Dr Michael Harpham is Principal Lecturer in Initial Teacher Education (secondary) at the School of Social Sciences and Professions.
Michael originally trained as a singer at the Royal Academy of Music before completing two Master's degrees in education and embarking on a 30 year teaching career in secondary schools across London, which included over 20 years’ Senior Leadership and Headship experience. Outside school, Michael has worked for over 12 years as a leadership coach and trainer, most recently creating and recording training courses on assessment with the National College.
He completed his Doctorate at the University of Greenwich through a mixed methods case study on factors influencing Senior Leadership teamwork (winning the Postgraduate Research Prize) and is the author of three books: Progress Plain and Simple (2020); The School Leader’s Year (2021) and Teamwork Plain and Simple (2023).
He is a Research Fellow with the University of Greenwich, a Fellow of the Chartered College of Teachers and a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Educators.
SDQ018: Professionalism in Practice (London Met) supporting trainee teachers improve their professionalism in their practice.
Outside the university: "Progress Plain and Simple" guest lecturer at 20+ universities in the UK
Research interests:
Effective teamwork in organisations and leadership
The historic and current role of technology in teaching and learning
Member of:
Society for Educational Studies
BERA / WERA
Worshipful Company of Educators
Research Fellow at University of Greenwich
Winner of the Centre for Lifecourse Development Postgraduate Research Prize, University of Greenwich
Presented at SFES conference 2023, Oxford University (History of school teaching through a Foucauldian lens)
Presented at INTED conference 2024, Valencia, Spain (HIstory of school teaching through a Foucauldian lens)
Presented at BERA conference 2024, Manchester University (Factors influencing effective senior leadership teamwork in English secondary schools)
Peer reviewer with the Chartered College of Teaching
Created a number of webinars on assessment with the National College
Delivered training nationally and internationally with Dragonfly Training, and Osiris Educational
A number of articles written for SecEd
Featured at the Osiris Educational World Education Summit 2021, 2022, and 2024.
Interview with media posted on Instagram in September 2024 following success of a school Michael supported as School Improvement Advisor.