IPDA Scotland Committee

IPDA Scotland Committee

Catriona Oates

Catriona Oates
Chair

Dr Catriona Oates is a lecturer in education at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh. She leads the fully online Master’s Programme in Educational Leadership. Her research interests current include teacher and teacher educators’ views on workload and wellbeing; supporting dialogic teaching in HE, as well as professional learning of teachers and educators in practice, with a bit of a fascination with collaborative practices that support professional relationships and knowledge-building.

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Elizabeth McClure
Co-Vice Chair

Dr. Elizabeth McClure is at the University of Aberdeen with focus on early years and primary education. Originally from the United States she has a keen interest in international education policy and curriculum.

John Mynott

JP Mynott
Co-Vice Chair

JP is Dean for Portfolio and Programme Development, at the University of Aberdeen. He has a background in primary school teaching. He was a headteacher in a large school, North of London, for ten years before moving to Aberdeen. His research interests are in the longevity of professional learning and collaboration. His current research is looking at the factors that help learning be sustained or diminished after a professional learning opportunity comes to a close. He has a specific interest in Lesson Study and enjoy working with people from different settings who are using Lesson Study approaches.

Beth Cross
Secretary

Dr. Beth Cross researches deliberative democracy, and service user voice and participation in health, social services and education and worked with a number of creative interdisciplinary projects that involve visual and dramatic arts. She leads on the Professional Doctorate Programme at UWS and has taught in the areas of community education, social policy and children’s services in England and Scotland, working with a number of creative interdisciplinary projects that involve visual and dramatic arts in order to expand the modalities for deliberation and participation.

Lynne Jones
Co-convenor Professional Learning Research Group

Lynne is co-lead for the IPDA Scotland PGR Network and part-time doctoral researcher investigating how teacher leadership is understood and experienced in Scotland. Beyond IPDA Scotland, Lynne is part of the Professional Development Team at Scotland’s National Centre for Languages (SCILT) affiliated to Strathclyde Institute of Education at the University of Strathclyde.

Louise McGlynn
Co-convenor, Professional Learning Research Group

Louise is a lecturer in Teacher Education at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh. Her research interests are in teacher professional learning, teacher professional identity and professionalism, and education policy.

Sheena Bell
Committee Member

Sheena Bell is a Professional Development Officer at Scotland’s National Centre for Languages (SCILT) at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. Her responsibilities include Professional Learning for secondary teachers and leaders of languages, Learning for Sustainability, Employability and multi-faceted support for the learning and teaching of languages in Scotland.

Lynn Nisbet
Committee Member

Lynn Nisbet is a Lecturer in Education at the University of the West of Scotland (UWS). Prior to commencing this position in 2020, Lynn was an Associate Lecturer at UWS and Principal Teacher in a primary school. Lynn’s school teaching experience is wide and varied, having taught in Australia and various regions in Scotland, with responsibility for a range of curricular areas and initiatives.
Lynn teaches on both the BA and PGDE programmes in Primary Education and, as part of the BA Leadership Team, has responsibility for overseeing curriculum development and assessment.

Lynn has been a member of IPDA since 2022 and research interests include investigation into teacher turnover as well as exploring the teacher/mentor roles for new teachers.