Clare is Honorary Research Fellow for the Department of Education, and Professor of Education at UCL Institute of Education (IOE).
Until recently, Clare was Pro-Director for Education, at the IOE, a role with oversight of the strategic development of Education across the IOE’s portfolio. Prior to that, she was both Head of Department, Curriculum Pedagogy and Assessment, and Head of Initial Teacher Education, and alongside these leadership roles, she developed research interests into the quality and development of teacher education particularly when enacted at scale.
Her background is in geography education: she was a geography teacher in East London, then as a geography teacher educator at IOE, developing both initial and continuing teacher education programmes, and focusing her research interest on the importance of subject identity for teacher professional practice, with a particular emphasis on geographical subject knowledge. She has been very active in the international geography education community, acting as Co-Chair of the International Geographical Union Commission for Geography Education, and editor of their book series, and Chair for the UK-based Geography Education Research Collective.
She has undertaken a range of consultancy-based work around ITE (nationally and internationally), and was the Director of the research Centre on Teacher and Early Years education. Her latest research has been focused around an international research project looking at high quality initial teacher education at scale, and the use of spatial theory to gain a deeper understanding of teacher education in different contexts.
Selected Recent Publications
Brooks, C. (2022) “Teachers’ research capacity and initial teacher education policy.” International Encyclopedia of Education, 4th edition, Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818630-5.04091-4
Brooks, C. McIntyre, J. and Mutton, T. (2022) “Learning to think, perform and act with integrity: does teacher education have a signature pedagogy, and does it matter?” London Review of Education Special Issue: Rising to the challenge of teacher education to prepare teachers for today’s world. Due for publication 2023.
Brooks, C., Gong, Q., Salinas, V, Rochas, AA. (2022) “Spatial Perspectives on Teacher Education” Chapter for The Palgrave Handbook of Teacher Education Research.
Brooks, C. (2022). Mentoring as a spatial practice. In G. Healy, S. Puttick, L. Hammond & N. Walshe. (Eds.). Mentoring Geography Teachers in the Secondary School: A Practical Guide. London: Routledge, Ch.4.
Brooks, C. (2021) Initial Teacher Education at Scale; Quality Conundrums. London, Routledge.
Brooks, C., McIntyre, J. and Mutton, T. (2021) Teacher Education Policy Making during the Pandemic. Special Issue of Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice entitled: The Drive for Equity and Quality in the Time of Covid-19: Considerations and Implications for Teachers and Teaching. DOI: 10.1080/13540602.2021.1997984
Brooks, C., (2021). The quality conundrum in initial teacher education, Teachers and Teaching, 27:1-4, 131-146, DOI: 10.1080/13540602.2021.1933414
Brooks, C. (2021). Quality at scale: Strategies for large-scale initial teacher education programmes. Teaching and Teacher Education, 107. doi:10.1016/j.tate.2021.103490
Brooks, C., & Kitto, E. (2021). Folk Pedagogies of Change: Developing an Early Years Education Development Strategy for China. Early Years: an international research journal. doi:10.1080/09575146.2021.1935495
Brooks, C. (2021). Research capacity in initial teacher education: trends in joining the ‘village’. Teaching Education. doi:10.1080/10476210.2020.1862077
Brooks, C. (2016) Teacher Subject Identity in Professional Practice: Teaching with a professional compass (part of Foundations and Futures of Education Series). London, Routledge.
Brooks C (2012) Changing times in England: the influence on geography teachers’ professional practice. International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education. 21:4, 297-309
