Mary James (educator)
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Mary James
FAcSS The Fellowship of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS) is an award granted by the Academy of Social Sciences to leading academics, policy-makers, and practitioners of the social sciences. Fellows were previously known as Academicians and used t ...
retired in January 2014 as Professor and Associate Director of Research at the University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education. In the same year she completed her four-year term as Vice President and President of the British Education and Research Association. She was born in
Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England about south-west of London. It is in Mole Valley, Mole Valley District and the non-metropolitan district, council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs ro ...
,
Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
on 21 March 1946. Her father was a carpenter and joiner and her mother was a factory worker. Mary was educated at Sondes Place Secondary Modern School and West Ewell Country Secondary School before qualifying as a teacher at Brighton College of Education. She was then in the first cohort to be awarded a BEd degree from
Sussex University The University of Sussex is a public research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the South Downs National Park, and provide ...
in 1968. Subsequently, she gained an MA from the Institute of Education University of London (1979) and a PhD from the Open University (1990).


Biography

Mary taught for ten years in secondary schools, including: * Park Barn County Secondary School, Guildford (1968–1970) * Portsmouth Southern Grammar School for Girls (1970–1974) * Hatch End High School, Harrow (1974–1979) In 1979 she started a career in educational research at the
Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...
and subsequently moved to Cambridge Institute of Education as a tutor (in 1989). The Cambridge Institute became incorporated in the
University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
in 1992 where she became a Senior Lecturer and then a Reader. She was also elected as a Fellow of
Lucy Cavendish College Lucy Cavendish College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1965 as a women's college and since 2021 has admitted both women and men. The college is named in honour of Lucy Cavendish (1841–1 ...
Cambridge in 1996. In 2005 she left Cambridge to take up a Chair in Education at the
Institute of Education The UCL Institute of Education (IOE) is the faculty of education and society of University College London (UCL). It specialises in postgraduate study and research in the field of education and is one of UCL's 11 constituent faculties. Prior t ...
. From 2002 to 2007 she was Deputy Director of the
ESRC The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), formerly the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). UKRI is a non-departmental public body (NDPB) funded by the UK government. ESRC provides fundin ...
’s
Teaching and Learning Research Programme Teaching is the practice implemented by a ''teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally' ...
. She held an
Economic and Social Research Council The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), formerly the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). UKRI is a non-departmental public body (NDPB) funded by the UK government. ESRC provides fundi ...
Director's Fellowship in 2008. At the end of 2008 she took up a part-time post as Associate Director of Research at the
University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
Faculty of Education. From 2013-2015 she was also Non-executive Director of Bell Educational Services.


Research interests

Throughout her career in teaching and research, Mary has been interested in finding out what teachers might do to improve learning by investigating what happens in their interactions with students, the curriculum and school structures. After moving into higher education, this interest initially developed into research and teaching on school self-evaluation and teacher action-research. During a period of five years (1985–90) when she was involved in a large government-funded evaluation of records of achievement schemes (PRAISE), she became increasingly interested in the idea that assessment by teachers in classrooms could be a powerful tool for improving learning. This often requires them to rethink what it means ‘to teach’ and ‘to assess’ and to place more emphasis on eliciting and interpreting evidence of learning as a basis for planning teaching to support learners in their efforts to improve. Traditional views of practice, cultural and institutional expectations, and external policy sometimes inhibit change, therefore, another area of research interest has been the impact of national, local and school policy on classroom practice and students’ experience. She has published widely in all these areas. In 2013 her selected works were published by Routledge in their World Library of Educationalists. These two complementary strands of research activity also found expression in her work as founding editor (1990–1996) o
The Curriculum Journal
and in her membership of the from 1992. Mary's research interests in assessment, teaching, learning, curriculum, teacher development and school improvement came together in a major
ESRC The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), formerly the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). UKRI is a non-departmental public body (NDPB) funded by the UK government. ESRC provides fundin ...
TLRP development and research project
Learning How to Learn – in classrooms, schools and networks’
This involved collaborative work over four years (2001–2005) among five universities (
Institute of Education The UCL Institute of Education (IOE) is the faculty of education and society of University College London (UCL). It specialises in postgraduate study and research in the field of education and is one of UCL's 11 constituent faculties. Prior t ...
,
Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
,
University of Reading The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...
,
The Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...
and
King's College, London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...
) and 40 primary and secondary schools. Its overarching aim was to develop and test a model of how pedagogical knowledge about how pupils learn how to learn, building on assessment for learning, is created and applied in classrooms under particular organisational conditions. It also investigated how this knowledge can be successfully transferred between teachers and between schools. Publications from this project can be accessed via the TLRP website. From 2002-2008 she was also Deputy Director of the Teaching and Learning Research Programme as a whole, with special responsibility for 22 projects and for synthesising findings into 10 evidence-informed principles for effective teaching and learning.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:James, Mary 1946 births Living people Schoolteachers from Surrey Alumni of the UCL Institute of Education Alumni of the Open University Academics of the UCL Institute of Education Alumni of the University of Sussex Fellows of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge People from Dorking British educational theorists Fellows of the Academy of Social Sciences