Co-director | Lead on Improvement and Effectiveness | Co-lead on the Leadership workstream
Professor Chris Chapman is a Co-director of What Works Scotland.
He leads on the Improvement and Effectiveness workstream and co-leads on the Leadership workstream.
Chris is Director of Policy Scotland (from September 2017) and holds the Chair of Education and Public Policy and Practice at the University of Glasgow, based at the Robert Owen Centre for Educational Change.
Chris is:
- a member of the Scottish Government’s International Council of Education Advisers
- Senior Academic Adviser to the Scottish Attainment Challenge
- a member of the UK Department for Education advisory group for the Evaluation of Early Education in England
About Chris’s research interests
Chris’s contribution to What Works Scotland builds on his research interests in the interaction between educational policy and practice, specifically in relation to the improvement of educational outcomes in disadvantaged settings.
The recurring themes in his research are accountability, collaboration, equity, leadership, professional learning and organisational/system reform.
He provides consultancy and advice to national governments and their agencies and sat on various committees and steering groups for the UK Department for Education, the National College for Teaching and Leadership, the National Union of Teachers and a number of local authorities.
Before moving into academia Chris taught in challenging secondary schools in Birmingham where he undertook a part-time MA. He then completed his PhD thesis on intervention and improvement in schools in challenging circumstances.
What Works Scotland Publications
- Public service leadership: What works? (December 2018)
- Policy briefing – Public service leadership: What works? (August 2018)
- Policy briefing – Public service leadership: rethinking leadership for collaborative settings (August 2018)
- What Works in Public Service Leadership: Exploring the Potential (July 2017)
- How to Design Collaborative Action Research (March 2017) – Co-authored
- Reflecting on what works in developing authentic relationships in complex settings (December 2016) – Co-authored
- 29th International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement – State of the Art Briefings (March 2016) – Co-authored
- Perspectives on Improvement and Effectiveness: Key Definitions and Concepts (August 2015) – Co-authored
- Perspectives on Knowledge into Action in education and public service reform: A review of relevant literature and an outline framework for change (July 2015) – Co-authored
- Supporting Collaborative Action Research: Developing a more systematic approach (July 2015) – Co-authored
What Works Scotland blog posts
- Using research to change educational systems: possibilities and barriers. Published on the British Educational Research Association blog. (November 2017) – Co-authored
- ‘What Works’ in Raising Educational Standards? Learning Lessons and Rising to the ‘Challenge’ (March 2015)
Other publications
- Community can play a huge part in tackling child poverty – Article in The Scotsman newspaper (4 July 2018)
Contact Chris
See more about Chris and his work on the University of Glasgow School of Education website.
