Dr Rachel Minett

Courses taught:

• Primary Education with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) (Undergraduate)

Rachel is an experienced teacher with expertise in the development and support of beginning teachers. She has a particular interest in teacher efficacy beliefs; how they can be nurtured and the impact of contextual factors upon them. Rachel is the Lead for ITT in Cambridge and holds strategic responsibility for ITT partnerships as part of our newly accredited provision to award Qualified Teacher Status.

[email protected]

Background

Rachel began her teaching career in 2006, teaching science and psychology in Cambridgeshire and Essex secondary schools. She became an Advanced Skills Teacher, helping to support other teachers to develop their practice, including trainee and newly qualified teachers (NQTs). During this time, Rachel studied for an MEd and EdD, developing an interest in teacher efficacy beliefs and qualitative research methodology.

Rachel went on to lead a local authority NQT Service, where she was responsible for the quality assurance of school-based NQT support. She also led a Teacher Internship programme, preparing potential teachers for employment-based teacher training routes. Alongside her local authority role, Rachel worked as an Associate Lecturer at The Open University, teaching on undergraduate psychology modules.

At ARU, Rachel has responsibility for the initial teacher training provision on the Cambridge campus and is the strategic lead for ITT partnerships across all campuses.

Research interests

• Teacher efficacy beliefs
• Teacher education and development
• Online and distance education

Rachel’s doctoral research investigated the sources of teacher efficacy beliefs using grounded theory methodology. She is interested in how micro and macro education structures and contexts influence teacher efficacy beliefs.

Qualifications

• Doctorate in Education (EdD), University of East Anglia
• MEd, University of Cambridge
• PGCE Secondary Biology with QTS, University of Cambridge
• PG Cert Online and Distance Teaching, The Open University
• BSc (Hons) Psychology, Newcastle University

Memberships, editorial boards

• British Psychological Society, member
• Chartered College of Teaching, professional affiliate member
• British Educational Research Association, member