I am looking to recruit practising teachers from any state-funded secondary school in Scotland or Wales. You must be a current classroom teacher and not hold a senior leadership position.

A 1-hour interview (not formal - more like a conversation!) with Amy at a time and location of your choice.

You will then be invited to participate in a professional development workshop in Spring 2024, but this is entirely voluntary - you are very welcome to only participate in the interview if that is most comfortable for you.

** Workshops are now likely to be held in Summer 2024

Wherever and whenever is most convenient for you!

You can choose whether you would prefer to speak with me online or in-person. If in-person, I am willing to travel to a location of your choice or you are welcome to come and visit me at The University of Edinburgh.

I have up to date PVG and DBS checks for Scotland and Wales, so can come to your school for the interview if that suits you best.

No!

The workshops will be an additional phase of the research that will take place in Spring 2024. You will be invited to take part, but your decision is entirely voluntary. You are welcome to only offer your voice for the interview, which will be equally appreciated.

** Workshops are now likely to take place in Summer 2024

Keeping your identity anonymous is a top priority. The only people who will have access to your name and details are myself and my supervisors.

All sign-up forms and interview transcripts will be kept on a password-protected University drive and accessed via my finger-print protected laptop.

All data will be pseudonymised and any personal information you offer will be removed or altered to ensure that your identity cannot be detected.

Once data analysis has been completed, all raw data and original audio recordings will be destroyed/deleted. All transcripts will be anonymised before they are shared with the UK Data Service, in accordance with the ESRC Research Data Policy. This means that the data will be available for future research use, but you will remain anonymous, so nobody will be able to work out that you took part in this research. (You can refuse to have your transcript shared with the UK Data Service in the consent form).

You will also remain anonymous in any research outputs from this study.

Your participation in all aspects of this research is entirely voluntary.

You can withdraw from the study at any time, without giving a reason.

If you withdraw before 01/02/2024, all data that you have provided will be deleted. However, if you withdraw after this point, your interview data may have been used in research outputs.

If you participate in the workshops but withdraw before 01/05/2024, all of your data from the workshops will be deleted. However, if you withdraw after this point, your workshop data may have been used in research outputs.

One of my key aims for this research is to give your voices a platform. As such, I will aim to share these results widely - with policymakers and education agencies (e.g. Education Scotland and GTCS, the RICs in Wales), as well as through academic publications and conference presentations.

Of course, I cannot guarantee that any of these actors will listen or act upon the findings - but I can promise that I will do my best my to make your voices heard.

As a reminder, all quotes and key findings will be reported using pseudonyms to preserve your anonymity.

You will also be offered the chance to read an initial analysis of the interview data prior to participation in the workshops, as well as a summary of the overall findings when the study is completed.

Make sure you have read the ‘Participant Information Sheet’ linked at the top of this page.

Then, sign-up by completing a short registration form.

I will then contact you directly to make arrangements for the interview and to provide you with a consent form to be completed in advance of the interview.

If you have any questions before signing up, please don’t hesitate to contact me on amy.aukland@ed.ac.uk.