Q&A with Professor Norbert Pachler

What is your role and what does it involve?

As Pro-Vice-Provost Education, I work closely with the Vice-Provost Education and Student Affairs on UCL-wide initiatives such as online education, assessment regulations and the review of postgraduate taught provision at UCL.

I oversee the developmental work on IOE Futures and actively contribute to some large international teacher education and professional development projects.

How long have you been at IOE?

I joined IOE in 1997 as the Subject Leader for the Secondary PGCE in Modern Foreign Languages. I was programme leader for the Languages in Education MA, as well as programme leader for the Master of Teaching and have worked in various academic leadership roles. I also served as Chair of Academic Board.

I was Pro-Director: Teaching, Quality and Learning Innovation from 2013-2020. This involved overall strategic responsibility for IOE's teaching and learning portfolio, comprising a large number of teacher education, undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, leading change, managing quality and supporting innovation in the nature, form and content of IOE activities.

What working achievement or initiative are you most proud of?

I have been centrally involved in the merger between IOE and UCL and greatly enjoy the opportunity to explore synergies with other academic fields and strengthen the inter- and cross-disciplinarity of my own academic work and that of IOE more generally.

Tell us about a project you are working on now which is at the top of your to-do list.

Together with a number of colleagues, I am involved in teacher education projects in the Middle East working with governments in the region to develop system-wide approaches to the professional formation of teachers that build on the extensive expertise of IOE in London.

What would it surprise people to know about you?

I am a founding member of IOE's staff football team, which has competed in the University Indoor Football League for some years now.

What other piece of research outside your subject area interests you?

My academic work focuses on a variety of domains, including digital technologies in teaching and learning (with a particular focus on mobile learning), teacher education and the development and languages in education.

As the convenor of the London Mobile Learning Group, I have enjoyed working with a number of international colleagues from a range of fields including cultural and media studies, sociology, social semiotics, pedagogy, educational technology, work-based learning, and learning design.

Last updated 27 July 2023.