Our school staff are supported by our brilliant and experienced partners. Find out more about them:
Dr Kevin Smith
Kevin is a Senior Lecturer in Education in the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University. Prior to working at Cardiff University, he was the Fellow in Curriculum for Institute of Education at the University of the South Pacific in ‘Atele, Tonga. Prior to his work in the South Pacific, Kevin was a secondary and middle school teacher in Cincinnati, Ohio.
HIs academic interests primarily focus on curriculum theory and theorising, as well as critical/radical approaches to education. His research involves both quantitative and qualitative approaches to understanding the various dimensions of education including teachers’ engagement with educational research, pedagogy and curriculum.
His scholarship has been influenced by the work of John Dewey, Paulo Freire, William Pinar, Henry Giroux, Nel Noddings, Peter McLaren, and Elliot Eisner (to name a few!). He particularly enjoys personal narrative and autobiographical approaches to curriculum theorising and much of the curriculum work developed in the United States during the 70s-90s.
Kevin also has a blog where he and invited guests write about various topics in education including curriculum, our current climate crisis, radical pedagogy, anti-racist curricula and other topics. You can access the blog here: https://blogs.cardiff.ac.uk/drkevinsmith/
Dr Gemma Burns
Gemma is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist who has worked alongside the staff at Headlands School for many years.
Gemma has a specialist interest in working with children who have experienced exclusion and trauma in their lives Gemma is also a Dyadic Developmental Practice accredited therapist and works in the NHS supporting adoptive families. Gemma’s role at the school is to provide ongoing support and supervision to the staff teams, helping them to understand and meet the psychological needs of the young people they work with.