Dr Maggie Pitfield
Staff details
Dr Maggie Pitfield is a Senior Lecturer and former Head of the Department of Educational Studies. She teaches across Initial Teacher Education, Undergraduate and Masters programmes. Maggie’s passion for utilising drama methodology as an integral part of her teaching dates back to her own education as a beginning teacher and has been a feature of her practice throughout a career spanning 24 years in London comprehensive schools and 18 years in Higher Education. Her doctoral studies with the University of Nottingham focused on the contribution that educational drama practices make to the reading of literature texts in the secondary English classroom. Maggie’s research situates practice within the broader ideological context of schooling at institutional level and educational policy at a macro level.
In recent years Maggie has collaborated with Theo Bryer (UCL/IoE) in leading workshops for teachers on reading ‘classic’ stories and myths through drama.
Academic qualifications
- PhD, University of Nottingham - Reading through Drama: The Contribution that Drama Makes to Teaching and Learning in English. 2020
- MA Drama and Theatre Studies (with distinction), Royal Holloway, University of London. 1993
- Bachelor of Education, English and Drama (Joint Honours), University of Sheffield, Class 2.1. 1978
- Certificate in Education with QTS: University of Sheffield Institute of Education (at Doncaster Metropolitan Institute of Higher Education). 1977
Teaching and Supervision
Publications and research outputs
Book Section
Pitfield, Maggie. 2015. A Pedagogy of Possibilities: Drama as Reading Practice. In: Anna Hickey Moody and Tara Page, eds. Arts, Pedagogy and Cultural Resistance: New Materialisms. London: Rowman and Littlefield International, pp. 95-111. ISBN 9781783484867
Article
Pitfield, Maggie; Gilbert, Francis; Asamoah Boateng, Claudia and Stanger, Camilla. 2023. Selective amnesia and the political act of remembering English teaching. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 31(5), pp. 1059-1077. ISSN 1468-1366
Gilbert, Francis and Pitfield, Maggie. 2019. Teaching 1984 in the surveillance culture of schools. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 18(1), pp. 85-99. ISSN 1175-8708
Pitfield, Maggie. 2013. The impact of curriculum hierarchies on the development of professional self in teaching: student-teachers of drama negotiating issues of subject status at the interface between drama and English. Pedagogy, Culture and Society, 21(3), pp. 401-426. ISSN 1468-1366
Pitfield, Maggie. 2012. Transforming subject knowledge:drama student-teachers and the pursuit of pedagogical content knowledge. Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 17(3), pp. 425-442. ISSN 1356-9783
Pitfield, Maggie. 2012. Student-teachers of secondary drama and the pursuit of pedagogical subject knowledge. Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance., 17(3), pp. 425-442. ISSN 1356-9783
Pitfield, Maggie. 2011. Re-constructing the relationship between drama and English: Student-teachers’ perspectives at the end of an initial teacher education year. English in Education: Special Issue 'Life Made Conscious: the Drama of English', 45(1), pp. 52-71. ISSN 0425-0494
Pitfield, Maggie and Macleroy Obied, Vicky. 2010. How Student-teachers Approach the Teaching of Reading: At the Interface Between Personal History, Theory and Practice. Changing English, 17(1), pp. 35-44. ISSN 1358-684X
Pitfield, Maggie and Morrison, Liz. 2009. Teachers' experiences of mentoring on a flexible initial teacher education programme: implications for partnership development. Journal of Education for Teaching, 35(1), pp. 19-32. ISSN 0260-7476
Coles, Jane and Pitfield, Maggie. 2006. Routes into English teaching: beginning teachers’ reflections on college-based and school-based Initial Teacher Education programmes. Changing English: Studies in Culture and Education, 13(3), pp. 283-292. ISSN 1358-684X
Morrison, Liz and Pitfield, Maggie. 2006. Flexibility in initial teacher education: implications for pedagogy and practice. Journal of Education for Teaching, 32(2), pp. 185-196. ISSN 0260-7476
Pitfield, Maggie. 2006. Making a crisis out of a drama: the relationship between English and Drama within the English curriculum for ages 11-14. Changing English, 13(1), pp. 97-109. ISSN 1358-684X
Conference or Workshop Item
Johnston, John; Pitfield, Maggie; Macleroy Obied, Vicky and Page, Tara. 2011. 'Explore The Big Draw'. In: Explore The Big Draw. Goldsmiths, London, United Kingdom.
Page, Tara; Pitfield, Maggie; Johnston, John and Macleroy Obied, Vicky. 2010. 'Blurring'. In: Blurring. Goldsmiths, London, United Kingdom.
Further profile content
Professional projects
I am a member of the London English Research Group. I am also a Trustee (learning and curriculum) of The Complete Works (TCW), an alternative provision school for young people permanently excluded from mainstream education.
Workshops for teachers (with Theo Bryer):
‘Old stories, new readings: using drama to bring new life to an ancient story’, at New Ways to Promote Reading for Pleasure, with Michael Rosen and special guests. Goldsmiths, University of London, 18th May 2019.
‘Reading as a fully interpretive, interactive and embodied experience - the role of drama’, at Michael Rosen’s Reading Revolution Conference. Goldsmiths, University of London, 23rd September 2017.
Workshop at the London Drama Annual Conference, Drama Now! ~ and the Way Ahead.
7th April 2017.
Goldsmiths Research Centres/Groups
Conferences and talks
2018:
‘Active Approaches to Teaching Text’
Keynote speech at the London Association for the Teaching of English (LATE) spring conference, UCL/Institute of Education
2017:
‘Opening remarks: setting the context’
Writers and Teachers’ Conference, Goldsmiths, University of London
2016:
‘Teaching George Orwell in the Contemporary Surveillance Culture of English Secondary Schools’, (with Dr Francis Gilbert)
Annual Conference of the George Orwell Society. Goldsmiths, University of London
2015:
‘Defend Education, Defend Teacher Education’
From Cradle to Grave, the UCU Post-16 Education Conference, London.
2013:
‘Shaping teachers of Shakespeare: transformative moments in beginning teachers’ creative practice’, (with Dr Jane Coles)
The National Association for the Teaching of English (NATE) Conference in Stratford upon Avon
