Dr Mary Woolley

Senior Lecturer in Secondary Education

School of Teacher Education

Dr Mary Woolley is senior lecturer in history education, teaching on the PGCE and EdD, supervising and leading a research project on teacher dialogue.

Dr Mary Woolley runs the secondary history PGCE course at CCCU and leads a module for the EdD course on The Development of Professional Knowledge. Mary is currently Principal Investigator on a £400,000 research project exploring teacher-teacher dialogue around curriculum and sustainability in Wales. She supervises a number of EdD and PhD students. In the past Mary was Course Director of the Education Studies BA, taking the course through revalidation and developing the student experience.

After several years spent teaching history in comprehensives in Worcestershire and Hammersmith, Mary moved into teacher education as a Ted Wragg Teacher Education Research Fellow at the University of Exeter. Mary moved to CCCU in 2008, taking up the position of secondary history lead across a variety of  ITE programmes. In 2015 Mary became Course Director of Education Studies BA, designing and leading modules on curriculum theory, history of education and faith in education. Mary currently leads the EdD module, The Development of Professional Knowledge and supervises a range of PhD and EdD thesis students.

'Mary is currently Principal Investigator on a £400, 000 TWCF-funded project, 'Cultivating Deeper Interdisciplinary Dialogue' exploring the impact of a professional learning programme on teacher-teacher dialogue in Welsh secondary schools. Mary has been involved in a variety of projects for NICER, the university research centre. She was Deputy Director of a £370, 000 project exploring teachers' perspectives of science religion encounters in the classroom and researcher on a project exploring children's flourishing in the nexus of home, school and church. Mary's PhD was a history of history education in England 1985-2011 through the voices of experienced history teachers. Mary particularly enjoys using qualitative methods to explore teachers' lived experience of curriculum. Mary is currently an editor of the professional journal of the Historical Association, Teaching History.

Research Projects

  • ‘Catholic Schools, Spiritual Capital and Formation’. Researcher(s): Ms Ann Pittaway. Supervisor(s): Dr Mary Woolley, Professor Bob Bowie. [Postgraduate Research Project]
  • ‘Spirituality in Church of England Secondary Schools’. Researcher(s): Mrs Fran Bailey. Supervisor(s): Dr Mary Woolley, Professor Bob Bowie. [Postgraduate Research Project]
  • Changes to school based mentoring since 2010. Researcher(s): Mr Alex Diamond. Supervisor(s): Dr Mary Woolley, Professor Bob Bowie. [Postgraduate Research Project]
  • Faux radicals: examining how teacher identity is created though the spectacles of inspections and observations. Researcher(s): Mr Joe McClure. Supervisor(s): Dr Mary Woolley, Professor Lynn Revell. [Postgraduate Research Project]
  • How do Headteachers establish, articulate and maintain an ethos that provides a compelling vision of Christian faith? An international comparative study of Christian leadership in Schools.. Researcher(s): Mrs Claire Gibson. Supervisor(s): Dr Mary Woolley, Professor Bob Bowie. [Postgraduate Research Project]
  • How primary schools represent minoritized voices in their teaching of history. Researcher(s): Mrs Clare Stow. Supervisor(s): Dr Mary Woolley, Professor Bob Bowie. [Postgraduate Research Project]

Mary was invited to become an honorary fellow of the Historical Association in 2012. She is also a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Mary was a primary school governor from 2017 to 2022.Mary has held external examiner positions at the University of Southampton and the University of Exeter and has been external assessor on revalidations at the University of Northampton.