Staff Profile:Dr Alan Floyd
- Name:
- Dr Alan Floyd
- Job Title:
- Senior Lecturer in Educational Leadership and Management
- Responsibilities:
- MA in Education Specialist Pathway Leader: Leadership and Management
- EdD Module Leader: Leadership and Management
- Research Group Convenor: Equity, Inclusion and Improvement
- Member of Research Committee
- Member of Ethics Review Panel
Teaching:
- MA programme
- MA dissertation supervision
- EdD programme
- EdD and PhD supervision
- Areas of Interest:
Various aspects of education leadership and management including:
- How people perceive and experience being in a leadership role
- The role of the academic HoD
- The role of the middle leader in general
- Professional learning
- Leadership development
- Collaborative Professional Practice
- Inter-relationships between career trajectories, socialisation and identity
- The ethical issues involved with being an insider researcher
These interests are reflected in the publications and research projects listed below.
Current and Recent PhD Students:
Mohammad Alromaih (with Prof Naz Rassool) The impact of de-centralisation on the experiences of headteachers in Saudi Arabia.
Abdullah Alghulayqah (with Prof Naz Rassool) The leadership and management of private universities in Saudi Arabia
Rfah Alyami (with Prof Brian Fidler) Tatweer Schools in Saudi Arabia: Innovation and cost effectiveness
Winston Brookes (with Prof Paul Croll) The impact of M level study on classroom practice and pupil attainment
Thanda Mhlanga (with Prof Naz Rassool) The impact of current UK educational reform on the role and professional identities of the FE middle manager
Current and Recent Research Projects:
2012-2014 Leadership development in a Small Island Developing State: the Jamaican context (with Dr Carol Fuller, University of Reading and Dr Renee Rattray, Jamaican Mutual Building Societies Foundation)
This project, funded by a BELMAS International Partnership Grant http://www.belmas.org.uk/belmas11/awards/internationaldevgrntguidance.eb, aims to examine the ways school leaders from Jamaica (6 heads and 12 middle leaders) experience a leadership development programme set up by the University of Reading in collaboration with the Jamaican Mutual Building Societies Foundation (Creating Centres of Excellence Programme). Drawing on data from three sources - focus groups, semi structured interviews and an online questionnaire - the project explores the context within which the leaders are working and examines the effectiveness and impact of the programme from their perspective.
2012 - 2013 Investigating the Newly Formed Role of 'Academic Lead' at a Research-led University (with Tash Kahn-Davis and Dr Dilly Fung, both University of Exeter)
This project, funded by the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education http://www.lfhe.ac.uk/research/smallprojects, aims to explore the perceptions and experiences of academics who have taken on the newly formed role of "Academic Lead" (AL) within the case study University. Specifically the project aims to find out why they have taken on the role, what are their experiences of being in the role, and how they perceive the role as contributing to their future careers? Data is being collected using a two staged, mixed- methods approach using semi-structured interviews and an on-line questionnaire.
2012 - 2013 Exploring the Professional Identities of Secondary School Teachers (with Dr Carol Fuller, University of Reading)
This study, funded by the University of Reading IoE internal research fund, aims to understand how teachers view their profession and explore how valued they feel as professionals. We are collecting data through an on-line survey and follow-up semi-structured interviews.
2011 - 2012 Career Trajectories and Experiences of Jamaican School Leaders (with Dr Carol Fuller, University of Reading )
The aim of this exploratory study, funded by the University of Reading IoE, is to describe, understand and interpret the career trajectories and experiences of a small group of Jamaican school leaders. Data is being collected using focus groups and semi structured interviews.
2011 - 2012 Life Histories of Academics who become HoDs in a pre-1992 University: Socialisation, Identity and Career Trajectory
This project is funded by the University of Reading Research Endowment Trust Fund. Through undertaking life history interviews with a group of selected middle leaders in a research led University, the study aims to achieve greater understanding of why academics become department heads, what it is like being a department head, and how the experience influences their future career plans.
2009 - 2010 Inter-professional Education and Collaborative Practice
In this project, funded from Oxford Brookes University central research funds and led by Professor Marlene Morrison, the aim was to construct an authoritative literature review examining inter-professional learning and professional collaborative practice in the context of complex multi-professional working in the Health, Social Care, and Education Services.
- Research groups / Centres:
- Publications:
-
YNumber of items: 5.
2012
- Floyd, A. and Arthur, L. (2012) Researching from within: external and internal ethical engagement. International Journal of Research & Method in Education. ISSN 1743-7288 (In Press)
- Floyd, A. (2012) Turning points: the personal and professional circumstances that lead academics to become middle managers. Educational Management Administration and Leadership, 40 (2). pp. 272-284. ISSN 1741-1440 doi: 10.1177/1741143211427980
- Floyd, A. (2012) Narrative and life history. In: Briggs, A., Coleman, M. and Morrison, M. (eds.) Research methods in educational leadership and management. 3rd edition. Sage, London, pp. 223-235. ISBN 9781446200438
2011
- Floyd, A. and Dimmock, C. (2011) ‘Jugglers’, ‘copers’ and ‘strugglers’: academics’ perceptions of being a HoD in a post-1992 UK university and how it influences their future careers. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 33 (4). pp. 387-399. ISSN 1469-080X doi: 10.1080/1360080X.2011.585738
2009
- Floyd, A. (2009) Life histories of academics who become heads of department: socialisation, identity and career trajectory. PhD thesis, University of Leicester.
Conference Presentations:
Floyd, A. (2012) Supporting middle leaders in higher education: Do we care? presented at New Zealand Educational Administration and Leadership Society Conference, Tauranga, New Zealand, 11-13 April
Floyd, A. (2011) Leadership in Higher Education - Voices from the Middle invited paper presented at the SRHE South West Higher Education Network Seminar Series, University of Bristol, 18th May.
Floyd, A. (2011) Narratives of academics who become department heads in a chartered UK university paper presented as part of a symposium: Barnet, R., Evans, L., Floyd, A., Gornell, L. and Salisbury, J. Narrating 'workstyles, textures and adaptations' in academic work and workplace at the Centre for Excellence in Preparing for Academic Practice 4th International Conference - Academia as workplace: linking past, present and future. University of Oxford.
Floyd, A. and Arthur, L. Researching from Within: Moral and Ethical Issues and Dilemmas. presented at SRHE Annual Conference, Cardiff, 14th-16th December 2010
Arthur, L., Floyd, A., Glenny, G., and Morrison, M. (2010) The Leadership and Management of Inter-professional Education and Collaborative Professional Practice presented at BELMAS annual Conference, Reading
Floyd, A. (2009) "Turning Points": the personal and professional circumstances that lead academics to become HoDs at a UK University presented at Beyond Teaching and Research - Inclusive Understandings of Academic Practice Conference, University of Oxford
Floyd, A. (2009) Jugglers, Copers and Strugglers: A Conceptual Framework for Interpreting the Career Trajectories of Academics who become HoDs presented at SRHE Annual Conference, Cardiff
Floyd, A. (2008) Experiences of Academics who become HoDs in a UK University: Socialisation, Identity and Career Trajectory presented at SRHE Annual Conference, Liverpool
Floyd, A. (2008) Karma Chameleons: Changing Identities of Academics who become Heads of Department presented at Academic Identities in Crisis? Conference, University of Central Lancashire
Floyd, A. (2007) Career Trajectories of Academics who become Heads of Department - Initial Findings presented at Annual BERA Conference, University of London
Floyd, A. (2006) Heading the Department: A need for Investigation presented at Annual BERA Conference, University of Warwick
Enterprise Activity, External Roles and Consultancy:
The Champions Leadership Development Programme - This international project is led by the University of Reading in collaboration with the Jamaican Mutual Building Societies Foundation (Creating Centres of Excellence Programme). The aim of the programme is to promote leadership development by enabling selected Jamaican school leaders to spend two weeks in the UK critically reflecting on their leadership and management practice through a programme of seminars and school visits.
External Examiner for Sheffield Hallam University (2008-2011)
External Examiner for University of Strathclyde (2011 - present)
Member of the British Educational Research Association (BERA)
Member of the British Educational Leadership Management and Administration Society (BELMAS)
Convenor of BELMAS Higher Education Leadership and Management Research Interest Group
Member of the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE)
Alan has reviewed articles for the following journals: Educational Management Administration and Leadership, Oxford Review of Education and Teaching and Teacher Education.
Career History:
Alan began his career as a teacher and has taught in a range of secondary schools and colleges throughout the UK. Within the HE sector, Alan has previously lectured at the Carnegie School of Education, Leeds Metropolitan University and most recently at the Westminster Institute of Education, Oxford Brookes University, where he contributed to both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and held a senior management position. Alan joined the University of Reading in 2010.
Qualifications:
BA(Ed) Hons in PE, Geography and Education from St.Luke's College, Exeter University (1992)
MSc in Exercise and Health Sciences from Edinburgh University (2000)
MBA (Distinction) in Educational Management from Leicester University (2004)
PhD from Leicester University (2009) Title: Life Histories of Academics who become Heads of Department: Socialisation, Identity and Career Trajectory
