Dr Jonathan William Firth

Personal statement

Overview

Having taught psychology at secondary school level for over 15 years, I now work as a Teaching Fellow at the University of Strathclyde.

I am the incoming course leader for BA Joint Honours Education, and also lead the PGDE Secondary Psychology, developing new Psychology teachers to work in schools. I teach on several other courses across the School of Education, and supervise research students.

My research interests focus on the psychology of memory and metacognition as it applies to learning, as well as learning theories, assessment, and teachers' professional learning. Most recently I have completed a systematic review into the ‘interleaving effect’, practical studies of beliefs about learning with student teachers and practising secondary teachers, and field experiments on school pupils that look at how learners benefit from interleaved examples. I have also collaborated on research into practitioner enquiry and nudge psychology.

I have written several textbooks for the school psychology curriculum, as well as resource books for teachers. These works include ‘Psychology in the Classroom’ (2018, co-authored with Marc Smith), 'The Teacher's Guide to Research' (2019), and a short guide to learning and study for school pupils and university students entitled ‘How to learn’ (2018).

I am currently engaged in several knowledge exchange projects that involve supporting teacher research engagement in schools and local authorities. I have also led and co-led CLPL sessions for teachers, and have written an online course on metacognition for teachers.

In summary, my areas of professional interest include:

- Memory, metacognition and teacher professional learning.

- Evidence-informed approaches to learning, study skills, and assessment.

- Use of field experiments, metacognition research, meta-analysis and systematic review.

- Teaching of school (pre-tertiary) psychology, including online teaching.

- The psychology of learning, including learning theories.