Meet the Team

Gillian-Francis McNeil 

Teaching Fellow in Educational Leadership 

Gillian joined the university in 2022 after 15 years working in the primary and additional support needs sectors. During this time, she worked in a range of roles, including leading a local authority response to the Scottish Attainment Challenge (numeracy and maths lead) and serving for 6 years as a Depute and Acting Head Teacher. Gillian gained the Specialist Qualification for Headship (Into Headship) in 2021 with distinction. She is the Module Leader for module 1: Developing as a Strategic Leader. 

Gillian is also a part-time Doctor of Education (EdD) student, with her research focusing on the role of schools and school leaders in supporting children affected by domestic abuse. She leads on Child Protection and Safeguarding across Initial Teacher Education programmes. In addition to this, her professional interests include educational leadership, with a particular focus on the role of activism in school leadership as a catalyst for wider system change.   

 

Nova Lauder-Scott

Teaching Fellow in Educational Leadership 

Nova joined the University in 2019 after a career in schools spanning 25 years, the last 10 of which were as a primary head teacher.  Nova is the Course Leader for Into Headship and the Module Leader for Module 2 – Leading Strategic Educational Change.  

Nova is also a part-time doctoral student on the Ed. D programme and is currently collecting data and writing up her thesis which has the working title of: “They just get it: Head Teachers’ Narratives of Teachers Who Champion Children in Distress”  

In addition to her doctoral research, Nova’s research interests include educational leadership and teacher professional learning, especially practitioner enquiry.  Nova is the Executive Secretary for ASPE (The Association for the Study of Primary Education) and a co-opted executive member of SERA (The Scottish Educational Research Association).  

  

Christine Woods 

Course Administrator 

Christine started working within Education in 2003.  She worked in the Further Education sector to begin with then joined the University of Strathclyde in 2013. Her first post was at the Business School, Economics Department, and she has been based in the Institute of Education since 2014. 

Christine is currently course administrator for Into Headship, M.Ed Educational Leadership and Gaelic ATQ courses.  Christine works part time, Wednesday to Friday.