Staff Profile
Dr Caroline Elbra-Ramsay
Deputy Head of School and Associate Professor
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As Deputy of the School of Education, Ofsted Lead and Associate Professor, I have a particular focus on interest in Initial Teacher Education. I work alongside Associate Heads, Programme Leads, lecturers, academics and school partners to ensure our student teachers are professional, reflective practitioners who are 'classroom ready.' I enjoy teaching both undergraduate and postgraduate students as part of the English and Professional subject teams and also work on a range of modules including Philosophy for Children, Maths, Art and Drama. I have completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice and am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. My research interests include Philosophy for Children, assessment and feedback and my PhD thesis was titled: 'Navigating the Pedagogical, Relational and Moral Economies of Assessment: An Exploration of the development of Student Teachers' Understanding of Feedback.'
Before joining York St John University I was Deputy Headteacher at a local primary school. My teaching experience included Foundation Stage, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 and I had additional responsibilities for assessment and English, as well as mentoring student teachers and Newly Qualified Teachers. I successfully completed my Masters during this time (focused on different approaches to the teaching of English) and also achieved the NPQH (National Professional Qualification in Headship). More recently I returned to the classroom to teach Year Five taking a period of Academic Leave to refresh my practice and conduct two research projects.
- School – School of Education, Language and Psychology
- Email – c.elbraramsay@yorksj.ac.uk
- Phone – 01904 876 523
- Research - View my work in RaY
- Postgraduate Research Supervisor
Further information
Teaching
I teach on both the undergraduate and postgraduate Initial Teacher Education programme programmes largely within Professional Studies, Art, English and Philosophy for Children. I am module director for the undergraduate year 3 Professional Studies module ‘The Emerging Professional.’ I am also a Lead Mentor and an Academic Tutor.
Research
My curriculum interests have fed into my research work. Recent projects have included:
- The feedback used on Strictly Come Dancing
- Dialogic practice
- Conceptions of dialogue in Philosophy for Children
- Returning to professional practice
My research interest in assessment and feedback informed my PhD study which was titled: 'Navigating the Pedagogical, Relational and Moral Economies of Assessment: An Exploration of the development of Student Teachers' Understanding of Feedback.'
Publications
Elbra-Ramsay, C. (2025). Finding their voice: how children experience philosophical dialogue as a path to liberation. Education 3-13, 1–15. doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2025.2463968
Elbra-Ramsay, Caroline (2024) What Strictly Come Dancing can teach us about how (and how not) to give feedback. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/what-strictly-come-dancing-can-teach-us-about-how-and-how-not-to-give-feedback-242832
Elbra-Ramsay, Caroline ORCID logo (2024) You should not be that good in week three:’ what can Strictly Come Dancing tell us about feedback and performativity in UK education policy? https://doi.org/10.1177/00345237241293962
Elbra-Ramsay, C., 2023. Assessment in HE Initial Teacher Education: Competing Contexts Discourses and the Unobtainable Pursuit for Fidelity. In The Palgrave Handbook of Teacher Education Research (pp. 1-25). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Elbra-Ramsay, Caroline and Clarke, Matthew (2022) Double Indemnity: Dualities, tensions and loss in the moral economies of feedback. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 50 (3). pp. 266-281.
Elbra-Ramsay, Caroline
(2021) Understanding feedback : a critical exploration for teacher educators. Critical Guides for Teacher Educators . Critical Publishing
Elbra-Ramsay, Caroline (2021)
Roles, relationships and emotions: Student teachers’ understanding of feedback as interpersonal. Research in Education.
Backhouse, A and Elbra-Ramsay, C ‘So, you want us to do the marking?!’ – peer review and feedback to promote assessment as learning’ Journal of Pedagogic Development (2015)
Backhouse, A and Elbra-Ramsay, C ‘Using a visualiser to support peer assessment and feedback in academic writing’ British Educational Research Association (BERA) University of Sussex, Brighton (2013)
Elbra-Ramsay, C Can "Quality Marking" be used to provide effective feedback within Higher Education? Journal of Pedagogic Development Volume 1, Issue 2 , 2011 p.16-30 (2011)
‘Developing Boys' Literacy at Key Stage One’ English 4-11 (2000)
‘Designing and Producing Non-Fiction Big Books for Key Stage One’ English 4-11 (1999)
Conferences and presentations
Parker, Keither , Bloom, Katy and Elbra-Ramsay, Caroline (2022) An Evaluation of the School Experience Formative Assessment Continuum - One Year On. In: UCET Annual Conference, 1 - 2 November 2022, Stratford-upon-Avon. (Unpublished)
Elbra-Ramsay, Caroline, Parker, Keither and Bloom, Katy (2021)
Understanding feedback : a critical exploration for teacher educators. In: UCET Annual Conference, 2-3 November 2021
Elbra-Ramsay, Caroline, (2021) Re-imagining
the assessment of school-based practice. In: UCET Annual Conference, 2-3 November 2021
Elbra-Ramsay, Caroline , Parker, Keither and Bloom, Katy (2021) Re-imagining
the assessment of work-based practice. In: Talk about Teaching for Social Justice, 06/07/2021-08/07/2021
Modifying the language of feedback to promote a continuous learning climate (York St John Up North Conference 2019) Joint presentation with Katy Bloom
Finding time to talk: the benefits of dialogic interviews in developing pedagogical understanding and resilience within ITE students (TEAN 2018)
Moving beyond the ‘Initial’ in Initial Teacher Education: The role of ITE in supporting and developing new teachers (TEAN 2018) Joint presentation with Louise Whitfield
Flexing verbal formative feedback to achieve different outcomes: lessons from school (York St John Teaching and Learning Conference 2018) Joint presentation with Katy Bloom
Student teachers’ conceptions of feedback TEAN (2016)
One Size Fits All? Applying a Partnership Model to Different Areas of Subject Knowledge UKLA (2016)
Using twitter to develop understanding of children's literature YSJ Higher York E Learning Conference (2014)
Using social media to enhance understanding of children's literature UKLA – Sussex (2014)
Using a visualiser to support peer assessment and feedback in academic writing BERA (2013)
Professional activities
I have the following additional awards /qualifications:
- Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice
- Level 1 SAPERE Philosophy for Children
- Level 2a SAPERE Philosophy for Children
- Level 2b SAPERE Philosophy for Children
- Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy
- Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy
- Mental Health First Aider award
