School of Education

Dr Kathryn Spicksley

  • Lecturer in Teacher Education (School of Education)

Biography

Kathryn in a Lecturer in Teacher Education. Kathryn joined the School of Education in September 2025 as a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, working on a project focused on playful and participatory approaches to enhancing early career teacher mentoring. Kathryn's research explores the relationship between national and situated education policies and the working lives and identities of early career teachers (ECTs). Kathryn often takes a granular approach to analysing the difficulties faced by ECTs, which opens up new spaces to think about the demands made of new teachers and how this impacts on their motivation and commitment. 

Prior to studying for a PhD at the University of Worcester, Kathryn worked as an Early Years teacher for 5 years in state-funded primary schools in England. She holds a PGCE in Early Years from the University of Cambridge and an MA in Early Years Education from UCL Institute of Education. Kathryn has previously worked at the Institute of Community Research and Development (ICRD) at the University of Wolverhampton and in the Department for Education and Social Justice, University of Birmingham.

Kathryn's research utilizes interdiscipinary methods, primarily informed by corpus linguistics and the sociology of education. 

 

Research interests

  • Education policy in England, 2010 to present
  • Teacher recruitment and retention policies
  • The working lives and professional identities of Early Career Teachers
  • Corpus linguistics
  • Participatory research methods

Publications

Prior publications

Book Section

Kathryn Spicksley, Nicole Mockler (2024) Representations of Teachers and Teaching in the Public Space Crossref. (doi: 10.4324/9781003441731-6)

Spicksley, K., Brady, J. (2024) MARKING AND TIME POVERTY: A case study of a workload reduction initiative in an English primary school Teaching and Time Poverty Understanding Workload and Work Intensification in Schools Scopus - Elsevier. ISBN 9781032591698 9781040241226 (doi: 10.4324/9781003457527-13)

Spicksley, K., Mockler, N. (2024) Representations of Teachers and Teaching in the Public Space: Exploring the Interplay between Policy and Media Constructions of Teacher Supply in Australia and England World Yearbook of Education 2025 the Teaching Profession in A Globalizing World Governance Career Learning Scopus - Elsevier. ISBN 9781032579450 9781040255612 (doi: 10.4324/9781003441731-6)

Spicksley, K., Kington, A. (2022) Silver Linings? Teachers’ Reappraisals of Children’s Education in England During the First COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown Covid 19 and Education in the Global North Storytelling and Alternative Pedagogies Scopus - Elsevier. ISBN 9783031024641 9783031024696 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-02469-6_2)

Spicksley, K., Watkins, M. (2020) Early-Career Teacher Relationships with Peers and Mentors: Exploring Policy and Practice Social and Learning Relationships in Primary Schools Scopus - Elsevier. ISBN 9781350096066 9781350096073

Article

Spicksley, K., Kington, A. (2024) Uniting Teachers Through Critical Language Awareness: a Role for the Early Career Framework? British Journal of Educational Studies Scopus - Elsevier. ISSN 00071005 14678527 (doi: 10.1080/00071005.2023.2258197)

Spicksley, D.K., Franklin, D.E. (2023) Who works on the ‘frontline’? comparing constructions of ‘frontline’ work before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Applied Corpus Linguistics Scopus - Elsevier. ISSN 26667991 (doi: 10.1016/j.acorp.2023.100059)

Spicksley, K. (2022) Early career primary teachers’ discursive negotiations of academisation British Journal of Sociology of Education Scopus - Elsevier. ISSN 01425692 14653346 (doi: 10.1080/01425692.2021.2003183)

Spicksley, K. (2022) Hard work / workload: discursive constructions of teacher work in policy and practice Teachers and Teaching Theory and Practice Scopus - Elsevier. ISSN 13540602 (doi: 10.1080/13540602.2022.2062741)

Spicksley, K. (2022) ‘A less unpalatable alternative’: Executive leaders strategically redefining their work in primary MATs Management in Education Scopus - Elsevier. ISSN 08920206 17419883 (doi: 10.1177/0892020620959730)

Spicksley, K. (2022) ‘The very best generation of teachers ever’: teachers in post-2010 ministerial speeches Journal of Education Policy Scopus - Elsevier. ISSN 02680939 14645106 (doi: 10.1080/02680939.2020.1866216)

Spicksley, K., Kington, A., Watkins, M. (2021) “We Will Appreciate Each Other More After This”: Teachers' Construction of Collective and Personal Identities During Lockdown Frontiers in Psychology Scopus - Elsevier. ISSN 16641078 (doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.703404)

Kathryn Spicksley (2019) Teach first: what is it doing? PRACTICE Crossref Metadata Search. ISSN 2578-3858 (doi: 10.1080/25783858.2019.1589990)

Grants

  • British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship (2022 - 2026)
  • Methods NorthWest Collaborative Innovation Grant (2022 - 2023)
  • British Educational Research Association (BERA) ECR Career Development Award (2021 - 2022)

Supervision

Kathryn is happy to be contacted to discuss PhD proposals which align with her research interests.  

Teaching

Kathryn currently teaches on the MEduc Education and Society programme.  

Professional activities & recognition

Prizes, awards & distinctions

  • 2022: Doctoral Thesis Prize (BERA)
  • 2021: Deputy Vice-Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis (University of Worcester)
  • 2022: Early Career Development Fellowship (BERA)

Research fellowships

  • 2022 - 2026: British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship

Editorial boards

  • 2023: BERA Blog
  • 2024: FORUM for Promoting 3-19 Comprehensive Education

Professional & learned societies

  • 2017: Member, British Educational Research Association (BERA)
  • 2025: Member, British Educational Leadership, Administration and Management Society (BELMAS)