Dr Deborah Pope
Senior Lecturer
I joined University of Chester in July 2014. I currently teach on a range of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes provided by the School of Education. Additionally, I supervise Masters and Doctoral research students. I am a member of the SoE Ethics Committee and representative for the university's Athena Swan committee. Prior to this, I worked as a Senior Lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University, where I undertook a range of leadership roles within the area of Primary Education. I am a former primary teacher and leader with extensive experience of working in diverse roles in schools in Wirral, North Wales and Liverpool.
External Examining
The Open University (2023 - present)
Manchester Metropolitan University (2023 - present)
Sheffield Hallam University (2017 - 2023)
University of Cumbria (2013 – 2017)
Professional Membership
National Primary Teacher Education Council: Committee Member (2013 – present)
Founding Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching
British Education Studies Association
British Educational Research Association
Teacher Education Advancement Network
Cambridge Primary Review Trust
BA (Hons) Primary Education/ BA(Hons) Early Years - Primary Education
PGCE Primary Education (Core and School Direct)/ PGCE Early Years
MA Educational Practice
EdD Professional Doctorate in Education
Subject knowledge for primary teaching
Curriculum, pedagogy and policy in primary education and primary ITT
Primary and early years science education
Subject-specificity in coaching and mentoring in primary ITT
Recent publications
Pope, D. (2023) Becoming conservation champions through science learning. In K. Doull & S. Ogier (Eds.), Teaching climate change and sustainability in the primary curriculum. Sage.
Pope, D. (2020) Cognitive load theory and teacher expertise: Specific challenges for primary teachers. Impact Journal of the Chartered College of Teaching, Issue 8/Spring, p14-17.
Pope, D. (Ed) (2019) Understanding subject knowledge for primary teaching. London: Sage.
Deborah Pope (2019) Subject knowledge for primary teaching: the influence of the personal dimension on beginning primary teachers’ conceptualisations and interpretations, Education 3-13, 47:3, 293-307,
Pope, D. (2018) Subject knowledge for primary teaching: the influence of the personal dimension on beginning primary teachers’ conceptualisations and interpretations. Education 3-13.
Pope, D. (2017) Conceptions of subject knowledge in primary ITT: the perspectives of student teachers and teacher educators. Unpublished thesis (PhD), Liverpool John Moores University.
Barker, J. and Pope, D. (2016) WebQuests as a tool to support children in carrying out research using secondary sources to answer their scientific questions, Primary Science, 143, p26-28
Centre for Public Health (July 2014) Monkey’s Guide to Healthy Living and NHS Services: An evaluation of the implementation of resources designed to support the learning of primary school aged children in England.
Recent conference presentations
Pope, D. (2020) Keynote: Re-orientating subject knowledge for primary ITE. Annual Conference of the National Primary Teacher Education Council, November 2020, Oxford, United Kingdom. (Conference rescheduled online)
Pope, D. (2020) Ticking the right boxes? School-based mentors and subject knowledge in primary ITT. TEAN Conference May 2020, Manchester, United Kingdom. (Conference postponed)
Pope, D. (2018) Subject knowledge for a broad and balanced curriculum. Annual Conference of the National Primary Teacher Education Council, September 2018, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Pope, D. (2017) Subject knowledge discourses in primary initial teacher education. 13th Annual Conference of British Education Studies Association, June 2017, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
Pope, D. (2016) Conceptions of subject knowledge in the initial training of primary school teachers. Annual Conference of the Cambridge Primary Review Trust, November 2016, London, United Kingdom.
Pope, D. (2015) Perceptions of ‘subject knowledge’ in the initial teacher training of primary school teachers: nature, role, purpose and process. Annual Conference of the National Primary Teacher Education Council, September 2015, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Pope, D. (2013) Perceptions of ‘subject knowledge’ in the initial teacher training of primary school teachers: ‘It’s only primary; all you do is cutting out.’ LJMU, Faculty of Education, Health and Community Annual Research Conference.
PhD, MA, BSc (Hons), PGCE, PGCertLTHE, FHEA, FCCT