Alan Floyd

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+44 (0) 118 378 2720
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Professor
- Research Division Lead
- Member of Senior Management Group
- EdD and PhD teaching and supervision
- Chair of Research Committee
- Member of Ethics Review Committee
- Member of Promotions Committee
Areas of interest
My research and teaching activity focus on two substantive areas: educational leadership and doctoral education. Specific areas of interest include:
- Academic leadership (for details, please watch my video below)
- School leadership and Multi Academy Trusts (MATs)
- How people perceive and experience being in a leadership role
- Distributed and collaborative leadership
- Leadership development
- Career trajectories
- Identity
- Insider research and associated ethical issues
- Supporting doctoral researchers
Postgraduate supervision
Current supervisions
- Emad Alotaibi (with Dr Karen Jones) Leading Rural Schools in Saudi Arabia: Opportunities and Challenges. PhD
- Aseel Alsharif (with Nasreen Majid) Staff perceptions of primary school curriculum reform in Saudi Arabia. PhD
- David Cousens (with Dr Fiona Curtis) Student and staff perceptions and experiences of student feedback in HE. EdD
- Beljeet Daffu (with Dr Karen Jones) Exploring leaders professional identities and career trajectories in a private HEI. EdD
- Tim Gilson (with Dr Chris Turner) Leadership succession planning in Multi Academy Trust. EdD
- Daniel Grant (with Marc Jacobs) The development of professional identity in pharmacy students. EdD
- Dani Hall (with Prof Elizabeth McCrum) Making sense of school governance. EdD
- Kat Hall (with Dr Karen Jones) An analysis of the lived experiences of healthcare professionals working in split roles in clinical practice and University. EdD
- Elida Kalpogianni (with Prof Helen Bilton) Preschool teachers' attitudes and perceptions regarding play in day care nurseries in Greece: the development of a play promotion programme and its effects on teachers' attitudes and practice. PhD
- Mary Mountstephen (with Dr Catherine Foley) Teachers professional identities and the status of primary school Physical Education in England. EdD
- Samantha Parkes (with Dr Catherine Foley) Exploring teachers' perceptions and experiences of practitioner research. EdD
- Michelle Rogers (with Dr Gill Hopper) Children's Perceptions of Drawing Across the Curriculum in Primary Education. EdD
- Meliha Sakin (with Dr Karen Jones) Exploring educational reform in Turkey. PhD
- Zenia Zulu (with Dr Geoff Taggart) Exploring perceptions and experiences of accounting ethics education. EdD
Completions
- Abdullah Alghulayqah (with Prof Naz Rassool) Examining the Perceptions of Senior Management Teams in Three Private Universities in Saudi Arabia: Opportunities and Challenges. PhD
- Muteb Alhammadi Successful school principals in Saudi Arabia: practices, culture and leadership development. PhD
- Husain Almalki (with Dr Karen Jones) School principals' experiences and perceptions of autonomy and decision making in Saudi Arabia. PhD
- Mohammad Alromaih (with Prof Naz Rassool) Headteachers' perspectives and experiences of educational reform in AlQassim, Saudi Arabia. PhD
- Ahmad Alsewiket (with Dr Karen Jones) The perspectives of male academic staff and postgraduate students on the effects of globalisation on higher education and cultural identity: A case study at a college of education in Saudi Arabia. PhD
- Khaled Alshawabka (with Dr Pete Bradshaw) Lesson observation practices in an English secondary school: identity, culture and CPD. EdD
- Rfah Alyami (with Prof Naz Rassool) A Case Study of the Tatweer School System in Saudi Arabia: the perceptions of leaders and teachers. PhD
- Valentina Bamber (with Barbara King) Language Teacher Education for TEYL: What do Trentino-South Tyrol LETs’ perceptions of their professional learning reveal about best practice professional development? EdD
- Nicola Brooks (with Dr Liz Marr) Data Changes Everything: An investigation into the acceptance of learning analytics to support student success. EdD
- Winston Brookes (with Prof Paul Croll) The Masters in Teaching and Learning (MTL): a retrospective, intrinsic case study of the process of policy into practice and its impact on teacher participants. PhD
- Daniel Burgos (with Dr Natthapoj Vincent Trakulphadetkrai) Open Science & Open Innovation: A new paradigm to achieve STE(A)M competences. PhD by published works
- Tim Clark (with Dr Elizabeth McCrum) Exploring the social construction of philosophical assumptions: the methodological journeys of doctoral researchers in the social sciences. EdD
- Patricia Day-Hookoomsing (with Prof Jeanine Treffers-Daller) The role of English in an emerging economy: the case of the ICT-BPO sector in Mauritius. PhD
- Janette Jolly (with Dr Carol Fuller) Life histories of retirement life-transition amateur instrumentalists: music education, lifelong learning, and identity. EdD
- Wisanu Krutngoen (with Prof Brian Fidler) Social Capital and Physical Capital as Community Resources: An Impact Study on Students' Perceptions and Educational Outcomes in Two Southern USA Schools. PhD
- Blair McMurchy (with Dr Carol Fuller) The role of the President in Ontario Community Colleges. EdD
- Nasreen Majid (with Dr Karen Jones) How do primary teachers in England develop their professional identities as mathematics specialists? EdD
- Thanda Mhlanga (with Prof Naz Rassool) The construction of professional identities in Further Education in the UK: perspectives of middle managers and academic experts in Educational Leadership and Management. PhD
- Louise Padgen (with Dr Carol Fuller) Free school Policy Enactment in two case-study schools: Motivation, vision and reality. EdD
- Saba Qadhi Female English Language Teachers' perceptions and experiences of continuing professional development in Qatar. PhD
- Beth Richards-Bray (with Dr Daguo Li) What impact does pre-sojourn preparation have on host-culture adjustment for sojourning students? A case-study of a SINO-UK Joint Programme. EdD
- Wayne Rimmer English language teachers and the role of Professional Associations. EdD
- Rich Robson (with Dr Carol Fuller) Marketing attitudes and practices of staff at a UK independent school. EdD
- Hayley Sae Kang (with Dr Cathy Tissot) Exploring the role of LSAs in a UK special school: identity, culture and CPD. EdD
- David Stoten Transforming learning in an English business school: time for a new paradigm of teaching and learning within the Business School Curriculum? PhD by Published Works
Research projects
Since 2010, I have been involved with funded research and consultancy worth almost £1million.
- 2021 - 2023 Exploring Gender and Academic Leadership Development in Qatar. (with Dr Saba Mansoor and colleagues, Qatar University) funded by Qatar National Research Priorities Fund
- 2020-2022 Leading school learning through Covid-19 and beyond: Online learning and strategic planning through and post lockdown in English secondary schools (with Dr Jacqueline Baxter, Open University) funded by UK Research and Innovation (ESRC)
- 2020 Reading Endowment Trust Fund Pump-Priming Funding (for External Grant Development)
- 2017/2018 An evaluation of the Nxplorers Programme (Stage 2) funded by Shaping Learning
- 2016/2017 Understandings and formulation of democratic strategy in federated school structures in England (with Dr Jacqueline Baxter, Open University Business School) funded by the British Academy/Leverhulme Trust.
- 2016/2017 Evaluating the effectiveness of the Researching Practitioner Development Framework (with Dr Hilary Lindsay, Open University) funded by the Open University Research into Teaching and Learning Fund.
- 2016 An evaluation of a 'sustainable leadership' capacity building programme for 14-19 year olds funded by Shaping Learning.
- 2016 Research Development Grant awarded by the Open University (to support involvement in external roles).
- 2014-2015 University of Reading Research Endowment Trust Fund Grant (to prepare a large scale, international research bid).
- 2013 - 2014 Exploring the Role of Associate Deans in UK Universities (with Dr Diane Preston, Open University Business School) funded by the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education.
- 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) funded by the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education.
- 2012-2014 Leadership Development in a Small Island Developing State: the Jamaican context (with Dr Carol Fuller, University of Reading) funded by a BELMAS International Partnership Grant.
- 2012 - 2013 Exploring the Professional Identities of Secondary School Teachers (with Dr Carol Fuller, University of Reading) funded by the University of Reading IoE Internal Research Fund.
- 2011 - 2012 Life Histories of Academics who become HoDs in a pre-1992 University: Socialisation, Identity and Career Trajectory funded by the University of Reading Research Endowment Trust Fund.
- 2009-2010 Inter-professional Education and Collaborative Practice funded by Oxford Brookes University and led by Professor Marlene Morrison.
Background
I began my career as a teacher and have taught in a range of secondary schools and colleges throughout the UK.
Within the HE sector, I have previously lectured at Leeds Metropolitan University, Oxford Brookes University (where I held a senior management post within the Westminster Institute of Education), and the Open University (where I was the EdD Programme Leader).
At the University of Reading, I have been the Director of Postgraduate Research Studies, the EdD Programme Director, and the Pathway Leader for all MA and doctoral leadership and management programmes in the Institute of Education (IoE).
I am currently the Research Division Lead and a member of the IoE Senior Management Group.
Examining
- External Examiner for University of Warwick (Masters programme) (2019-present)
- External Examiner for University of Wales Trinity St David (EdD Programme) (2017-present)
- External Examiner for The University of Strathclyde (Masters programme) (2011-2017)
- External Examiner for Sheffield Hallam University (BA programme) (2008-2011)
I have examined 45 doctoral candidates at a range of institutions throughout the UK.
In addition, I have acted as an independent panel chair on several occasions.
Academic qualifications
- Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA)
- PhD (University of Leicester)
- MBA (University of Leicester)
- MSc (University of Edinburgh)
- BAEd (Hons) (St Luke's College, University of Exeter)
Professional bodies/affiliations
- (2018-2021) Visiting Professor in Educational Leadership at Newman University, Birmingham.
- (2018-2021) Editorial Board member for the Sage Journal Management in Education
- Advisor to the Commonwealth Scholarship Committee and advise on applications to the scheme in the area of Educational Leadership and Management.
- Acted as an external grant reviewer for the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC - UK), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the Sultan Qaboos University, Oman, and the Education University of Hong Kong.
- Journal reviewer for several high impact journals.
Publications
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Chaaban, Y.
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Qadhi, S.
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Al-Thani, H.
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Floyd, A.
ORCID: 0000-0002-2008-7831 , Du, X. (2023) Supports and constraints to middle leadership development in higher education: a Q-methodology study. Educational Management Administration and Leadership ISSN: 1741-1440 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/17411432231174092
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Baxter, J.
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Floyd, A.
ORCID: 0000-0002-2008-7831 , Jewitt, K. (2022) Pandemic, a catalyst for change: strategic planning for digital education in English secondary schools, before during and post covid. British Educational Research Journal ISSN: 1469-3518 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/berj.3845
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Gomersall, S.
and
Floyd, A.
ORCID: 0000-0002-2008-7831 (2022) Resilience: Myanmar students’ experiences of overcoming elearning challenges during Covid 19 and political instability. Asia Pacific Education Review ISSN: 1598-1037 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12564-022-09781-6
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Jewitt, K.
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Baxter, J.
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Floyd, A.
ORCID: 0000-0002-2008-7831 (2021) Strategic management of online education in English secondary schools during Covid 19 and beyond. pp. 765-772. | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.21125/edulearn.2021.0210 (ISBN: 9788409312672 ISSN: 2340-1117)
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Floyd, A.
ORCID: 0000-0002-2008-7831 (2021) Departmental leadership in a post pandemic world: taking collective responsibility for our future success. In: Connolly, T. and Farrier, S. , (eds.) Leadership and Management Strategies for Creating Agile Universities. IGI Global , Pennsylvania. pp. 16-28. ISBN: 9781799882138 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-8213-8
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Qhadi, S.
and
Floyd, A.
ORCID: 0000-0002-2008-7831 (2021) Female English language teachers' perceptions and experiences of continuing professional development in Qatar. Education Sciences , 11 (4). ISSN: 2227-7102 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/educsci11040160
- Rimmer, W. and Floyd, A. (2020) The contribution of conferences to teachers’ professionalism. TESL-EJ , 24 (1). ISSN: 1072-4303
- Rimmer, W. and Floyd, A. (2020) Teaching associations and professionalism. English Language Teaching Journal , 74 (2). pp. 126-135. ISSN: 1477-4526 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccaa003
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Floyd, A.
ORCID: 0000-0002-2008-7831 (2019) Investigating the PDR process in a UK university: continuing professional development or performativity?. Professional Development in Education (formerly Journal of In-service Education) , 48 (2). pp. 315-329. ISSN: 1941-5257 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2019.1696874
- Baxter, J. and Floyd, A. (2019) Strategic narrative in multi-academy trusts in England: principal drivers for expansion. British Educational Research Journal , 45 (5). pp. 1050-1071. ISSN: 1469-3518 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/berj.3550
- Floyd, A. and Preston, D. (2019) Why do UK academics become Associate Deans and what are their future career plans?. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management , 41 (4). pp. 430-443. ISSN: 1469-9508 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1360080x.2019.1625220
- Alyami, R. and Floyd, A. (2019) Female school leaders’ perceptions and experiences of decentralisation and distributed leadership in the Tatweer system in Saudi Arabia. Education Sciences , 9 (1). ISSN: 2227-7102 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/educsci9010025
- Floyd, A. and Mhlanga, T. (2019) An evaluation of the nxplorers programme – stage 2. The University of Reading , Reading.
- Lindsay, H. and Floyd, A. (2019) Experiences of using the researching professional development framework. Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education , 10 (1). pp. 54-68. ISSN: 2398-4686 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1108/SGPE-02-2019-049
- Floyd, A. and Fung, D. (2018) Stories of leading and being led: developing collaborative relationships in an English research-intensive university. In: Gornall, L. , Thomas, B. , Sweetman, L. , (eds.) Exploring Consenual Leadership in Higher Education. Bloomsbury Academic , London. ISBN: 9781350043572
- Floyd, A. and Preston, D. (2018) The role of the Associate Dean in UK Universities: distributed leadership in action?. Higher Education , 75 (5). pp. 925-943. ISSN: 0018-1560 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10734-017-0178-1
- Lindsay, H. , Kerawalla, C. , Floyd, A. (2018) Supporting researching professionals: EdD students’ perceptions of their development needs. Studies in Higher Education , 43 (12). pp. 2321-2335. ISSN: 0307-5079 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2017.1326025
- Lindsay, H. and Floyd, A. (2017) Evaluating the effectiveness of the Researching Professional Development Framework. The Open University , Milton Keynes.
- Preston, D. and Floyd, A. (2016) Supporting the role of Associate Dean in universities: an alternative approach to management development. Higher Education Quarterly , 70 (3). pp. 264-280. ISSN: 1468-2273 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/hequ.12099
- Floyd, A. (2016) Supporting academic middle managers in Higher Education: do we care?. Higher Education Policy , 29 (2). pp. 167-183. ISSN: 1740-3863 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1057/hep.2015.11
- Floyd, A. (2016) An evaluation of the Nxplorers Programme - end of project report. The Open University , Milton Keynes.
- Floyd, A. and Fuller, C. (2016) Leadership identity in a small island developing state: the Jamaican context. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education , 46 (2). pp. 251-271. ISSN: 0305-7925 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2014.936365
- Floyd, A. and Fung, D. (2015) Focusing the kaleidoscope: exploring distributed leadership in an English university. Studies in Higher Education , 2015 ISSN: 0307-5079 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2015.1110692
- Floyd, A. and Preston, D. (2014) Exploring the role of Associate Dean in UK universities. Leadership Foundation for Higher Education
- Floyd, A. and Morrison, M. (2014) Exploring identities and cultures in inter-professional education and collaborative professional practice. Studies in Continuing Education , 36 (1). pp. 38-53. ISSN: 1470-126X | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0158037X.2013.783472
- Floyd, A. (2013) Narratives of academics who become department heads. In: Gornall, L. , Cook, C. , Daunton, L. , Salisbury, J. , Thomas, B. , (eds.) Academic Working Lives: Experience, Practice and Change. Bloomsbury Academic , London. ISBN: 9781441185341
- Floyd, A. and Fung, D. (2013) Focusing the kaleidoscope: investigating the newly formed role of 'Academic Lead’ at a research-led University. The Leadership Foundation for Higher Education
- Floyd, A. and Arthur, L. (2012) Researching from within: external and internal ethical engagement. International Journal of Research & Method in Education , 35 (2). pp. 171-180. ISSN: 1743-7288 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1743727X.2012.670481
- Floyd, A. (2012) Narrative and life history. In: Briggs, A. , Coleman, M. , Morrison, M. , (eds.) Research methods in educational leadership and management. 3rd edition. Sage , London. pp. 223-235. ISBN: 9781446200438
- 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: https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1741143211427980
- Floyd, A. and Dimmock, C. (2011) ‘Jugglers’, ‘copers’ and ‘strugglers’: academics’ perceptions of being a head of department 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: 1469-9508 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1360080X.2011.585738
- Morrison, M. , Arthur, L. , Floyd, A. , Glenny, G. , Westcott, L. , Ewens, A. , Lansdown, G. , Lloyd-Jones, N. , Vitali, S. , Bell, J. , Mickan, S. (2010) Inter-professional Education and Collaborative Practice: a critical literature review. Oxford Brookes University , Oxford.