Professor Jean Murray is the Research and Knowledge Exchange Leader in the Cass School of Education at the University of East London. Her research focuses on the sociological analysis of teacher education policies and practices in the UK and internationally. She has a particular interest in the identities and career trajectories of teacher educators as key agents in the field of teacher education. She has published extensively in books, journals and reports and disseminated her research at national and international conferences.

Jean began her career in education by teaching in primary schools in Inner London for nine years. She then came into higher education, where she has taught on all levels of courses including under-graduate degrees, post-graduate certificates, Masters, EdD and PhD degrees. She now supervises PhD degrees and tutors students studying for educational doctorates (EdDs). In recognition of teaching excellence and her work in academic support, Jean was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship by the Higher Education Academy in 2011. She has acted as educational consultant on teacher education and professional learning for national and international government organisations, including the Department for Education, ODA / DfID and the governments of Kenya and Indonesia. Her consultancy experience also includes working with numerous universities in the UK and across the world. She has given keynote addresses in many universities in the UK, as well as in countries as diverse as Trinidad, Indonesia, Kenya, Norway and the Netherlands. She is currently working as an advisor to the European Union on teacher education issues.

Jean has now been an active member of the academic community in the UK over more than twenty years. She chairs the BERA On-Line Resources Board, is an Associate Director of ESCalate / HEA, chairs the Teacher Education Advancement Network Steering Group and serves on the Executive Board of the Society for Educational Studies. She is also the convenor of the largest Special Interest Group at BERA (Teacher Education and Development), a member of SFRE and a leading member of the UCET Research and Development Committee.  She is an editorial board member of the British Journal of Educational Studies, the European Journal of Teacher Education and the Asia Pacific Journal of Teacher Education. She also reviews for a wide range of other educational journals (including BERJ, JEP, TaTE and Teachers and Teaching) and for book publishers (including SAGE and Routledge). 

Research in the Cass School of Education.

Jean’s research interests focus on teacher education and other professional education areas within universities. She is also involved in related research on work-based learning, induction and professional development and research-capacity building.

Her publications have included sociological analyses of the history of teacher education, the professional identities of teacher educators, school teachers and mentors, the work of teacher, medical, nurse and social work educators, and the processes of academic induction and professional development in Higher Education.

In addition to undertaking an extensive range of national consultancies, Jean has undertaken research projects for many organisations including the Higher Education Academy / ESCalate, the Society for Educational Studies, BERA, UCET and the TLRP / ESRC,   the Teaching Agency and the Department for Education and Skills / Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Amongst other professional interests, Jean is an Associate Director of ESCalate / HEA and works on the Editorial Boards of two international journals. She is also an active member of the British Educational Research Association (BERA) (notably as BERA’s elected convenor for the Teacher Education and Development SIG), the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the Association of Teacher Educators in Europe (ATEE), the Society for Educational Studies (SES) and the University Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET). She is also part of international networks researching teacher education in European, North American and Australian contexts

• Doctoral programmes
• PhD supervision

Research projects include:

• Building Research Capacity in Teacher Education (Teacher Education Group for the TLRP / ESRC, BERA, UCET and ESCalate / HEA), conducted with researchers from the Institute of Education, Glasgow, Leeds Metropolitan, Liverpool John Moores and Roehampton Universities.
• Major Award from the Society of Educational Studies for research project ‘ The Academic Tribe of Teacher Educators, conducted with the Institute of Education and the Roehampton University (PI)
• Teacher Training (Development) Agency, 2006 – 2008 (£138K) Evaluation of the Subject Knowledge and Booster courses (SKBC). (PI with R. Jeffery)
• The Induction of Teacher Educators into Higher Education Institutions in Europe, with Research and Development Group 18 of the Association of Teacher Educators in Europe  www.atee.org/rdcs/pdte.html  www.pdte.macam.ac.il
• Devising a professional framework for the work of teacher educators in Europe, with Research and Development Group 18 of the Association of Teacher Educators in Europe www.atee.org/rdcs/pdte.html  www.pdte.macam.ac.il (PI)
• The development of resources for the Support for New Academic Staff (SNAS) database for the Higher Education Academy / ESCalate (www.escalate.ac.uk/1564; www.hea.ac.uk) (PI)
• The Evaluation of the Subject Knowledge Booster Course provision for the Teacher Development Agency 2002-2003; 2003-2006..
• Supporting the development of new researchers in education. Joint initiative for the British Educational Research Association (BERA www.bera.ac.uk ) and the University Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET  www.ucet.ac.uk )