Shaun Allen-Dooley

Shaun teaches on primary initial teacher education courses including BA and PGCE. He has taught on modules such as Professional Studies and Research in Education where he has helped to supervise student dissertations. He also has experience teaching on the MA module Critical Pedagogies and shares his experiences and insights with new doctoral students on the PgCert module.

Shaun is a PhD student and Graduate Research Teaching Assistant (GRTA) in the School of Education. He is currently exploring policy reforms in initial teacher education (ITE), particularly focusing on mentoring, teacher quality, and ‘disadvantaged’ learners. Shaun also teaches on primary initial teacher education courses, as well as MA and doctorate modules. He is also currently working as a Research Assistant on an externally funded project exploring equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and doctoral supervision.

Shaun completed his MA in Education in 2021 at BCU. His MA dissertation explored the use of the term ‘cultural capital’ in education policy as a proposed way of better supporting ‘disadvantaged’ children. Research involved critical discourse analysis of political speeches and an autoethnography centred around Shaun’s experiences of an Ofsted inspection. Part of this autoethnography is published in his book chapter, ‘Old Books for Hungry Children’ (2022).

Prior to this, Shaun worked as a class teacher in primary schools in Birmingham and London. He has also worked as an English language teacher (ESOL) and teaching assistant in primary schools.

Shaun is active in the wider research community at BCU, for example assisting with organization and participating in conferences such as annual CSPACE conferences and the PGR Winter Showcase.