Personal statement

Nova Lauder-Scott joined the University of Strathclyde’s Institute of Education on a full-time basis in October 2019, following a 25-year career in primary education. During that time, she worked across Glasgow, East Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire in a range of teaching and leadership roles, including ten years as a primary Head Teacher. Her extensive experience of school leadership continues to inform her teaching, scholarship and research, particularly her commitment to socially just, relational and research-informed approaches to educational leadership.

Nova is Director of Postgraduate Taught (PGT) Provision within the Strathclyde Institute of Education, with a particular focus on the quality, development and sustainability of the Institute’s postgraduate taught portfolio and on ensuring an outstanding student experience. She is also Course Leader for Into Headship, Scotland’s national programme leading to the mandatory qualification for aspiring Head Teachers. Through this role, she works closely with colleagues across the university sector, local authorities, Education Scotland, the General Teaching Council for Scotland and the Scottish Government.

Nova is currently completing her Doctorate in Education (EdD). Her research, ‘They just get it’: Scottish Head Teachers’ stories about teachers who are adept at supporting children with distressed behaviour, explores Head Teachers’ experiences of teachers who appear particularly adept at understanding and supporting children experiencing distress. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), the study foregrounds the lived experiences and stories of primary Head Teachers and reflects Nova’s longstanding professional and scholarly interests in inclusion, relationships, belonging and educational practice.

Her wider scholarly interests include educational leadership, professional learning, practitioner enquiry, leadership development and school improvement, with a particular interest in the relationship between research, professional learning and practice. She is also interested in how professional learning communities can sustain leadership learning beyond formal programmes and in creating opportunities for practitioners and academics to learn with and from one another.

Alongside her teaching and research, Nova is actively involved in knowledge exchange and professional learning with schools and local authorities. She is particularly committed to building meaningful partnerships between universities and the education profession and to developing professional learning that combines research, critical reflection and the realities of leadership practice.

Within the University, Nova contributes to a range of Institute activities and committees, including the Institute Ethics Committee; the  Learning and Teaching Committee and work associated with the strategic project, "Habits of Mind." She also contributes to the wider educational research and leadership community through a number of external citizenship roles. These include membership of the National Into Headship Design Group, Executive Committee membership of the Scottish Educational Research Association (SERA), and serving as Academic Secretary of the Association for the Study of Primary Education (ASPE). Nova is also External Examiner for the Into Headship and MEd Leadership programmes at the University of the Highlands and Islands.

Nova is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA).