Maggie Pitfield

Maggie is a Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of Educational Studies. Prior to joining the department in 2002 she taught Drama and English, and latterly Media Studies, in London secondary schools, a career spanning some 24 years. Maggie has had considerable experience as a Head of English. She was also Chair of Harrow Teachers’ Consultative Committee for a number of years, and was a member of the BBC English Education Consultative Group.

Research interests include flexible learning models in ITE: the experiences of student-teachers and the role of the school mentor. She has also researched the perspectives of student-teachers and trainees pursuing different routes into English teaching. Maggie’s recent research explores the relationship between drama and English in secondary school curriculum, and the contribution that drama makes to teaching and learning in English. She is currently pursuing PhD studies in this area at the Institute of Education, London.

Teaching

Maggie is a course tutor for the secondary English PGCE and coordinator, with Emma Snowden, of the Flexible PGCE Programme. She is a tutor on the MA Education: CLI programme in the module Children’s Literature and Cultural Diversity, and on the newly-established MA Writer-Teacher. Maggie also teaches on the Performing Arts in the Community module of the BA ECS degree.

Professional projects

Maggie has been invited to speak at a number of conferences across the UK. She has presented at Goldsmiths' Centre for Arts and Learning, the ESCalate ITE conference at Glyndwr University, the BERA Literacy and Language Conference at the University of Reading, the SCULTREA conference at University of Sussex, and internationally at the National Youth and Risk Conference at Georgia Southern University, USA.