Dr Christopher Hanley
Senior Lecturer (EdDoc Lead and English)
My profile
Biography
I am a former English teacher and current senior lecturer in the Faculty of Health and Education. I taught in schools and colleges in the North West for eleven years before moving to a full-time teaching and research post at MMU.
I am interested in professional learning in practical contexts, including teacher education and doctoral study. As co-investigator in a research project about the experiences of young people in treescapes and green spaces, I am researching place-based curriculum making in English and Science.
Interests and expertise
I have expertise in the fields of English Studies, pedagogy, research methodologies in education and teacher education.
My research draws on range of interdisciplinary fields, including social and philosophical theories, and focusses on critical analysis of professional knowledge and practice. Recent books include Research on becoming an English teacher: Through Lacan’s looking glass (Routledge, with Mike Dore and Tony Brown, and George Orwell and Education. Learning, commitment and human dependency (Routledge).
Projects
Selected projects and grant income
2022: Re-thinking secondary English through place: The Story of the Manchester Poplar. [Funded by: Manchester Metropolitan University], £ 6000, Principal Investigator
2021:Voices of the future: Collaborating with children and young people (CYP) to re-imagine treescapes. [Funded by: NERC, AHRC, ESRC, Defra, Welsh and Scottish Governments], 2021, £ 2 million approx, Co-Investigator
https://www.mmu.ac.uk/research/research-centres/esri/projects/voices-of-the-future
2018-19: A project of applied philosophical inquiry into conceptualisations of doctoral work across institutions. [Funded by: Philosophy of education society of Great Britain], 2018, £561, Principal Investigator
2018-19: A project of applied philosophical inquiry into how doctoral supervisors conceptualise writing at doctoral level. [Funded by: Manchester Metropolitan University], 2018, £815, Principal Investigator
2016: Whose values? The discursive construction of the civic role of teachers in Teacher Education Programmes [Funded by: Manchester Metropolitan University], 2016, £9,000, Principal Investigator with Edda Sant of MMU
2016: Global citizenship education. A live project [Funded by: Centre For Excellence in Learning and Teaching], 2016, £4,000, Principal Investigator with Edda Sant of MMU
2012-2016: Introducing a research dimension to the English PGCE. Unfunded. Principal Investigator with Professor Tony Brown of MMU
2014-2015: An exploration of criticality with international students from different knowledge cultures studying in the UK. Unfunded. Principal Investigator with Dr Linda Hammersley-Fletcher of MMU
Teaching
How I’ll teach you
I will help you to be confident in your personal experience, to explore the issues that matter and encourage you to innovate and be creative. I will introduce you to methodological thinking that will help you to be systematic and rigorous in your studies. My seminars will require you to be critically reflexive, to scrutinise your ways of making sense of the world, to make arguments that are strong and persuasive. Using a range of different tasks, methods and resources, intended to stimulate your imagination and curiosity, I will encourage you to be inquisitive about the nature of educational experience and professional practice. My aim is always to enable a space for debate and discussion, allowing thought and creativity to flourish. I will help you to become a skilled and committed education practitioner.
Why study…
Learning to teach English is about reading with interest. This means interrogating how and why texts address their readers as they do.
English teaching is about unlocking potential. When readers think critically and independently, they establish a sense of autonomy within the reading process.
Teaching English is about creativity and joy. A word combines with other words, creating a world of meaning. Stories are not confined to pages. They are re-told, in different ways, again and again.
Doctoral studies is the most incredible journey you can ever undertake. As a doctoral student in education, you will be asking searching questions about how we think, learn and live, and imagining how it can be done differently in the future. You will be trained in research methods and taught how to think rigorously and creatively, so you can undertake real-world projects that are meaningful and impactful.
Postgraduate teaching
I currently teach on the Doctor of Education course (phase A) and supervise doctoral students in phase B. I also teach on the English PGCE course (subject pedagogy and professional practice).
Subject areas
English and doctoral studies
Supervision
Previous supervision
As Principal Supervisor
Sackville-Ford, Mark (2017) Affective school atmospheres: an adventure through lively matters. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University.
As co-supervisor
Alhamroni, Ramadan (2017) How higher education leaders learn to lead – the shaping of professional identities: a comparison of senior academic leaders in Libya and the UK. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University
As second supervisor
Evans, Stephen (2021) Emergent educational practice in community settings. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University
Pawlik, Peter (2020) The discursive construction of the mastery curriculum in mathematics. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University
Dubsky, Rachel (2015) Professional boundaries in teacher-pupil relationships: does the model of professional conduct in regulatory standards and codes of conduct impose teacher-pupil relationships that are pedagogically and personally limiting? Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University
Harrison, Michaela (2014) Travelling through written spaces: a nomadic enquiry into the writing of student teachers. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University
Current supervision: Principal Supervisor
Lisa Brooks. A Psychoanalytical Examination of the Impact of the Role of the Specialist Leader of Education (SLE) in Secondary Schools
Kirsteen Aubrey. Title TBC.
Richard Dunston. An exploration of stakeholder perceptions towards continuous professional development and its design, purpose and impact within Further Education through theoretical and experiential lenses.
Current supervision: First Supervisor
Clare Halfpenny. Quality in Higher Education: a comparison of commercial and traditional undergraduate programmes
Research outputs
My latest book, George Orwell and education, takes a philosophical approach to literature studies, while other recent papers are concerned with innovative practitioner research and citizenship education.
Published Books
- Hanley, C. (2019) George Orwell and Education. Learning, commitment and human dependency. (London: Routledge)
- Brown, T., Dore, M. Hanley, C (2019) Research on becoming an English teacher: Through Lacan’s looking glass. (London: Routledge)
Chapters
- Hanley, C. & Dore, M. (2021). Modelling curriculum design. A conceptual approach. In Hulme, M., O’Sullivan, R. & Smith, R. (Eds.) (2021) Mastering Teaching: Thriving as an Early Career Teacher, Buckingham: Open University Press.
- Hanley, C. & Olson-Rost, A. (2020) Working with texts: Behaviour challenges and possible solutions, in Overland, E., Barber, J. & Sackville-Ford, M. (2020) Behaviour Management for Trainee Teachers, A practical and theoretical guide for secondary education. (Routledge)
Professional Journal
- Hanley, C. (2018). Teacher-as-researcher: Shaping the curriculum for pupil learning. Impact (3). Chartered college of teaching.
-
Performances
Hanley, C., Cooper, D. (2022) Re-thinking secondary English through place: The Story of the Manchester Poplar. [Performance] Science and Industry Museum, Manchester, 4/7/2022 -
Hanley, C. (2018) 100 years after the Newbolt report (invited panel presentation). [Performance] Brunel University, 9/6/2018 -
-
Books (authored/edited/special issues)
Hanley, C. (2019) George Orwell and Education Learning, Commitment and Human Dependency. Routledge.
Brown, T., Hanley, C., Dore, M. (2019) Research on becoming an English teacher: Through Lacan's looking glass. Routledge.
-
Chapters in books
Hanley, C., Dore, M. (2021) 'Modelling curriculum design. A conceptual approach..' Mastering Teaching: Thriving as an Early Career Teacher,.
Olsson Rost, K., Hanley, C. (2020) 'Working with texts: Behaviour challenges and possible solutions.' Behaviour Management An Essential Guide for Student and Newly Qualified Teachers.
-
Journal articles
Hanley, C., Sant, E. (2023) 'Touch, tact and swerve: three new concepts for the doctoral process, inspired by Jean-Luc Nancy’s ontology.' Research in Education,
Sant Obiols, E., Gonzalez-Valencia, G., Shaikh, G., Santisteban, A., da Costa, M., Hanley, C., Davies, I. (2022) 'Characterising citizenship education in terms of its emancipatory potential: reflections from Catalonia, Colombia, England, and Pakistan.' Compare: a journal of comparative and international education,
Dann, R., Czerniawski, G., Dixon, M., Hanley, C. (2018) 'Teacher-as-researcher: Shaping the curriculum for pupil learning..'
Hanley, C.T. (2018) 'Thinking with Deleuze and Guattari: an exploration of writing as assemblage.' Educational Philosophy and Theory, 51(4) pp. 413-423.
Sant, E., Hanley, C. (2018) 'Political assumptions underlying pedagogies of national education: the case of student teachers teaching ‘British Values’ in England..' British Educational Research Journal, 44(2) pp. 319-337.
Hanley, C. (2017) 'An exploration of educative praxis : Reflections on Marx’s concept praxis, informed by the Lacanian concepts act and event.' Educational Philosophy and Theory, 49(10) pp. 1006-1015.
Hanley, C., Brown, T. (2017) 'Developing a university contribution to teacher education: creating an analytical space for learning narratives.' Journal of Curriculum Studies, 49(3) pp. 352-368.
Hanley, C., Brown, T. (2017) 'Thinking with certainty or with doubt: a Lacanian theorisation of discursive knowledge in teacher education.' Discourse, 40(3) pp. 306-318.
Hammersley-Fletcher, L.J., Hanley, C. (2016) 'The use of critical thinking in higher education in relation to the international student: shifting policy and practice.' British Educational Research Journal, 42(6) pp. 978-992.
Hanley, C. (2015) 'Neoliberalism, emotional experience in education and Adam Smith: reading The theory of moral sentiments alongside The wealth of nations.' Journal of Educational Administration and History, 47(2) pp. 105-116.
Hanley, C. (2013) 'Towards a new privacy: Totalitarianism, emotion and management discourse.' Management in Education, 27(4) pp. 146-149.
-
Conference papers
Sant Obiols, E., McDonnell, J., Menendez Alvarez-Hevia, D., Pashby, K., Hanley, C., Thiel, J. (2021) 'Pedagogies Of Agonistic Democracy And Global Citizenship Education.' 21/8/2017 - 25/8/2017. European Educational Research Association,
Hanley, C. (2019) '‘What is a pedagogic concept in Literature Studies’?.' In 'What is a pedagogic concept?'. Manchester Metropolitan University, 21/11/2019 - 21/11/2019.
Hanley, C. (2019) '‘George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four and truth in education’..' In Christopher Hanley. Brunel University, 25/6/2019 - 25/6/2019.
Hanley, C., Underhill, H., Ramsay, A., Overland, E., Patterson, R., Ariza, P., Baynham, J., Pawlik, P., Dunk, R. (2018) 'Exploring Higher Education: An investigation into teacher educators’ conceptualisations of learning in university..' In British Educational Research Association conference. Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK,
Sant Obiols, E., McDonnell, J., Pashby, K., Menendez Alvarez-Hevia, D., Sellar, S., Hanley, C. (2018) 'Agonistic Controversial’ Issues As A Pedagogy For Global Citizenship Education.' 13/4/2018 - 17/4/2018. American Educational Research Association,
Hanley, C.T., Sant, E. (2017) 'researching a pedagogic innovation: an affective entanglement.' In European Conference on Educational Research. Copenhagen, 22/8/2017 - 25/2/2018.
Sant, E., Hanley, C. (2016) 'Whose values? Pre-service teachers' views on Britishness..' In BERA 2016. Leeds, 13/9/2016 - 15/9/2016.
Hanley, C.T. (2016) 'whose values?.' In BERA 2016.
Hanley, C.T. (2016) 'developing a theorisation of pedagogic subject disciplines.' In BERA.
Hanley, C.T., Brown, A. (2015) '‘Pedagogical Subject Knowledge Development for Student Teachers of English’ ECER Budapest 2015.' In European Conference on Educational Research. Budapest, Hungary, 8/9/2015 - 11/9/2015. Taylor & Francis (Routledge): SSH Titles,
Hammersley-Fletcher, L.J., Hanley, C. (2014) 'Educational Leadeship and the use of Critical Thinking in Higher Education in relation to the International student.' In British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society Annual Conference. Stratford upon Avon, 11/7/2014 - 13/7/2014.
Hammersley-Fletcher, L., Hanley, C. (2014) 'Educational leadership and the use of Critical Thinking in Higher Education in relation to the International Student – shifting policy and practice.' In British Educational Leadership Management and Administration Society Annual International Conference. Stratford-on-Avon, 11/7/2014 - 13/7/2014.
Hammersley-Fletcher, L.J., Hanley, C. (2013) 'The virtuous school leader - power, control and potential in times of political austerity.' In Canadian Association for the study of Educational Administration Annual Conference. University of Victoria, Vancouver Island, 1/6/2013 - 5/6/2013.
Hammersley-Fletcher, L.J., Hanley, C. (2012) 'Primary school headteachers making decisions: communitarian ethics and the place if virtue.' In British Educational Research Association Annual Conference. Manchester, 3/9/2012 - 6/9/2012.
-
Presentations
Hanley, C. (2018) Researching the curriculum in schools and colleges: Practice, professionalism and innovation: Thinking like a researcher: learning to 'notice' your practice differently. [Presentation]
-
Theses and dissertations
Sackville-Ford, M. (2017) Affective school atmospheres: an adventure through lively matters.