Michael Bird | University of Chester

As a Senior Lecturer in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and Head of ITE Department, Michael leads all programmes at the University which lead to Qualified Teacher Status. This includes BA (QTS) Primary and Early Years undergraduate degrees, and PGCEs in Early Years, Primary and Secondary phases. He chairs the ITE Module Assessment Board, co-chairs the ITE Partnership Governance Board and is a member of the School of Education Student Experience Committee. He plays an active role in leading innovation across the School of Education and contributes to the development of strategic direction for ITE within the School. He has had a rich and varied career in education for nearly 30 years working in primary, secondary, and higher education both in the UK and abroad and specialises in History Education, pursuing research to Masters and Doctoral level.

Michael teaches on the BA QTS programme at levels 4 to 6 in the Foundation Subject modules, focusing on History. He also makes regular contributions to the Level 7 work in the PGCEs relating to professionalism, policy, enrichment, and dialogic teaching.

Michael believes passionately that teachers need to become authorities of their own practice and he is a strong advocate for serving teachers pursuing research to that end. Michael is an active researcher in the areas of History Education; teacher learning and the cognitive anthropology of schooling. He is a regular contributor to publications of the Historical Association (HA) relating to how teachers learn, the analysis of dialogic interactions with children and to promoting local history in partnership schools. He also continues to work closely with schools and other practitioners in useful collaborations, curriculum development projects and research initiatives, and several of these have won funding from the AHRC and National Lottery.

Bird, M. (2022). Dialogue, Engagement and Generative Interaction in the Classroom. Teaching History(186), 52-59.

Bird, M., & Ingledew, D. (2021). Everybody's Talking? Unpacking, sharing and developing the use of dialogue in History learning and teaching. Historical Association Conference. Historical Association.

Bird, M. (2021). Material culture, historical objects and new dimensions to learning Chester's Medieval past. Research and Knowledge Exchange Festival. Chester: University of Chester.

Bird, M., Wilson, K., Egan-Simon, D., Jackson, A., & Kirkup, R. (2020). Touching, Feeling, Smelling, and Sensing History through Objects: New opportunities from the 'material turn'. Teaching History(181), 40-48.

Bird, M., & Wilson, T. (2019). 1069 And All That: the dialogic dimensions of knowing and understanding the Norman legacy in Chester. Teaching History(175), 40-50.

Bird, M., & McDonald, N. (2018). Exploring the negotiation between the imposed and the emergent in pupils' experience of learning history. British Education Research Association Conference. Newcastle Upon Tyne: BERA.

Bird, M., & Jones, M. (2017). Looking through the Keyhole at Birkenhead from 1900 to 1950: Negotiating meanings and bacon bones. Teaching History(169), 20-27.

Bird, M., & Tones, S. (2016). How do School Direct Trainees Learn How to Teach. British Education Research Association Annual Conference. Leeds Metropolitan University: BERA.

Bird, M. (2016). Revelling in History Amidst Forebodings for the Future: Chester in the Belle Epoque. Creative Education Conference. University of Chester: RECAP; Curious Minds.

Bird, M. (2015). 1069 And All That: The Legacy of the Normans in Chester and the Tacit Dimensions of Knowing. Valuing Cultural Education Conference. University of Chester: RECAP; Curious Minds.

BA (Hons)
PGCE with QTS
MA (Education)
EdD
FHEA