Donald Gillies

I joined the University of the West of Scotland as Head of the School of Education in 2014. Before that, I was Professor of Education Policy at York St John University from 2012. I was Lecturer, and then Senior lecturer, in Educational Studies at the University of Strathclyde from 2005-2012. Prior to that I spent 21 years as a schoolteacher in the west of Scotland, including 11 years as Principal Teacher.

I have taught on undergraduate and graduate initial teacher education courses and on masters and doctoral programmes. I have supervised at M.Ed., M.Phil., Ed.D., and PhD levels.

My principal research interests are in education policy and the politics of education, both national and international. I am interested in critical policy studies, critical discourse analysis, educational theory, the philosophy of education, issues around disadvantage, and the role of socioeconomic and cultural factors in education. I have a particular interest in the work of Michel Foucault.