探花直播

We use cookies on this website to improve the experience we provide. By continuing to use our site you agree to this, or visit our cookie policy to manage your settings.
Saved courses
Search website

Professor Matt O'Leary

Matt O'Leary

Professor of Education, Director of CSPACE & College Academic Lead for REF UoA23 (Education)

Email:
matthew.oleary@bcu.ac.uk
Phone:
0121 331 7376

Professor Dr Matt O鈥橪eary is Professor of Education at 探花直播. His main research interests focus on education policy and practice in further and higher education, particularly in the context of the professional learning of educators and the development of pedagogic practice.

Professor O鈥橪eary is one of the world鈥檚 leading experts on the topic of classroom observation. He is internationally renowned for his extensive body of work on the use of classroom/lesson observation in understanding and improving teaching and learning across colleges, schools and universities. His research has had significant impact in the UK and internationally on education policy and the thinking and practice of education leaders, practitioners and researchers working in all education sectors over the last two decades.

Matt鈥檚 expertise has also led to him being invited to deliver keynote talks, lectures, workshops and training sessions across the globe from Venezuela to Vietnam. In addition, his expertise has also been sought by regional, national and international government bodies, as well as national education associations and inspectorates on the use of observation as a tool for understanding and improving the quality of teaching and learning.

He has published over 50 academic articles, research reports and book chapters. He has undertaken research commissioned by the British Council, Department for Education, The Education and Training Foundation, Further Education Trust for Leadership, the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA), UKRI Higher Education Innovation Funding, University and College Union and the World Bank.

Professor O鈥橪eary鈥檚听, funded by the University and College Union (UCU), has had and continues to have far reaching impact on education policy and practice nationally (UCU 2013). This body of work has been instrumental in challenging engrained orthodoxies and influencing policy and practice across education sectors. For example, it has shaped the policy of one of the largest unions in the world, with a听 created to capture some of its outputs, along with a review of the main teaching unions鈥� policies on observation across colleges and schools in the UK. The findings from the UCU project report were widely reported in the national media (e.g. Allen 2014; Morrison 2015) and led to a landmark听听with the removal of graded lesson observations from its inspection framework.

O鈥橪eary鈥檚 work on observation over the last decade has also had a direct impact on higher education Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and Masters鈥� level programmes nationally. ITE departments (from primary to post-compulsory) have used his work to inform modular content and design on their programmes for trainee and experienced teachers.

Over the last decade, Professor O鈥橪eary has continued to develop his work on observation more recently in higher education (e.g.听; ;听), with his ongoing research influencing policy, practice, attitudes, awareness and understanding of observation institutionally, regionally, nationally and internationally. His research has helped to inform the development of an innovative scheme of teaching observations that has reconceptualised and reconfigured observation from something traditionally perceived in education as a narrow, performance management mechanism to an expansive, formative and supportive tool of educational inquiry (e.g.听;听).

Professor O鈥橪eary has written widely on classroom observation, teaching excellence and professional development. His books include听听(Routledge 2016),听听(Emerald 2017) and听the highly acclaimed 听(Routledge 2020). His newest book is . (Routledge 2023), co-written with his BCU colleague Dr Vanessa Cui.

Current Activity
Areas of Expertise
Qualifications
Memberships
Teaching
Research
Postgraduate Supervision
Publications
Media Work
Links and Social Media