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Erika Cunningham

Erika Cunningham
Erika
Cunningham

Biography

Erika Cunningham studied Education at Moray House in Edinburgh. She then went on to teach in schools Scotland and the USA. After several years teaching in the primary, she found herself (quite by accident!) working in a nursery setting. This turned out to be a positive change of direction and following this, went on to work in other pre-school settings in different management and advisory roles.

In 2006 she came to Dundee University on Secondment and in 2008 accepted a permanent post working mainly in the field of Early Years Education on Undergraduate full time and distance learning Programmes.

Since starting at the University, her role has diversified and developed and now she has management, teaching and administrative responsibilities the MA (Hons) Education and MEd Programmes. Erika is currently based in Athens, Greece as MA (Hons) Year Convener, managing and delivering the Programme to a Greek cohort of students.

Erika has been developing her experiences in research for a few years, working independently and collaboratively with colleagues both within Dundee and Internationally. This remains an ongoing process and an exciting (as well as challenging) learning curve. In addition, she is currently working on her PhD - following on from previous research interests, this looks at the experiences of newly qualified teachers in their induction year, in particular aspects of professionalism, autonomy and judgement.

When not in work, she enjoys clearing her head on long walks with her two dogs - perfect at the end of a busy day!

Degrees & Qualifications

Research Interests

Teaching

Administration

Publications


Chapters
Henderson, S. & Cunningham, E., 2011 Henderson, S. & Cunningham, E. (2011). Curriculum Reform in Scotland: Principles and Practice. In B. Hudson & M. Meinart (eds.). Beyond Fragmentation: Didactics, Learning and Teaching in Europe. Leverkusen-Opladen: Barbara Budrich Publishers.
Miller, D.J., Boswell, G., Cunningham, E., Dunn, B., Sangster, P., Keatch, B., Knight, M., Moran, T., Mulholland, L. & Wakefield, P., 2010 Miller, D.J., Boswell, G., Cunningham, E., Dunn, B., Fallone, P., Keatch, B., Knight, M., Moran, T., Mulholland, L. & Wakefield, P.. (2010) “They become completely involved.” What teachers say about the benefits of global citizenship in schools. In T. Wisely, I. Barr, A. Britton & B. King, (Eds.) Education in a Global Space: Emerging Research and Practice in Initial Teacher Education. Edinburgh: IDEAS/SCOTDEC
Journal Papers
Cunningham, E., 2009 Cunningham, E. (2009). Transitions to Higher Education: a case study of students in Initial Teacher Education. in Brouwer, N., Giesbers, B., Rienties, B., Van Gastel, L. (2009). Student Mobility and ICT:Dimensions of Transition,. Maastricht: FEBA ERD Press.
Thurston, A., Duran, D., Blanch, S., Cunningham, E. & Topping, K., 2009 Thurston, A., Duran, D., Blanch, S., Cunningham, E. & Topping, K. (2009). International online reciprocal peer tutoring to promote modern language development in primary schools. Computers and Education, 53, 462-472. Also in Spanish as: Duran, D., Blanch, S., Thurston, A., Cunningham, E., Topping, K. (2010). Tutoría entre iguales recíproca y virtual para la mejora de habilidades lingüísticas en español e inglés. Infancia y Aprendizaje, 33(2), 209-222.
Conference Presentations
Cunningham, E. & Louizou, F., 2012 Cunningham, E. & Louizou, F. (2012) Challenges of professional development for Newly Qualified Teachers; perspectives for Cyprus and Scotland. European Conference on Educational Research, Cadiz, Spain, September 2012 (partial funding secured through the Leng Trust).
Henderson, S. & Cunningham, E. , 2010 Henderson, S. & Cunningham, E. (2010) Curriculum Reform in Scotland: Principles and Practice, European Conference on Educational Research, University of Helsinki, August 2010.
Cunningham, E., 2010 SSERC Scottish Science Education Conference. Invited Conference presentation on Science in the Early Years. Dunblane, March 2010.
Cunningham, E., 2009 Cunningham, E. (2009). Transitions to Higher Education: a case study of students in Initial Teacher Education. Invited symposium on student mobility and transitions at S-ICT conference, Amsterdam, 16-17 December 2009.
Miller, D.J., Boswell, G., Cunningham, E., Dunn, B., Sangster, P., Keatch, B., Knight, M., Moran, T., Mulholland, L. & Wakefield, P., 2009 Miller, D.J., Boswell, G., Cunningham, E., Dunn, B., Fallone, P., Keatch, B., Knight, M., Moran, T., Mulholland, L. & Wakefield, P., (2009) Primary Schools and Global Citizenship. IDEAS Annual Conference ‘Taking a Global Approach to Initial Teacher Education: Policy and Research’. Stirling, 20th August, 2009.
Thurston, A., Duran, D., Cunningham, E., Blanch, S. & Topping, K., 2009 Thurston, A., Duran, D., Cunningham, E., Blanch, S. & Topping, K. (2009). International online reciprocal peer tutoring to promote modern language development in primary schools, European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction, Amsterdam, 25th – 29th August 2009.
Thurston, A., Duran, D., Cunningham, E., Blanch, S. & Topping, K., 2009 Thurston, A., Duran, D., Cunningham, E., Blanch, S. & Topping, K. (2009). International online reciprocal peer tutoring to promote modern language development in primary schools, American Education Research Association Annual gathering. San Diego, CA, USA, 10th-15th April 2009.
Cunningham, E., 2009 Cunningham, E. (2009) Student Centred Learning; the impact on students’ attitudes to learning in ITE and Child Centred approaches in practice. Annual School Research Conference, University of Dundee, June 2009.
Cunningham, E., 2009 Cunningham, E. (2009) Student Centred Learning; the impact on students’ attitudes to learning in ITE and Child Centred approaches in practice. 5th Annual ESCalate ITE Conference, Glyndwr University 15th May 2009. (Funding secured from The Higher Education Academy Scottish Fund)