Alison Hales

Alison Hales BEd Hons, QTS, MA

Quality Lead for professional placements and partnerships in ITE

Key details

Alison Hales

Quality Lead for professional placements and partnerships in ITE


Alison Hales is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Greenwich. She is also a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She is also the Quality Lead for professional placements and partnerships in ITE.

Alison originally studied at South Bank University where she undertook her BEd Hons Primary Education degree with a history specialism. She received an MA degree from Kingston University and is currently studying for her Doctorate in Education with the University of Greenwich, looking at contemporary history and children's understanding of war and conflict.

Alison previously worked in a local Primary school as part of the Senior Leadership team with responsibilities as Leader of the Foundation Curriculum and for Early Years. In 2009, Alison moved to teach in the Primary Department at the University of Greenwich where she led the Early Years provision for Undergraduate and Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) courses.

Her research into Alternative Placements in Initial Teacher Training led to the design and development of the Enrichment Programme for Primary undergraduate year 2 students on the BA Hons programme. This programme enables students to develop further personal and professional attributes within initial teacher education and to experience education in the wider context.

Alison has taught on the Undergraduate degree with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) an Accelerated degree and PGCE courses. Her main current teaching commitments are Humanities: history and geography and learning outside the classroom. She is module leader and teaches on Education Studies and Practice in year 3 and  Inspiring Primary Learners in Learning and Teaching module within the primary PGCE course. Alison  is  a Year 3 research project tutor,  teaching on the course and supervising final research projects. She is a School Experience Tutor for students on school experience on both PGCE School Direct and undergraduate courses.

Posts held previously

  • 2001-09 Class teacher and Lead for Knowledge and Understanding of the World
    Teaching across the primary age phase and leading teachers to develop their roles in middle management and curriculum leadership and development. In 2012, undertook and implemented the school's new Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework

Responsibilities within the university

    • Senior Lecturer in Primary Initial Teacher Education
    • Quality Lead for professional placements and partnerships in ITE
    • Quality Lead for Practice Based Learning
    • Overall Lead for Primary Foundation Subject Curriculum in ITE

Recognition

  • Senior Teaching Fellow with HEA
  • External Examiner
  • Member of Historical Association - Primary History
  • Member of Learning outside the Classroom
  • Member of the Chartered College

Research / Scholarly interests

Alison's research work, conference papers and presentations look at alternative placements to develop and enhance teacher trainee education and the application of blended learning approaches, social constructivism, course design and contemporary historical issues in Primary education. She is currently looking into young children's understanding of war and conflict.

During her time teaching within schools, as part of her MA degree studies she led research on an educational management system for critiquing Teaching Assistants and advised on a new structure for Support staff. She also contributed to research carried out in Denmark looking at Special Educational Needs and how this could be developed within the Local Authority. She has been involved in local and borough-wide school curriculum development, looking at innovative ways in curriculum delivery with a main focus on TASC – Teaching Actively in Social Context.

Key funded projects

  • 2011. British Council: develop work for alternative placements in Initial Teacher Education, working closely with Westminster and Bexley archives developing community partnerships.

Recent publications

Article

Hales, Alison and , (2018), The local in history: personal and community history and its impact on identity. Taylor & Francis Online. In: , , , . Taylor & Francis Online, Education 3-13: International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education, 46 (6) . pp. 671-684 ISSN: 0300-4279 (Print), 1475-7575 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2018.1483802).

Book

Doull, Karen , Russell, Christoper, Hales, Alison (2019), Mastering Primary History. Bloomsbury. In: , , , . Bloomsbury, London (1st) . ISBN: 9781474295550 (doi: ).

Book section

Hales, Alison and , (2021), Putting the human back into the Humanities. Taylor and Francis Group - Routledge. In: , , In: Roger McDonald, Poppy Gibson (eds.), Inspiring Primary Learners: Insights and Inspirations across the curriculum. Taylor and Francis Group - Routledge, London and Oxon (1st) . pp. 87-102 . ISBN: 9780367110659; 9780429024597 (doi: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429024597).