Ellen Spencer 

CRL researcher 

Centre for Real-World Learning 

Email:

ellen.spencer@winchester.ac.uk 

Phone:

01962 827675 

Address:

Biography

Ellen joined the Centre as a senior researcher in May 2010, having worked for a large financial services firm since completion of her MA and Ph.D at the University of Warwick. Ellen's Ph.D thesis examined the impact of government policy on capacity for improvement within schools. During this time she served on a school governing body, working to monitor the implementation of assessment strategies aimed at improving learning in the school. Ellen has worked on a number of projects with CRL to date. Much of her research work involves the development and monitoring of teacher-led inquiries into the classroom practices that cultivate positive learning dispositions in pupils. Ellen has just completed a research project with Creativity, Culture and Education (CCE) exploring the assessment of progression in creativity. This work included a literature review about the formative assessment of creativity. She co-authored (with Bill Lucas and Guy Claxton) 'Making It', CRL's recent publication exploring the impacts of 'studio teaching' approaches on learning-mindedness and motivation of pupils.