David Spendlove

Teaching and Leadership

I have had the privilege of holding an extensive range of highly successful teaching and leadership roles within secondary schools and universities across five decades, demonstrating sustained excellence and success, innovation, and a deep commitment to education.

School Leadership: My early career as a secondary school teacher spanned 13 years in diverse educational settings. During this time, I progressed to become a Gatsby Fellow, head of department, and senior manager. In these roles, I worked on national initiatives whilst implementing whole-school initiatives, including the development of robust systems for monitoring, assessment, and recording.

Higher Education Leadership: I have held numerous leadership roles and have led on an extensive list of projects in higher education since 2000. For 17 years I developed and led numerous high quality, innovative, sector leading initial teacher education (ITE) initiatives. Since 2017 I have successfully led School (SEED), Faculty (Humanities) and University teaching and learning developments including:

Currently, as Professor of Education and Associate Dean, I lead the Faculty of Humanities’ portfolio development as part of the strategic ‘Size and Shape’ project. This involves:

• Designing and launching over 30 innovative academic programmes.
• Enhancing quality assurance systems and processes.
• Establishing new governance structures to support sustainable programme development.
• I hold the position of Adjunct Professor at Southern Cross University, Australia, and previously served as Senior Collaborative Adviser for the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences.

Executive oversight responsibilities have included:

• Leading the University of Manchester’s Teach First provision.
• Directing Teaching and Learning for SEED.
• Head of Initial Teacher Education and Executive Director of Teach First NW.

Policy and Governance: My contributions extend to national and regional education policy, including:

• Chairing and contributing to an extensive number of university committees.
• Previous membership and contribution to national and regional government committees (e.g. DfE, Ofsted).

Research and Scholarship

My research and scholarship operates at the nexus of policy, practice, and politics, with a strong focus on critical themes such as assessment (AfL), boys ‘underachievement’ (gender studies), creativity, ‘Design, Design and Technology education, Design Thinking, Higher Education Policy,  Initial Teacher Education, Learning Design, Pedagogy,  Teaching and Learning, ‘Research Informed Teaching’, Teacher professionalism, Teacher Excellence, etc

Publications and Media: Over my career, I have published extensively, including:

• Books, book chapters, and peer-reviewed academic papers.
• Research reports and thought leadership pieces for educational media.
• Contributions to ‘Opinion piece’ outlets such as The Times Educational Supplement, Times Higher, Schools Week, and WonkHE.
• Extensive list of blog posts and education news comment.

Editorial and Peer Review:

• Member of three editorial boards.
• Editor and Co-editor of DATA International Research Conference Proceedings (2004–2010), and Co-editor IJDTE.
• Reviewer for leading international journals, research funding bodies, and book publishers.
• Global Engagement: Sharing my research and scholarship nationally and internationally has been a foundation of my career:
•  Extensive list of national and international Invited keynotes e.g. Australia, Norway, Singapore, Dubai, and Moscow.
• Research presentations at leading conferences, including BERA (UK), AARE (Australia), WERA (Asia) and AERA (USA), China, India (epiSTEME), Israel, NZ (PATT), Canada (T&LC), Hong Kong, Finland (ECER);
• Fellow of the Australian College of Researchers and member of international scientific review committees.

PhD Supervision and Examination

I have supervised and examined PhD students in diverse fields from arts to STEM education and have served as an external examiner for PhDs in the UK (e.g. Manchester, Cambridge) and internationally (e.g. Sweden, Australia). I have also been an external examiner for Masters and PGCE programmes at a wide range of high-quality universities including Bristol, Cambridge, Exeter, Glasgow, King’s College London, etc.

Limited Supervision Opportunities: While my supervision availability is currently limited, I welcome enquiries from students whose research aligns with my areas of interest and expertise. 

My research focuses on the intersection of policy, practice, and politics in education, with a particular emphasis on teaching and learning, teacher education, and the evolving role of teachers. I investigate the nature of teacher development, the professionalism of trainee teachers, and the constraints and potential of creativity and decision-making in educational contexts. Drawing on disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, and emotion theory, my work explores how these factors shape educational experiences and outcomes. Methodologically, I employ diverse approaches, including case studies, Q methodology, ethnography, surveys, and action research, underpinned by theoretical frameworks such as activity theory, grounded theory, and critical theory. My research also informs my perspectives on ‘teaching excellence’, learning design, and the development of innovative, research-driven pedagogical practices. By bridging theory and practice, my work aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of how education can be enhanced within complex, diverse, and dynamic ecosystems.