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Professor Monica McLean

Professor of Higher Education, Faculty of Social Sciences

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Biography

Monica McLean is Professor in Higher Education in the Centre for Research in Higher, Adult& Vocational Education. Her previous post (2002-6) was Head of Educational Development in the Learning Institute at the University of Oxford, where she was also course director for the Postgraduate Diploma in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education.

Professor McLean taught in secondary and primary schools after she received a Certificate of Education from Homerton College, Cambridge. She worked in adult education for some years while gaining a BEd from Staffordshire University and an MA in Social Science Research in Education from Keele University. While she was a research fellow in the Education Department at Keele University she completed her PhD which concerns teacher professionalism and is based on fieldwork in schools and colleges.

Her experience in higher education began with a research post at the former Polytechnic of North London where she investigated the 'management of learning' in the institution. Following this, Professor McLean was appointed as lecturer/senior lecturer in teaching and learning in higher education in the Education Department at Keele University and established and led the Higher Education Postgraduate Certificate and MA in Learning and Teaching in Tertiary Education (1993-2002).

Research Summary

Dr. McLean's research focuses on pedagogy in higher education and comprises two broad inter-related strands. In the first strand, she locates empirical data about the everyday experiences of… read more

Recent Publications

  • MCLEAN, M and WALKER, M (50% 50%), 2012. *The possibilities for university-based public-good professional education: a case-study from South Africa based on the 'capability approachch' Studies in Higher Education. 37(5), (In Press.)
  • ASHWIN, P. ABBAS A. AND MCLEAN M., 2012. Using the pedagogic device to understand relations between disciplinary knowledge practices and teaching-learning processes in higher education. In: P. TROWLER, R. BAMBER AND M. SAUNDERS, ed., Reconceptualising Tribes and Territories in Higher Education: Practices in the 21st Century Routledge. (In Press.)
  • ABBAS A and ASHWIN, P. AND MCLEAN M, 2012. Neo-liberalism and Quality in Higher Education: exploring the relationship between the framing of quality in policy documents and what students value. In: P. WHITEHEAD AND CRAWSHAW, ed., Institutionalising Neoliberalism:: Theory, Research, and Practice Anthem Press. (In Press.)
  • WALKER, M AND MCLEAN,M (70%/30%), 2011. *Making lives go better: University education and professional capabilities South African Journal of Higher Education. 24(5), (In Press.)

Monica is a member of the Centre for Research in Higher, Adult and Vocational Education. Her research supervision areas include:

Critical, theoretically-informed investigations of education in the post-compulsory sector, with a particular emphasis on pedagogy and issues of social justice.

Research Topics of current and recent students include:

  • Using Bakhtin to analyse the effects of student-led seminars
  • A longitudinal study of university students of bio-sciences from the point of view of theories about transition
  • A longitudinal in-depth study of Foundation Degree students' learning experience
  • Investigation of the expectation gaps of higher education, employers and professional bodies in management accounting education
  • Exploration of intercultural competence of pharmacy students studying in an international setting
  • Contribution to improving policy and practice of doctoral education in Malaysia
  • Action research to improve academic writing in a second language
  • Supporting the enculturalisation of first generation university students using an academic literacies perspective

Research proposals: please email Monica if you would like to discuss the appropriateness of your research topic.

See also: School of Education research supervision areas.

Current Research

Dr. McLean's research focuses on pedagogy in higher education and comprises two broad inter-related strands. In the first strand, she locates empirical data about the everyday experiences of university teachers and student within socio-political contexts (national and institutional). She uses sociological theory to explore how policies and practices might result in improved teaching and learning. The second strand focuses on learning, teaching, assessment and curriculum in different disciplines and contexts. She usually undertakes research in this strand in collaboration with practitioners and has published papers on higher education pedagogy with academics in sociology, geography history, information technology, English and medicine. This work has resulted in a number of invitations to seminars, journal articles and most recently a book entitled Pedagogy and the University: Critical Theory and Practice to be published in June 2006.

Current Research Project:

On-going projects include: developing methodologies for investigating the 'production' of subjects in university teaching and learning; a critical examination of the relative quality of pedagogy in different institutional settings; and, exploring productive ways of integrating theory and practice in courses for university teachers.

  • MCLEAN, M and WALKER, M (50% 50%), 2012. *The possibilities for university-based public-good professional education: a case-study from South Africa based on the 'capability approachch' Studies in Higher Education. 37(5), (In Press.)
  • ASHWIN, P. ABBAS A. AND MCLEAN M., 2012. Using the pedagogic device to understand relations between disciplinary knowledge practices and teaching-learning processes in higher education. In: P. TROWLER, R. BAMBER AND M. SAUNDERS, ed., Reconceptualising Tribes and Territories in Higher Education: Practices in the 21st Century Routledge. (In Press.)
  • ABBAS A and ASHWIN, P. AND MCLEAN M, 2012. Neo-liberalism and Quality in Higher Education: exploring the relationship between the framing of quality in policy documents and what students value. In: P. WHITEHEAD AND CRAWSHAW, ed., Institutionalising Neoliberalism:: Theory, Research, and Practice Anthem Press. (In Press.)
  • WALKER, M AND MCLEAN,M (70%/30%), 2011. *Making lives go better: University education and professional capabilities South African Journal of Higher Education. 24(5), (In Press.)
  • WALKER, M., MCLEAN,M., DISON, A. and PEPPIN-VAUGHAN, R., 2009. South African universities and human development: Towards a theorisation and operationalisation of professional capabilities for poverty reduction International Journal of Educational Development. 29, 565-572
  • BOOTH, A., MCLEAN, M. and WALKER, M, 2009. Self, others and society: A case study of university integrative learning Studies in Higher Education. 34(8), (In Press.)
  • ABBAS, A AND MCLEAN, M, 2009. Tackling inequality through quality: a comparative study using Bernsteinian concepts. In: CARPENTIER, V AND UNTERHA and LTER, E, eds., Global Inequalities in higher education: Whose interests are we serving Palgrave. 241-267
  • MCLEAN, M and ABBAS, A. 60%/40%, 2009. *The 'Biographical turn' in university sociology teaching: A Bernsteinian analysis Teaching in Higher Education. 14(5), 529-539
  • MCLEAN, M, 2008. Pedagogy and the University: Critical Theory and Practice Continuum International Publishing Group.
  • ABBAS, A. and MCLEAN, M., 2007. Qualitative research as a method for making just comparisons of pedagogic quality in higher education: a pilot study British Journal of Sociology of Education. 28(6), 723-737
  • BRUCE, S., JONES, K. and MCLEAN M., 2007. Some Notes on a Project: Democracy and Authority in the Production of a Discipline Pedagogy: Critical Studies in the Teaching of Literature. 7(3), 481-500
  • MCLEAN, M., 2006. Pedagogy and the university: critical theory and practice London: Continuum.
  • JONES, K., MCLEAN, M., AMIGONI, D. and KINSMAN, M., 2005. Investigating the production of university English in mass higher education: towards an alternative methodology Arts and Humanities in Higher Education. 4(3), 247-264
  • VIVEKANANDA-SCHMIDT, P., HASSELL, L. and MCLEAN, M.J., 2005. Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial of the Impact of CAL Package in the Learning of Musculskeletal Examination Skills by Undergraduate Medical Students Arthritis Care and Research. 53(5), 764-771
  • MACMILLAN, J. and MCLEAN, M. J., 2005. Making first-year tutorials count: operationalizing the assessment-learning connection Active Learning in Higher Education. VOL 6(NUMB 2), 94-105
  • MCLEAN, M.J., 2005. Review of Law, I., Phillips, D. and Turney, L. (eds) (2004) Institutional Racism in Higher Education in Studies in Higher Education
  • ASHWIN, P. and MCLEAN, M.J., 2005. Towards a reconciliation of phenomenographic and critical pedagogy perspectives in higher education through a focus on academic engagement In: 12th International Improving Student Learning Symposium, Diversity and Inclusivity.
  • MCLEAN, M. and BARKER, H., 2004. Students making progress and the `research-teaching nexus' debate Teaching in Higher Education. VOL 9(PART 4), 407-420
  • VIVEKANANDA-SCHMIDT, P., HASSELL, A. and MCLEAN, M.J., 2004. The role of Random Controlled Trials (RCTs) in evaluating multi-media learning packages: experience of a musculoskeletal examination package Nurse researcher. 11(3), 43-55
  • MCLEAN, M.J., 2004. Review of Eggins, H. and MacDonald, R.(eds) (2003) The Scholarship of Academic Development (Buckingham, SRHE and Open University Press) in Teaching in Higher Education
  • ABBAS, A. and MCLEAN, M.J., 2003. Communicative competence and the improvement of university teaching: insights from the field British Journal of Sociology of Education. 24(1), 69-81
  • MCLEAN, M.J. and BARKER, H., 2003. Progression and undergraduate learning and teaching in history Available at: <http://hca.ltsn.ac.uk/resource/TDG/complete.php>
  • MCLEAN, M.J., 2003. Practising preachers in the Times Higher, August 29th
  • MCLEAN, M.J., 2002. Working for Change? The Case of Part-time Teachers' British Sociological Association, Netword, No. 81 January, p.12-14
  • MCLEAN, M.J., 2002. Review of Laurillard, D., (2002), Rethinking University Teaching, second edition, in Higher Education Quarterly
  • MCLEAN, M.J., 2002. Review of Bennett, N., Dunne, E. and Carre C.(2000), Skills Development in Higher Education and Employment, in Active Learning in Higher Education
  • ABBAS, A. and MCLEAN, M., 2001. Becoming Sociologists: professional identity for part-time teachers of university sociology British Journal of Sociology of Education. VOL 22(PART 3), 339-352
  • MCLEAN, M.J., 2001. The nature and role of PDPs: a comparative, critical review, The West Midlands Health Region (A discussion paper for GP tutors and the local Deanery)
  • MCLEAN, M.J., FISHER, M. and ALEXIADOU, A., 2001. Learning as lever for change: delivering improved care through the activity of GP tutors. In: The General Practice Jigsaw Radcliffe Medical Press Ltd, Abingdon, Oxon, UK. 189-208
  • WALKER, M, MCLEAN, M and DISON, A. AND PEPPIN-VAUGHAN, R., South African Universities and Human Development: Towards a Theorization and Operationalization of Professional Capabilities for Poverty Reduction International Journal of Educational Development. (In Press.)

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