Who we are
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Bowden Education's contributors are education professionals with decades of experience in a range of roles across different educational sectors - primary, secondary, Further Education and Higher Education and with varying areas of expertise.
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All our contributors have experience of supporting and developing those training to teach, early careers teachers, experienced teachers, middle and senior leaders as well as acting as, and supporting those in governance roles.
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Meet Our Contributors
Dr Jonathan Barnes
B.Ed (Hons), MA, PhD, FRSA
​Jonathan has taught throughout Asia and Africa and in primary and secondary schools in England. After working as an education officer for English Heritage in the early 1990s he took over as head of a successful and popular primary school. He became a teacher educator in the early 2000s and was granted a National Teaching Fellowship in 2015. Currently he is Visiting Senior Research Fellow at Canterbury Christ Church University. Jonathan has written widely on the arts, creativity, curriculum and values in education. His books on cross-curricular approaches, Cross-Curricular Learning 3-14, and Applying Cross-curricular Approaches Creatively, are used in schools and teacher education courses throughout the country. In 2018 he founded the charitable company Education4Diversity dedicated to celebrating the huge creative and social value of our diverse society.
Dr Virginia Bower
BA, PGCE, MA, PhD, SFHEA
Virginia has a particular interest in English as an Additional Language and Primary English. Her PhD focused on English as an Additional Language. Virginia is a Senior Fellow of Advance HE and has experience of senior leadership.
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Catherine Carden
BSc, PGCE, MAEd, SFHEA, FFCT
Catherine expertise is in educational leadership at all levels as well as policy and the wider educational landscape. She is a Senior Fellow of Advance HE and a Founding Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching. Catherine was also awarded a University Teaching Fellowship for teaching and learning excellence in Initial Teacher Education. She has experience of senior leadership and is currently a Chair of Governors.
David Gumbrell
BA, NPQH
David has over 25 year’s experience in education, including 7 as a Headteacher of a Junior school. Now working as an education consultant, David is passionate about keeping the best early career teachers in the profession. With this mission, he created The Resilience Project, a series of materials to encourage teachers to look after themselves in order to allow them to be the best teachers that they can be. This resulted in the publication of his first book LIFT! in 2019, and the sequel, RISK will be out in 2020. Both books seek to support teachers with their resilience and to improve decision-making processes so that learning is exciting and engaging.