Dr Maureen Farrell
- Honorary Senior Research Fellow (School of Education)
email:
Maureen.Farrell@glasgow.ac.uk
R303 Level 3, Culture Literacies Inclusion and Pedagogy, St Andrew's Building, Glasgow G3 6NH
Biography
After completing a degree in Psychology and English at the University of Glasgow, I worked as a researcher for the Department of Clinical Oncology on an education programme aimed at preventing children from starting smoking. I then completed a PGCE at St Andrew's College and was an English teacher in Ayrshire and Glasgow and in Motherwell College. I began working in teacher education at St Andrew's College in 1993 and went on to become the B Ed Programme Leader and the Associate Dean for Initial Teacher Education. I am currently a Senior Lecturer and teach on the both undergraduate and postgraduate Initial Teacher Education programmes.I am Course Leader for the learning and Teaching in the Primary/Secondary School courses within the PGDE programme. I have also served as Director of Partnerships working closely with the nine Local Authorities with whom we have the closest working relationship for teacher education. As well as teaching on the M Ed in Children's Literature and Literacies I am now the Programme Leader. As from session 2019-20 I will also be teaching on the new International Masters in Children's Literature, Media and Culture programme. I am an Advisor of Studies and a Complaints investigator for the School of Education. My PhD was entitled Culture and Identity in Scottish Children's Fiction.
I am now the Senior Senate Assessor for Appeals for the University.
Research interests
Research interests
Scottish Children's Literature, Children's Literature; Scottish Literature, Picture Books; Visual Literacy, Children's Literature and Religious Education, Multi-modal literacy, Visual Literacy and intercultural responses, digital literacy
Grants
Member of the team with research grant funded by the UK Literary Association to the value of £2,600. Topic: Visual Journeys: Exploring immigrant children's visual literacy through intercultural responses to wordless picturebooks.
While serving as Director of Partnerships from 2014-2018 I was the named recipient for Scottish Government funding to support the development of Masters Level Qualifications for the Teaching profession of almost £500,000
Supervision
I welcome PhD applications on most aspects of children's literature although I have a particular interest in Scottish children's literature. I am also interested in literacy development, and the development of English teaching in schools. Currently I am supervising Ph D students from China, Turkey, the USA and the UK. Topics include:
‘A comparative study: the depiction of migrants as others in Turkish and British young adult books’
'Investigating the impact that practice-based research has on the pedagogy of the artist-teacher
Tricksters, Witches, and Warriors: Rewriting a Patriarchal Narrative in Children’s Fantasy Literature
How is religion and religious practice depicted in 21st Century Children’s Literature, and what is the potential contribution children’s literature can make to promoting religious understanding and tolerance in British society?
Attached to tales: Can reading for pleasure positively affect young people's emotional wellbeing?
'From Confucianism to Romanticism: The Representation of Childhood Innocence in the Late-Twentieth Century Chinese and British Literature'
‘Small Hands Do Them Because They Must’: Examining the Reception of The Lord of the Rings Among Young Readers
Nature and the Human Psyche in Madeleine L’Engle’s Vicky Austin Novels
The following PhD Theses have successfully been completed:
'Narrative strategies of picturebook apps and children's response/meaning making strategies using them'
'An Educational Perspective on the Reading Practices of Young Readers in Turkey'
The following Ed D Thesis was completed:
'Investigating the impact that practice-based research has on the pedagogy of the artist-teacher'
I have been an examiner for the following theses:
A sociocultural study exploring Greek and English 11-year-old children's responses to wordless picture books
Those who can teach: the formative influence of socio-cultural constructions of teachers in children's litertature and learners notions of teaching
Dominican Thomist Pedagogy for a Post-secular society: Devloping Dialogic Skills in RE for UK Secondary School Students
How Picturebooks Enable Intercultural Communication: a Practice-Based Approach.
Teaching
I contribute to the teaching on a number of courses in a variety of programmes these include:
Language and Literacy in the Undergraduate ITE programmes; Interdisciplinary Learning elements of the undergraduate ITE programme;Children's Literature elective in the ITE programmes; the PGDE English (secondary) course; Language and Literacy in the PGDE Primary programme; Understanding Learning and Teaching and Practitioner Enquiry in the PGDE programme; Texts for Children: from Printing Press to Virtual Reality in the M Ed Children's Literature and Literacies programme and various undividual specialist lectures
I am also a tutor in the PGDE partnership programme for school experience.
Additional information
Consulting and advice
Consultant for Scottish Poetry Library 2009 for publication Addressing the Bard. Teaching materials to accompany this text, distributed to all secondary schools in Scotland, are available at http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/Images/addressingthebard-learn_tcm4-566829.pdf
Academic and professional body membership
Member of the International Research Society for Children's Literature
Member of the Association of Scottish Literary Studies and Education Committee member for this organisation
Elected Council Member for the Association of Scottish Literary Studies
Additional information
Experienced member of CPD team in a number of local authorities on a range of topics including, for example, Developing Literacy Across Learning for Curriculum for Excellence