Gerry Czerniawski

Professor Gerry Czerniawski

Senior Lecturer

Professor

Initial Teacher Education, Research Degrees Leader, Practitioner Research Group

Department of Education , School of Childhood and Social Care

Gerry runs the doctoral programmes (PhD and Professional Doctorate in Education) at the School of Childhood and Social Care and teaches on Initial Teacher Education (ITE) courses.  In addition to his role as a researcher, author and teacher educator he is the Chair of the British Curriculum Forum, Lead Editor of the BERA Blog and a trustee and council member of the British Educational Research Association (BERA).

Qualifications

  • PGCE, Masters, PhD

Areas Of Interest

  •  
  • Teaching and Learning
  • Student Voice
  • Teacher identities; the identities of teacher educators
  • Continuing Professional Development
  • The role of homework in educational achievement
  • Prison education
  • The global dimension in schools and comparative education
  • Doctoral pedagogy and assessment
  •  
Gerry Czerniawski

OVERVIEW

Gerry was awarded his degree at the University of North London (now London Metropolitan University) before completing both his PGCE and Master's degrees at London University's (UCL) Institute of Education and his PhD at King's College London. His published research interests include teaching and learning; student voice; teacher and teacher educator identity; teacher and teacher educator professional learning/CPD; doctoral studies; and prison education.

Gerry passionately worked in the multi-cultural environment in the London Borough of Newham for ten years teaching humanities, sociology and business studies at secondary and post-sixteen levels before gradually moving into teaching within Higher Education within both the political sciences and education (The Open University, University of Northampton, London Metropolitan University and UCL’s Institute of Education). He was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship from the Higher Education Academy and is a trustee, director and elected council member of the British Educational Research Association (BERA). Gerry runs the Professional Doctorate in Education at UEL. He is the Lead Editor of The BERA Blog, Founding and Lead Editor of Research in Teacher Education, former Chair of the British Curriculum Forum and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy/AdvanceHE.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Book chapters

  • Czerniawski G., Thomason M.  2025. Researcher positionality, power and doctoral research.  In: Burnell I., and Roffey-Barentsen J. (EdS).  Completing your EdD - The essential Guide to the Doctor of Education (2nd Ed).   London: Emerald.
  • Czerniawski G., Guberman A., Oolbekkink-Marchand H., Assuncao Flores M., Bain Y. (2024). Research and practice in the professional development of School-based Teacher Educators (SBTEs): comparative insights from the International Forum for Teacher Educator Development (InFo-TED) 2021 SBTE survey. In: Symeonidis, V. (Ed.) (2024). Enhancing the value of teacher education research: Implications for policy and practice. The Netherlands: Brill.
  • MacPhail A., Seleznyov S., O’Donnell C and G. Czerniawski (2022). Supporting the continuum of teacher education through policy and practice: the inter-relationships between initial induction, and continuing professional development. In: Bourke T., Henderson D., Spooner-Lane R., and White S. (Eds). Reconstructing the work of teacher educators - finding spaces in policy through agent approaches. Singapore: Springer
  • Czerniawski G. 2022. Professional development or professional learning: developing teacher educators' professional expertise. In: Meyer D (Ed) The International Encyclopedia of Education (4th Edition). London: Elsevier

International peer-reviewed journals

  • (2024). Czerniawski, G., Guberman, A., MacPhail, A., & Vanassche, E. Identifying school-based teacher educators’ professional learning needs: an international survey. European Journal of Teacher Education, 47(5), 1005-1020.
  • Pountney R., Baumfield V., Czerniawski G., and Seleznyov S. (2024).  Editorial: New perspectives on curriculum: rethinking collaborative enquiry and teachers’ professional learning.  Special Issue: New perspectives on curriculum: rethinking collaborative enquiry and teachers’ professional learning.  The Curriculum Journal. 35 (4): i-iv, 535-735.
  • Czerniawski G., Guberman A., MacPhail A., Vanassche E. 2023. Identifying school-based teacher educators' professional learning needs: an international survey. European Journal of Teacher Education (Ahead of print: https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2023.2251658)
  • Czerniawski, G. (2023). Power, positionality and practitioner research: Schoolteachers' experiences of professional doctorates in education. British Educational Research Journal, 00, 1–15.

Books

  • Czerniawski G. and Jones S. (Eds) 2024. Curriculum in a Changing World: 50 think pieces in education, policy, practice, innovation and inclusion. London: BERA/Troubador
  • Czerniawski G. 2018. Teacher educators in the twenty-first century: identity, knowledge and research. London: Critical Publishing. 

RESEARCH IN TEACHER EDUCATION

Gerry Czerniawski is the founding and Lead Editor of Research in Teacher Education. The periodical offers a forum for informed debate and discussion on all aspects of teacher education. The publication showcases work from the teacher education team at the School of Education and Communities and the wider teacher education community within and beyond the UK.

TEACHING

Doctoral Students

Current Doctoral Students

  • Adeola Ayisat Adeoye: Towards the improvement of the inclusion of secondary school students with special educational needs/disabilities (SEN/D) in Nigeria: A case study of an inclusive public and private secondary school in Lagos State.
  • Olyemisi Afolabi: Montessori Primary Education: Voices and Visions of Montessori teachers
  • Banjo Aromolaran: How does the experience of exclusion affect engagement, learning, achievement, and progression amongst learners who present with Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs in the UK? A London Study
  • Gloria Alozie Awosika: ‘Do You Really Want to Be a Social Worker’? ‘A phenomenological exploration of the experiences of dyslexic social work students on practice placements.
  • Alain Codrington: School exclusion in an Inner-London Local Authority: a case study exploring the attitudes and experiences of children, parents, and professionals impacted by exclusion.
  • Paula Daines: Rise of the Ghost Teachers: The experiences of career-changing female primary school teachers, in England, during their early careers.
  • Cordelia Dunkwu: The Perspective of Parents, Pupils, Teachers and Teaching Assistants on the Education of Autistic Pupils in Mainstream Secondary Schools and Special Units.
  • Fatuma Farah: Examining Perspectives on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) among affected communities in the United Kingdom
  • Fehmida Iqbal: The Lost girls: The relative understatement of British South Asian Muslim females in an inner London primary school.
  • Charline Jackson-Wade: Research Title: “It’s those loud Black girls again” ‘A narrative enquiry into the positioning of Black Girls as both invisible and hypervisible in the secondary classroom in England.
  • David Mackrory: Developing Enterprise Skills in Students to support positive graduate outcomes: a case study of UEL's Mental Wealth initiative
  • Laura McBean: Navigating Whiteness: A Narrative Inquiry of Female Ethnic Minority Physical Education Teachers’ Experiences in England.
  • Corrina Richards: "When am I going to be found out?" An exploration of Imposter Phenomenon in Initial Teacher Educators: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.
  • Jeanette Scull: Curriculum and Complexity - An exploration of Curriculum Personalisation and teachers perspectives on developing personalisation for Complex Learners
  • Athina Tempriou: What are Greek Cypriot primary and secondary state school teachers’ perceptions of barriers for inclusive education of autistic children?
  • Shaheda Begum: A narrative inquiry exploring the experiences of British Bangladeshi Muslim Women in Higher Education in England.

Past Doctoral Students’ successful completions

  • Dr Marcia Ogungi: An exploration of factors which influence the professional identity and pedagogical practice of midwifery and nursing educators, with particular focus on how affective care (ie being caring) manifests in their teaching.
  • Dr Ann Marie Allen: The Literacy worlds of Jamaican heritage children living in London: identity and educational development
  • Dr Maureen Okoye: Inclusion and Autism in primary education - An exploratory intervention on the Preparation of beginner teachers in England
  • Dr Amina Abdat: Teachers’ Continuous Professional Development CPD in Algeria and England: A Comparative Study of MFL Teachers in Medea and London
  • Dr Kulvarn Atwal: Critical analysis of the impact of action research on teachers' professional development
  • Dr Anna Chapman: An investigation into the distribution of leadership in extended learning activities through the lens of cultural historical activity theory
  • Dr Timothy Cook: Voice, Power and Trust a Critical Exploration of the Factors Facilitating Student Voice within a Secure Training Centre
  • Dr Rebecca Crutchley: ‘Retrospective narratives of the brokering roles assumed by child migrants following resettlement.’
  • Dr Christopher Dalladay: The Biography of Music Teachers, their Understanding of Musicality and the Implications for Secondary Music Education
  • Dr Neil Herrington: The effect of megaevents on the educational environment perceptions of London 2012
  • Dr Dominik Jackson-Cole: Navigating Toward Success: Black and Minority Ethnic Students In Postgraduate Science, Technology, Engineering And Mathematics Courses In England
  • Dr Elicia Lewis: Pressure, threat and fear in the classroom: pupils’ and teachers’ perceptions of soft failure in an 11+ context
  • Professor Eva Lloyd: Equity and evidence in twenty-give years of early childhood policy research
  • Dr John Macklin: Turbulence dilemmas, and leadership: A case study of an English School after academisation
  • Dr David Morris: Giving Pupils Licence to Lead: Supporting Teachers’ Continuing Professional Development in the use of ICT
  • Dr Adejoke Ogunkoye: Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Nigeria: A system analysis of policy in national and local contexts.
  • Dr Tina Sode: An exploration of educational underachievement from the perspectives of teachers and white British working-class pupils in an urban Pupil Referral Unit.
  • Dr Sheeba Viswarajan: Does the new science GCSE curriculum improve the effectiveness of practical work in Key Stage 4 classes?

Initial Teacher Education

We are one of London's leading centres for teacher training, offering highly successful programmes for Primary, Secondary and Post-Compulsory levels.

UEL Initial Teacher Education

EdD Professional Doctorate in Education

Gain the opportunity and the skills with this EdD to conduct robust and innovative research that will improve the policy, practice and quality of education.

Apply for Professional Doctorate in Education

MODULES

  • Secondary Schools Direct and PGCE
  • PGCE Post Compulsory Education and Training/Cert Ed.
  • Doctoral and Masters Programmes

Publications

Browse past publications by year.

Full publications list

Visit the research repository to view a full list of publications

Research repository

  • Burnell Reilly, I. and Czerniawski, G. (2025)

    Getting Over the Finishing Line in: Roffey-Barentsen, J. and Burnell Reilly, I. (ed.) Completing Your EdD: The Essential Guide to the Doctor of Education. Emerald Publishing Limited, pp.Chapter 10

    Book chapter

  • Czerniawski, G. and Thomason, M. (2025)

    Researcher positionality, power and doctoral research in: Roffey-Barentsen, J. and Burnell Reilly, I. (ed.) Completing Your EdD: The Essential Guide to the Doctor of Education. London: Emerald Publishing Limited, pp.145-172

    Book chapter

  • Czerniawski, G. (2022)

    Editorial Research in Teacher Education. 12 (1), p. 5. https://doi.org/10.15123/uel.8xvyq

    Article