Nigel Newton

Nigel is interested in the complex relationships between personal values and interests, organisational cultures and social structures, and the way we can find out about any of those things. He wants to be known as a post-post-modern researcher but only in passing, because he says "no label can really pin me down".

He's conducted research on graduate employees, student course choice and school culture, orchestrated teacher training and been an instrument within educational forums for teachers' voices. He was once short listed for the Bridport Poetry Competition Prize.

In a previous period of his history he taught English and Classical Civilisation. He also wrote for the TES FE Focus on a range of subjects including college marketing, lecturer professionalism and the 'skills economy'. Nigel thinks its important to take time to see things from other people's perspectives.

One of his much cited academic papers, "The use of semi-structured interviews..." is in the top five all time most viewed papers on Academia.edu. But he'd prefer to be remembered for his article on Michael Polanyi and Jurgen Habermas.

Nigel's PhD research explored the relationship between school culture and students' approaches to learning and he's worked as a research assistant on projects related to learning motivation. He recently worked on a project at WISERD, Cardiff University looking at the impact of curriculum reform in Wales on children from disadvantaged backgrounds and on mechanisms to support school governors. He is now a lecturer in education at Cardiff Metropolitan University.

As well as academic research, Nigel has also worked with deep learning across both educational and corporate environments. He's a consultant and innovator. "Everyone has more potential and greater talents than they might appear to have on first sight. Helping people to see that and foster personal growth, for themselves and others, is what I love doing", is something Nigel keeps saying.