James Underwood leads the masters’ in education at the University of Northampton as well as a range of other shorter courses at masters’ level. He also supervises doctoral students. James taught for 19 years before becoming a lecturer here at the University of Northampton. The majority of this time was in the British state sector, in secondary schools. He was a school leader in the state secondary sector (students aged 11-18) and subsequently of a sixth form college (students aged 16-18). He completed his doctorate in education at the University of Cambridge. He also worked at the University of Cambridge as an associate lecturer, whilst still teaching in schools.
The title of James’ doctorate is: ‘Building communities and sharing knowledge: a study into teachers working together across national boundaries’. His research interests include: the nature of professional communities, school leadership, methodologies for teacher research, and teaching approaches in higher education among others.
