Personal statement

Dr Niamh McGrogan is a Programme Director for the Primary PGCE in the School of Education at Bath Spa University. Her career began in children's social care services and counselling before progressing into education. During her teaching career in Kent, she obtained her Master's degree with the Open University and progressed to an academic career at Bath Spa University.

Niamh is enthusiastic about supporting future teachers in their training and development, contributing to a high quality training programme that provides not only the minimum entitlement for teacher education but goes beyond this to offer an ambitious curriculum which promotes highly effective and inspirational practitioners.

Niamh understands the challenges of adapting practice across the breadth of the primary national curriculum to meet the needs of children, and enjoys exploring this with colleagues, students and school partners. She is passionate about supporting Bath Spa Teachers (BSTs) to develop their approaches to teaching to ensure that their skills, knowledge and understanding are developed at every opportunity to the benefit of all the children they teach.

She is also passionate about supporting teachers in engaging with and in research, and collaborates with both Bath Spa Teachers and school teachers to conduct research in the classroom to draw conclusions that can enhance development and understanding of practice. Her doctoral research investigated teachers' engagement in research in primary schools through such collaborative research activity, using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to understand teacher's lived experiences of engaging in Collaborative Close-to-Practice Inquiry.

Academic qualifications

  • PhD Bath Spa University
  • MEd Open University
  • BSc Queen's University, Belfast

Professional qualifications

  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  • QTS Canterbury Christchurch University

Professional memberships

  • Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)

Other external roles

  • External Examiner for the University of Roehampton
  • Peer Reviewer for the Chartered College journal Impact
  • School Governor

Teaching specialism

  • Initial Teacher Education

Research and academic outputs

Go to ResearchSPAce

Formative use of assessment by pupils
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McGrogan, N and Earle, S (2019) 'Formative use of assessment by pupils.' In: Earle, S, ed. Assessment in the primary classroom: principles and practice. Learning Matters, London, pp. 33-45. ISBN 9781526449986

Challenging able, interested and motivated (AIM) children within and beyond core subjects
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Burtonshaw, A and McGrogan, N (2019) 'Challenging able, interested and motivated (AIM) children within and beyond core subjects.' Impact, 7. ISSN 2514-6955

Pupils' use of visual mathematical problem solving strategies
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Loughran, E and McGrogan, N (2017) 'Pupils' use of visual mathematical problem solving strategies.' Mathematics Teaching, 256. ISSN 0025-5785

A synthesis of research, inquiry and practice: teachers' perspectives of knowledge development through research
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McGrogan, N (2019) A synthesis of research, inquiry and practice: teachers' perspectives of knowledge development through research. In: Twenty-Sixth International Conference on Learning, 24-26 July 2019, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK.

Teachers as researchers: investigating research capacity building through collaborative close-to-practice inquiry
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McGrogan, N (2019) Teachers as researchers: investigating research capacity building through collaborative close-to-practice inquiry. In: IfE Research Conference, June 2019, Bath Spa University, UK.

From papers to planning: the views of teacher trainees on the effectiveness of subject knowledge development opportunites
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McGrogan, N (2016) From papers to planning: the views of teacher trainees on the effectiveness of subject knowledge development opportunites. In: UCET Annual Conference, 8 - 9 November 2016, Birmingham, UK.

Creative writing pedagogy: can it be altered to increase the engagement of reluctant writers with the writing process?
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McGrogan, N (2014) Creative writing pedagogy: can it be altered to increase the engagement of reluctant writers with the writing process? In: UKLA 50th International Conference, 4-6 July 2014, University of Sussex, UK.

Teachers as researchers: understanding the lived experience of engagement in research through collaborative close-to-practice enquiry
thesis

McGrogan, N (2024) Teachers as researchers: understanding the lived experience of engagement in research through collaborative close-to-practice enquiry. PhD thesis, Bath Spa University.