Dr Jonathan William Firth
Principal Teaching Fellow
Strathclyde Institute of Education
Personal statement
I am a Senior Teaching Fellow at Strathclyde’s Institute of Education. The main focus of my teaching, scholarship and research is the application of cognitive psychology to education. I lead the BA Joint Honours Education Studies at the Institute, teach across several other courses, carry out research, and supervise students.
Prior to working at Strathclyde I gained experience of school teaching and adult education, including more than 15 years as a secondary school teacher. I also write textbooks and books for teachers, most recently ‘Metacognition and Study Skills’ (David Fulton Books, 2024).
Area of Expertise
Research: I have carried out several review studies, including a systematic review and meta-analysis of interleaving as a learning strategy (Firth, Rivers & Boyle, 2021), as well as conducting field experiments and writing theoretical papers.
Course design: I led a team which created an in-service teacher education programme for Crescent School in Pakistan, covering all aspects of teaching practice. I have also designed and refreshed university modules at the institute.
CPD: I have given many talks on the psychology of education, and led workshops and training days for teachers on such issues as creativity, memory strategies, debunking educational myths, and supporting teacher research engagement.
Science communication: I co-lead and write for the Strathclyde Institute of Education's blog, and also write a weekly newsletter on memory and metacognition for educators .
Publications
- Autobiography, Fan Fiction and Education
- Robertson Nicola, Chen Yueling, Shetty Panrita, Surendran Shone, Cabarcas Ortega Marcelo Jose, Wythe Jessica, Panopoulou Maria Stylani, Firth Jonathan William
- Education and Popular Culture Education and Popular Culture (2025)
- Headteacher engagement with the pupil equity fund : autonomy, evidence and networks
- Firth Jonathan, Beck Anna, Wilson Claire
- Educational Management Administration and Leadership, pp. 1-18 (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1177/17411432251343994
- All about the Education Studies Joint Honours course at Strathclyde.
- Firth Jonathan William
- (2025)
- Creativity for Teachers : A Cognitive Science Approach
- Badger Claire, Firth Jonathan William
- The Teacher CPD Academy Series The Teacher CPD Academy Series (2025)
- On Thinking Routines and Metacognition
- Firth Jonathan William
- (2025)
- Why education needs to focus on learning : the Strathclyde Institute of Education's Jonathan Firth questions whether the learning process is given sufficient attention
- Firth Jonathan William
- (2024)
Research Interests
My research interests focus on the psychology of memory and metacognition as it applies to learning, as well as learning theories, higher-order skills, assessment, and teachers' professional learning. Applications of these interests include teaching strategies, educational interventions for critical thinking, approaches to teacher education, and professional engagement in evidence-based practice.
Professional Activities
- Heads need more support to make most of PEF
- Recipient
- 8/7/2025
- Understanding Metacognition: Strategies for University Educators
- Speaker
- 10/3/2025
- Metacognitive Illusions: When Learners Misunderstand Learning
- Speaker
- 11/11/2024
- Transforming Study Skills
- Speaker
- 19/10/2024
- Metacognitive illusions
- Speaker
- 13/10/2024
- A Cognitive Science Approach to Creativity
- Speaker
- 13/9/2024
Projects
- Writing retreat focussing on education essay
- Firth, Jonathan William (Principal Investigator)
- I organised a series of writing retreats in connection with the APT Education research sub-theme. The sessions had a focus on supporting colleagues/students to write essays on the theme of consciousness/conscious experience.
- 01-Jan-2025 - 18-Jan-2025
- Columba 1400 Senior Leadership Academy for Police Scotland
- Sosu, Edward (Principal Investigator) Firth, Jonathan William (Principal Investigator) Wilson, Claire (Co-investigator) Chen, Yueling (Post Grad Student)
- 01-Jan-2023 - 31-Jan-2024
- Columba 1400 Head Teachers’ Leadership Academy: A Retrospective Evaluation Study
- Wilson, Claire (Principal Investigator) Sosu, Edward (Co-investigator) Firth, Jonathan William (Co-investigator) Chen, Yueling (Post Grad Student)
- 01-Jan-2022 - 29-Jan-2024
- Columba 1400 Head Teachers’ Leadership Academy: An Evaluation Study
- Sosu, Edward (Principal Investigator) Firth, Jonathan William (Co-investigator) Wilson, Claire (Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2022 - 31-Jan-2024
- Columba 1400 Head Teachers’ Leadership Academy: A Retrospective Evaluation Study
- Sosu, Edward (Principal Investigator) Firth, Jonathan William (Co-investigator) Wilson, Claire (Co-investigator) Chen, Yueling (Post Grad Student) Liu, Jia (Post Grad Student)
- 01-Jan-2022 - 29-Jan-2024
- Memory and Metacognition Updates
- Firth, Jonathan William (Principal Investigator)
- As part of my knowledge exchange work, I write a weekly newsletter during term time with explainers of research and theories related to memory, metacognition, and other closely related concepts, including case studies and applications to teaching and lecturing. This has been shared via Substack.
- 21-Jan-2022
Contact
Dr
Jonathan William
Firth
Principal Teaching Fellow
Strathclyde Institute of Education
Email: jonathan.firth@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 444 8069