BA, PGCE, MEd, PhD

Having worked as an English teacher and as a primary teacher, I draw on substantial experience in schools to inform my teaching. However, I am also passionate about educational research. My research profile began to be established while I was still working in schools and my work on perceptions of ability shaped my MEd (1996). This led into PhD study looking at constructs of ability within comprehensive and independent schools working with Professors Sally Brown and Jon Nixon, University of Stirling. From this, my work has developed in relation to (student) teacher beliefs and professional identity, ability and the organization of learning and pupil voice and personhood.

I teach mainly on PGDE primary and PGDE secondary courses as well as MSc Education and MSc Research programmes. A strong focus of my work has been on cross curricular learning (Enterprise inspired learning) and assessment, the integration of theory and practice (leading behaviour, theory and professional development course) and educational research methods. I have a strong background in qualitative research and have a particular interest in the use of case study.

Book Designing Educational Research (Forthcoming 2017/18)

Book on Case study in Education Research just released by BERA/Sage.

• Head of Education and Society 2007-2010
• President of Scottish Educational Research Association 2007 -2009
• Vice-president Scottish Educational Research Association 2005-2007
• On British Educational Research Association Council 2007 -2009
• Member of planning group newly established UK Strategic Forum for Research in Education (uksfre.ac.uk) 2007 - 2011

• Editorial Boards: Scottish Educational Review and International Journal of School Disaffection

• Reviewer: British Educational Research Journal, Teaching and Teacher Education, Scottish Educational Review, International Journal of School Disaffection, Teachers College Record.

• Leading SERA committee on Knowledge Exchange publication: Researching Education Bulletin

Social construction of identity: drawing on a social constructionist view, my work has been built around concepts of layered narratives of self which reflect a dynamic and fluid view of identity and the importance of contextual narratives and the interactions between the inner and outer world of the individual.

Research Supervision

I have particular interest in teacher beliefs and values (early professional development), giftedness, behaviour in schools, the organization of learning (ability grouping etc) and pupil voice and would welcome students interested in these and related areas.

I have a very successful track record of supervising doctoral students to completion and I am keen to hear from you if you are interested  in any of the areas below:

• Identity - personal and professional / teacher beliefs and values (early professional development)/ behaviour in schools and developing professional identity / intercultural education- interculturalism
• Inclusion - Critical approaches to Giftedness- gifted and talented youth / ability and ability grouping / the organization of learning
• Pupil voice - hidden voices and absent dialogues

Current supervisees

• Nur Salwa Binti Abdul Wahid -Culture and the ESL Classroom in relation to learners willingness to communicate (WTC) at University in Malaysia
• Linsha Zhou - Creativity and teachers - comparing Scotland and China
• Mengke Li- Second language acquisition and cultural identity - Chinese as a second language

Submitted awaiting viva

• Emilia Georgiou- Intercultural Education in Greek-Cypriot Primary Schools

Successfully completed

• Sumera Umrani- English Language Teaching in Higher Education in Pakistan
• Noor Banu- Service Education in Malaysia
• Dimitra Tsakalou- Teacher beliefs and values in relation to inclusion in Greece
• Jing Zhang- Professional identity and Chinese midwives
• Peggy Mwanza- The role of NGOs in the development of education policy and provision in Zambia
• Angela Gayton- Personhoood and foreign language learning in Scottish schools
• Ling-Ying Lu- An examination of grouping in Taiwanese Junior High Schools: Policy and Practice
• Winifred Kisitu- Early Childhood Care and Education in Uganda: The Challenges and Possibilities of Achieving Quality and Accessible Provision

Previous work includes: Behaviour in Scottish Schools, a survey of the use of setting in Scottish primary schools, pupil voice in the examination process and ability dialogues in high school. Conference papers include:

• McLuskey,G.; Brown,J.; Hamilton,L.; Lloyd,G.; Macleod,G.; Munn,P.; Sharp,S. 'Take more time to actually listen':Trust, power and student voice. Paper presented at the British Educational Research Association Conference, Warwick 2010.

• Munn,P.; Sharp,S.; Lloyd,G.; Macleod,G.; McLuskey,G.; Brown,J.; Hamilton,L. A comparison of perceptions of behaviour in Scottish schools 2009 and 2006. Paper presented at the British Educational Research Association Conference, Warwick 2010.

• Hamilton, L. Managing pupil behaviour: preparing student teachers for practice. Paper presented at the Congress of Humanities and Social Sciences, Saskatoon, Canada 2007.
• Stack, N; Hamilton,L. & Sutherland, M. Able in Alba. Paper presented at the World Congress for Gifted and Talented Youth, Warwick 2007
• Hamilton, L. A Teacher educator self-study: Search for connection and relevance. Paper Presented at the Scottish Educational Research Association Annual Conference, Perth, 2006
• Hamilton, L. Setting (regrouping) and broad banding: challenges to the organisation of learning in Scottish primary Schools. Paper presented at the European Conference on Educational Research, Dublin, 2005.