising
Alanazi, Mansour - Identification of Gifted Students in Schools in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Balgabekova, Dayana - Teacher Learning in the Context of Lesson Study in Kazakhstan
Boufarrag, Adel - Transforming the teaching of reading in Libyan Secondary School English Classes: implementing the communicative approach
Ge, Winn – The influence of teachers’ experiences and policy background on their perceptions of musical creativity: a qualitative study in China with primary school teachers and instrument tutors
Guo, Junliang - Factors that Affect Chinese Teachers’ Use of the L1 and TL at Teriary Level: An Investigation From Sociolinguistic Perspective
Mason, Stephanie – Development of Model Global Citizens Through Life-History Interviews
Przyborski, Julie - Bringing Parent Voices into Initial Teacher Education
Wilde, Melanie - In what ways do children’s subjectivities emerge as they engage with peers during collaborative readings of aesthetic picture books and relate to the depictions of ‘other animal’ characters in their settings?
- Balgabekova, Dayana
Teacher Learning in the Context of Lesson Study in Kazakhstan - Ge, Xiaowen
The influence of teachers’ experiences and policy background on their perceptions of musical creativity: a qualitative study in China with primary school teachers and instrument tutors
Completed Ph.D thesis
Alghamdi, Nasim Ibrahim (2020) Providing insight into assessment practices in medical school at one Saudi Higher Education Institution: an interpretative phenomenological analysis
Alghamdi, Shatha Hamdan (2020) The role of cooperating teachers in student teachers’ professional learning in Saudi Arabia: reality, challenges and prospects
Lu, Hui (2019) Creating a ‘new shared space’ for quality: A case study of quality assurance in a Sino-UK partnership institute.
Macfarlane, Gaele Morag (2020) Teachers’ engagement in professional development: a study of the influences that affect groups of national and international English language teachers.
Qiu, Chao (2015) The professional development of teacher educators in Shanghai.
Teaching
Kay teaches on Post-graduate courses:
PG Programme on Inclusive Education – Practitioner Enquiry: Developing Inclusive Pedagogy
MSc Education Curriculum, Assessment & Pedagogy: Understanding Learners – Interaction between Curriculum, Assessment and Pedagogy
MSc Education Curriculum, Assessment & Pedagogy: International Perspectives
MEd: Mentoring to Improve Teaching and Pupil Learning
Additional information
Member of professional bodies
Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts (FRSA)
Full Registration of General Teaching Council
Selected International Presentations
She is a regular keynote speaker at national and international conferences. For example,
Keynote speaker at European Presidency Education Conferences (Irish Presidency, Dublin, 2013 & Lithuanian Presidency, Vilnius, 2014);
Keynote speaker at National Education Conferences (e.g. Austria, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Turkey, Malta, Hungary, Iceland, France);
Keynote speaker at international education teacher education association conferences (e.g. Teacher Education Policy in Europe Association, Poland, 2019; Teacher Educator Advancement Network, 2018; Association for Teacher Education in Europe, Portugal, 2014; Australian Teacher Education Association, Adelaide, 2012; inaugural conference of World Federation of Associations of Teacher Education, Chicago, 2010,);
Keynote speaker at 1st Global Teacher Education Summit, Beijing, China;
Speaker at 1st and 2nd European Commission Summits on Education, Brussels, 2018 and 2019.
Speaker/member of coordination team of peer-learning events held with policy representatives and educational stakeholders from 10 – 12 EU countries in Vienna (2014), Tallinn (2016), Leuven (2017), Zagreb (2019), Cyprus (2019) and Dublin (2020)
Previous membership of committees/working groups
Member of UNESCO UKNC Scotland Committee
Member of the National Partnership Group taking forward the Scottish Government’s response to Teaching Scotland’s Future Report.
Chair of the National Partnership Sub-group on Career-long Professional Learning
Member of the Administrative Council of the Association for Teacher Education in Europe
Chair of the Association for Teacher Education in Europe Research and Development Centre on the Professional Development of Teachers
Chair of the Education for Global Citizenship Advisory Group
Chair of the Scottish Legacy for Learning Committee (Commonwealth Games Glasgow)
Member of the Commonwealth Games Legacy Executive Board
Member of the Ministerial Group One Planet Schools
Member of the Scottish Government’s PISA Group
Member of the Advisory Board of the Global Learning Project
Member of the Scottish Government Board on Leadership in the Public Sector
Member of the Board of Scottish China Educational Network
Member of the Cross-Party Parliamentary Group on China