Teaching and Learning for Educational Improvement and Equity

Professor Carol Campbell will give the 6th annual memorial lecture in honour of the late David Raffe.

Godfrey Thomson Hall, Thomson's Land, The University of Edinburgh

Professor Carol Campbell will give the 6th annual memorial lecture in honour of the late David Raffe, Professor of Sociology of Education and Director of the Centre for Educational Sociology at the University of Edinburgh.The topic of this year’s lecture ‘Teaching and learning for educational improvement and equity’ reflects David’s concern with issues of inequality in education and the role of policy change and educational reform in achieving a meaningful positive impact on such inequalities.Professor Campbell’s lecture will be chaired by Henry Hepburn, Scotland Editor TES.It is a hybrid event with the opportunity to attend in person or join online.Light refreshments will be available from 5pmAbstractIn Scotland and around the world, the quest continues for large-scale educational improvement with demonstrable positive impact on students’ achievement and for equity. Yet, two urgent challenges also persist. First, how to ensure equitable access to high-quality educational experiences and opportunities for all children and young people. Second, how to attract, recruit, develop, retain and support the teaching profession, an essential condition to achieving the first goal. While these are complex and multi-faceted challenges with implications within and beyond schools, this lecture considers how schools can respond and have a positive impact. To do so, Professor Campbell will argue the need for a clear, specific, and sustained focus on improving teaching and learning through policies, strategies and practices that support improvements for both pupils/students and teachers.Professor Campbell will draw on her research and professional experience in Scotland and internationally and review other relevant research and literature to consider three main aspects which, in combination, can advance large-scale educational improvement: <ol><li>teaching and learning experiences to support pupils’ and students’ progress and achievements.</li><li>policies and strategies to value, develop and advance the overall teaching profession.</li><li>effective professional learning and practice to support teachers’ work.</li></ol> Building on this evidence, the lecture will then consider what now and what next for meaningful education reform in Scotland?Speaker biographyProfessor Carol Campbell holds a Personal Chair of Education and is Head of School at Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh. Carol’s work concerns: large-scale educational change; education system and school improvement; and the development and work of the education profession, including career-long teacher education, professional learning, and leadership development.Carol is currently a Visiting Professor at the University of Glasgow and Cardiff Metropolitan University, and a Professor at the University of Toronto, Canada. She is a member of the International Council of Education Advisors for the Scottish Government’s First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills. During 2022-2023, she served as an independent facilitator for the National Discussion on the future vision for education in Scotland.Carol’s previous academic positions include Professor of Education at the University of Glasgow, Professor of Leadership and Educational Change at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto, Executive Director of the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (SCOPE), Stanford University, USA, and a faculty member at the Institute of Education, University of London (now UCL).She held progressively senior leadership positions in the Ontario Ministry of Education in Canada, including becoming Ontario’s first Chief Research Officer for education and founding Director of the Education Research, Evaluation and Strategy Branch. In 2020, Carol received the Canadian Teachers’ Federation Public Education Advocacy award for dedicated, long-standing service, as well as major contributions to education.