Rebecca Harris

Email:
r.j.harris@reading.ac.uk
Phone:
+44 (0) 118 378 2725
Job title:
Professor

Responsibilities:

Institute of Education

Chair of Ethics Committee

Areas of interest

Theory and practice of history teaching
LGBTQ+ issues
Action research
Curriculum policy and development
Diversity
Citizenship
Trainee teacher/teacher development

Postgraduate supervision

Completions

Marlon Moncrieffe - Examining experiences and perceptions of mass-migration and settlement in Britain over the ages: How can this assist teaching and learning in Key stage 2 history?
Hilal Al-Shandudi - Teachers’ self-perceptions of their professional learning in the context of recent educational reforms in Oman.
Oğuzhan Hazır - Implementing school based teacher training: the case study of departments of education for intellectually disabled students in Turkey.
Ruth Samuel - Teacher values and value construction among low income female teachers in Bangalore, India: implications for reflective practice in teacher education in India.
Ahlam Alatiq - Exploring resistance to change and teacher attitude towards new educational reform in female schools in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Julie Cracknell - Early career teachers’ reflections of teaching in an age of performativity.
Zeynep Butan - Professional learning for Turkish ELT lecturers.
Jill Matterface – An action research project to promote a 21st-century adult learning environment in a Phase 1 military training unit.
Alison Oliver - A case study of teachers’ professional identity and professional learning.
Eda Kuzuca - Exploration of history teachers’ expertise in teaching historical thinking.
Hira Hanif - EFL instructors’ professional development in a Saudi Arabian university.
Helen Crawford - An exploratory study of Key Stage 1 history curriculum decision-making in England’s primary schools.
Oliver Ward- affecting change - trauma informed care in alternative provision education.

Current

Albert Mususa - How do teachers in the alternative provision perceive their role in relation to being able to care properly for their pupils.
Luke Attridge – Knowledge in the Drama curriculum.
Matt King - Primary sources and their effect on historical understanding of middle school students.
Andrei Stanescu - The barriers teachers face in implementing evidence-based practice in Secondary Schools.
Ikhyun Kwon - Looking at portrayals of the British in India in school history textbooks in England, 1991-present
Ailsa Fidler - How does student teachers’ thinking about primary history develop during their initial teacher training?
Zhuolun Li - Experiences of Chinese LGBTQ+ students
Charlie Woodsford - The belonging project: lessons on belonging in a UK Further Education College

Research projects

2024 Normalising LGBTQ+ conversations in primary schools (£14978 UoT Research Collaboration and Impact Fund)
2022 Normalising LGBTQ+ conversations in primary schools (£3578 UoR Endowment Fund)
2022 Developing parent-teacher partnerships to teach about LGBTQ+ matters in primary school (£6930 Research England Participatory Research funding)

2021 An examination of LGBTQ+ students’ lived experiences in high schools ($2000 Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues).
2021 Exploring young minority ethnic adults’ experiences of history education (£1200 UoR funding).
2019 An exploratory study of UG students’ experience of different assessment models within the University of Reading (£1200 UoR funding).
2019 Exploring the school experience of LGBT+ youth: an examination of LGBT+ policy espousal, enactment and experience in secondary schools (£4500 UoR funding).
2017 The impact of an outdoor learning pedagogy on primary school pupils’ knowledge of and attitude towards history (£1500 Ufton Court).
2017 Exploring the issues: An exploration of the issues that affect how LGBT teenagers feel about themselves (£700 UoR funding).
2015 An examination of history teachers' rationale for content selection (£2000 UoR funded).
2015 An analysis of longitudinal data from the Historical Association's annual surveys (£1500 UoR funded).
2014 Fragmentation in Initial Teacher Education (£1500, UoR funded).
2012-13 An evaluation of the Langley Academy's museum learning curriculum (£10000, Arts Council).
2012-13 What role does the choice of history curriculum topics play in promoting a sense of identity and social cohesion amongst young people? (£2000, UoR funded).
2009-2012 Annual national survey of history in secondary schools (on behalf of the Historical Association - £1500 funding in 2010 from the HEA).
Improving Equity and Inclusion through Education.

Selected publications

Conference Presentations:

International conference papers:

Murphy, S., Harris, R. & Wilson-Daily, A. (2024) The courage to be: LGBTQ+ youth within the heteronormative and cisgenderist school environment. In American Educational Research Association (AERA), 2024, Philadelphia, USA, 11-14 April.
Smith, J., Burn, K. & Harris, R. (2024) History teachers as curriculum-makers in policy and practice: quantitative insights from England and Scotland. In History Education International Research Network (HEIRNET) 2024, The University of Stirling, 28-30 Aug.

Harris, R., Wilson-Daily, A. and Fuller, G. (2019) Exploring the school experience of LGBT+ youth: An examination of school culture, climate as understood by teachers and experienced by LGBT+ students in secondary schools. In International Association of Intercultural Education (IAIE), 2019, DENISE, 11-15 Nov.
Harris, R. (2018) Symposium Title: History teachers as curriculum makes 1. In History Education International Research Network (HEIRNET) 2018, The Ionian University, Corfu, 31 Aug-3 Sep.
Harris, R. (2018) Symposium Title: History teachers as curriculum makes 2. In HEIRNET 2018, The Ionian University, Corfu, 31 Aug-3 Sep.

National conference papers:

Harris, R., Kambouri, M. & Wilson-Daily, A. (2024) ‘We fear the repercussions’: Primary school parents and teachers’ perspectives on the inclusion of LGBTQ+ issues in the English primary school curriculum. In BERA 2024, University of Manchester, UK, 9-12 Sept.
Harris, R., Murphy, S. & Wilson-Daily, A. (2024) The courage to be: LGBTQ+ youth within the heteronormative and cisgenderist school environment. In BERA 2024, University of Manchester, UK, 9-12 Sept.
Wilson-Daily, A., Kemmelmeier, M. & Harris, R. (2024) Predictors of personal views toward LGBTQ+ students and school climate: What do mediation and regression analyses tell us about relationships with peers and adults within schools? In BERA 2024, University of Manchester, UK, 9-12 Sept.
Harris, R. Sandhu,, S. & Copsey-Blake, M. (2022) Absence, distortion and disconnection: the challenge of history teaching, identity and ethnicity. In BERA 2022, University of Liverpool, UK, 6-8 Sept. (this paper won an award for best paper in the History special interest group)
Harris, R. Wilson-Daily, A. & Copsey-Blake, M. (2022) ‘You’re not real’: School climate, school culture and LGBTQ+ identity. In BERA 2022, University of Liverpool, UK, 6-8 Sept.

Harris, R., Wilson-Daily, A. and Fuller, G. (2021) ‘I just want to feel like I’m part of everyone else.’ How schools unintentionally contribute to the isolation of students who identify as LGBT+. In British Educational Research Association (BERA), 2021, online conference, 13-16 Sept.

Enterprise Activity, External Roles and Consultancy:

Member of the Historical Association's Council - 2001-2003
Member of the Historical Association's Secondary Executive Committee - 2001-2016
Chair of the Historical Association's Secondary Executive Committee - 2007-2010
Awarded Honorary Fellowship of the Historical Association - 2011
Senior Follow of the Higher Education Academy - 2012
Reviewer for journals:

British Educational Research Journal
Cambridge Journal of Education
Curriculum Journal
Education Sciences
Educational Review
English Teaching: Practice and Critique
History Education Research Journal
International Journal of Educational Research
International Journal of Inclusive Education
International Journal of Research and Method in Education
Journal of Adventure Education & Outdoor Learning
Journal of Curriculum Studies
Journal of Education Policy
Journal of Homosexuality
Journal of LGBT Youth
Sex Education
Social Studies Research and Practice
Teaching and Teacher Education
The Journal of Social Studies Research

QCA consultant for A level/IB history comparability study - 2002
Past Forward: a vision for school history, 2002-2012 - conference organiser, and editor of conference papers - 2002
Speaker at 2002 and 2004 Reading HA Sixth form conferences
Plymouth LEA History conference - keynote speaker and workshops - 2003
Project Director for History Initial Teacher Training project - HA project for the TDA to produce training materials for new history teacher trainers - 2003-2006
Member of the QCA KS3 Review Board for the National Curriculum - 2006
Researcher on Teaching Emotive and Controversial History (TEACH) - HA project funded by DfES - 2006
School History Project workshop leader - 2008, 2010, 2012
SSAT North West history in-service training - 2010
Hampshire History Conference key note speaker - 2015, 2016
International consultant for the Nile Schools Federation humanities curriculum - 2010
Ofqual consultant for A level international comparability study - 2010-2011
Council of Europe projects - Multiperspectivity in history - 2007-2008 (participant); THEO project - 2008 (author); Education for the Prevention of Crimes against Humanity - 2009-2010 (module leader); Teaching history in a changing world - 2011 (joint venture with the Arab League; module leader) Teaching history for a diverse community - 2012 (official observer for the Council of Europe); Teaching a common history in a divided community: Cyprus - 2013; 'Understanding diversity' Summer School - 2013 (part of a team of 4 coordinators and course leader for a series of workshops); Writer for the CoE' 'Teacher Manifesto for the C21st'; Remembrance of the Holocaust and Education for the Prevention of Crimes against Humanity – 2016-2017 (facilitator)
Centre for Holocaust Education associate - 2012-2014
Secondary PGCE history external examiner for University of Bath Spa 2004-08, University of Gloucestershire 2007-11, University of Bristol 2012-2014, University Trinity St David's 2013-2017, University of Ulster 2015-2019, University of Sunderland 2020-2024, Nottingham Trent University 2020-2024
Secondary PGCE chief external examiner for University of Gloucestershire 2008-2011, and University of Reading 2008-2011
MA Humanities Education external examiner, University College London - 2016-2020
Professional Training for Lefkoşa Türk Lisesi teachers 2014
CCT Network Rathfern Research Hub – 2021 – invited to run a series of workshops with teachers in Lewisham to develop history teaching
University of Manchester – 2018 – invited to work with the university history department on diversifying their curriculum offer
Bracknell Forest Primary history consultant – 2015-16
Hampshire History Conference – 2015, 2016 – key note speaker and workshop leader
Centre for Holocaust Education Associate, based at the IOE, UCL – supporting the Beacon School Project to develop the teaching of the Holocaust and other genocides – 2012-2013.
Historical Association Conference – 2012, 2013, 2021 – workshop leader
Schools History Project Conference – 2008, 2010, 2012 – workshop leader