Miss Caroline Thomas

I am a senior lecturer in primary education at the University. I lecture in primary education and work with student teachers in preparing them for their professional careers. I also undertake educational research and disseminate findings through conference presentations, and to students and teachers.

My expertise covers aspects related to leadership development, teaching and learning. I have been a primary Headteacher in two schools, a deputy Headteacher, a special educational needs leader and a curriculum lead for science and technology. I specialise in the teaching and learning of primary science at the University. I lead an education and academic studies module on the BA programme and act as a link tutor in schools.

My research includes school leadership, children’s interpretation of their educational experiences and character development. I specialise in eliciting children’s voice in research with them being active participants in the research process. My PhD investigates the relationship between school leaders’ vision for education and children’s interpretation of their education in Christian schools.

I have been engaged in international and national research projects. Recently, I worked with Professor Trevor Cooling on Church of England and Department for Education funded research into What If Learning Character Development Project. My role entailed participation in data collection, analysis, report writing and project dissemination.

Knowledge exchange

I am currently part of University team developing links with Driester University, Gouda, in Netherlands exploring approaches to the development of Christian education in schools.

Other academic activity

I act as a reviewer for National Midwifery Council. I review nursing and midwifery programmes at educational institutions throughout the United Kingdom to protect the public and ensure compliance with NMC standards. I review regional health authority supervision of midwives and midwifery practice to ensure compliance with NMC standards. All reports are published in the public domain.

I am currently part of a team working on the production of the new educational framework to govern quality assurance of nursing and midwifery programmes in the future.