Dr Pinky Jain, Head of Teacher Education

Dr Pinky Jain

Head of Teacher Education

Pinky Jain is Head of Teacher Education in the Carnegie School of Education. She has research interests in trainee teachers, exploring how they can be developed and supported to attain criticality, to be reflective and to become research-informed practitioners.

Pinky taught in a range of schools and HEIs all over the world before joining the University in 2021 where she leads an enthusiastic, dedicated and committed team within the Department for Teacher Education.

Pinky completed her PhD in Primary Mathematics Education from the University of Nottingham where she developed a model to support the understanding of children's prior knowledge in the primary maths classroom.

Pinky trained as a Secondary Economics and Business Studies teacher and started her teaching career in Stoke-on-Trent. She then had the opportunity to move to USA for two years. She developed trainer training materials and trained New York Police Department emergency call handlers to use the new 911 system. She qualified as an Educational Psychologist at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City. While at Columbia, she taught in New York City and worked on research projects which involved the use of ICT to support primary age children in developing mathematical skills. She then moved back to UK and has taught in primary schools in Birmingham and Worcestershire. Following her experience in schools, she has worked in HEIs within Primary Initial Teacher Education.

Pinky’s areas of expertise are international teacher education development, undergraduate/postgraduate teacher education and mathematical pedagogies, and she serves as an active member on various international and national forums in these areas. 

Research Interests

Pinky’s research interests are in the areas of mathematics pedagogy, teacher education, how children learn, and diversity in the teaching workforce.

Pinky is leading on a project through the UCET Research Group to collection data nationally on teacher demographics. The aim of the project is to support diversification of the teacher workforce in the UK by understanding the current demographics and devising initiatives to increase diversity.

Pinky is interested in mathematics and the use of talk and language and developing confidence in all children and trainee teachers in teaching and learning methods.

Pinky is collaborating with a range of international partners from eight different countries to study the impact of Covid on teaching and learning. This will result in a documentary, book and series of papers and conference presentations.

Dr Pinky Jain, Head of Teacher Education