Rachele Newman
Director of Teacher Professional Learning
Rachele is a Principal Teaching Fellow in Southampton Education School and Director of Teacher Professional Learning working in the field of teacher education and development. Working extensively with schools and school leaders across Southampton, Hampshire, Dorset and Wiltshire, Rachele works with teachers at all levels to develop the complex disciplinary and professional knowledge needed for a successful and rewarding career in teaching.
Rachele is passionate about supporting and developing teachers at all stages of their careers and strongly believes in the importance of education for social and civic good. She believes that research and practice are symbiotic and educators can benefit greatly from mutual collaboration, bringing different perspectives to the same arena.
Rachele’s research interests lie in teacher professional learning (particularly in pre-service and early career teachers) teacher identity, agency and professional autonomy. She advocates for teacher professional choice in their own development.
Latest Publications:
Sowa, S., Brown, C. Choi, T & Newman, R (2025) Examining how generative AI tools benefit and challenge teachers’ research-informed practice
Gupta, A & Newman, R (2025) Nature and effectiveness of mentorship provision for supporting early-career teachers in England: an empirical investigation. Society for Educational Studies: London
Newman, R (2025) What does it really mean to be classroom-ready? Professional agency, autonomy and confidence in beginner teachers : My College
Park, W., Shaby, N. & Newman, R (2024)’. ‘We Often Forget It Was a Disaster’: Cross-Curricular Teacher Collaboration to Develop a Curriculum Unit on the Titanic Disaster | Science & Education (springer.com)
Rushton, E., Murtagh, L. Ball-Smith, C., Black, B., Dunlop, L., Gibbons, S., Ireland, K., Morse, R., Reading, C. & Scott, C. (2022). Full article: Reflecting on ’classroom readiness’ in initial teacher education in a time of global pandemic from the perspectives of eight university providers from across England, UK (tandfonline.com)
Dr Gary Morris
Director of Knowledge Exchange and Enterprise
Dr Gary Morris is the Director of Knowledge Exchange and Enterprise within the School of Education at the University of Southampton. As such, he is Southampton Education School’s lead for the development of collaborations with external organisations (all sectors) and the wider public to further the development and impact of the School’s teaching and research.
Gary is the co-lead of the Education School’s Leadership, Effective Education and Policy research group and is the Leadership in Education module lead for the full-time MSc programme. He lectures in leadership and management at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.
Gary is a member of the Education School Boards and the Faculty Enterprise Board.
Professor Chris Brown
Head of Southampton Education School
Professor Chris Brown is Professor of Education (University of Southampton), Head of the Southampton Education School and Distinguished Visiting Professor, University of Tübingen. Chris has a long-standing interest in how people go about harnessing great ideas to improve the human condition. Traditionally Chris’ work has focused on the education system, but more recently Chris has turned his attention to the ‘ideas-informed society’ more generally, and how we can ensure ideas are available and used effectively to the benefit of everyone.
Chris has written or edited some 21 books and nearly 100 journal articles in the broad sphere of research, evidence and ideas-use.
Ailsa Muskett
Operations & Communications Manager
Ailsa is the Operations Manager of Southampton Education School and Communications Manager for the Faculty of Social Sciences.