I am a teacher in Dumfries and Galloway working in a large secondary school in a small accessible rural town.  I have taught History and Social Subjects in the same school since 2002, with experience in other roles including PTC Social Subjects, PTC Languages, and PT Literacy.  From the beginning of my career I have been involved in various working groups with an emphasis on learning and teaching groups focussing on research, pedagogy, practitioner enquiry, and creating and leading CLPL initiatives for colleagues. Our current Learning and Teaching group has developed a bespoke CLPL programme focussed on engaging teachers in practitioner enquiry and collaborating on pedagogy to improve learning experiences.

I graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1997 with an MA (Hons) in History, gained a postgraduate MA in Heritage and Cultural Management in 2000, and a PGCE in Carlisle in 2002.

I continue to work with the SQA (now Qualifications Scotland) having started in 2009 with the Intermediate 1 & 2 History Teams until 2015, and National 5 History since 2012.

I joined the University of Glasgow as a Teaching Associate for the Centre for Teaching Excellence in October 2025.  I am seconded for one day a week (currently Tuesdays) to the Rural Education and Learning for Sustainability Hub located on the Dumfries Campus of the University of Glasgow.  I am privileged to be part of this exciting and innovative development in teacher professional learning and look forward to sharing the Centre's developments with other practitioners. 

My interests are wide and varied including: 

• Evidence based pedagogy and the science of learning.
• Subject specific pedagogy (History and Social Subjects).
• Rural Education and promoting the positive aspects of teaching in rural settings.
• Learning for Sustainability (especially in History and Social Subjects).
• Anti-racist education through the teaching of History.
• Interdisciplinary learning.
• Assessment and the role of QS (SQA) in senior phase.
• AI in education and digital literacy for teachers.
• Health and wellbeing for teachers.
• Pupil Voice.
• Communities of Practice and Practitioner Enquiry.