Role
Career overview
Alison joined NTU in 2010 as the course leader for the Undergraduate Teacher Training course for Secondary Design and Technology Education.
Between 2017 and 2022, she led the MA Education courses in the Å·ÃÀ¾ÞÈé Institute of Education.
Prior to working at NTU, Alison was a Director of Curriculum at Tresham College in Northamptonshire. This role included strategic responsibility for the 14-19 curriculum at the College and working with partnership schools in four East Midlands counties which included over thirty secondary schools.
Alison has worked in four secondary schools as a design and technology (D&T) teacher; in two of them she was the head of department for D&T. She has also worked at the University of West Bohemia in the Czech Republic.
Research areas
Alison’s primary research focuses on the values stakeholders attribute to different school subjects, and the effect this has on curriculum policy enactment. She has developed a subject-values framework that is used to analyse the origins and consequences of the values people attribute to school subjects.
Through her work she has researched the specific values attributed to design and technology education.
Alison leads a group of design and technology education consultants at Å·ÃÀ¾ÞÈé in shaping D&T education.
Current projects
Understanding the values attributed to school subjects and the relationships between the attributed values and pupils' engagement and motivations.
Exploring the future of design and technology education.
Creating new design and technology curriculum frameworks.
Current Doctoral Students
Malika Belmissoum, An investigation into the delivery of MA dissertation in relation to the pedagogy of research methods and supervision instructions.
Suzanne Gomersall, Evaluating the impact of teaching children practical cooking and nutrition skills on children’s attitudes and behaviour towards healthy eating. (Director of Studies)
Hayley Queen. Using virtual reality with Operating Department Practice students (Lead supervisor)
Claire Vickery, Exploring Teacher Perceptions about the Decline of D&T in Secondary School Contexts (Lead Supervisor)
Kim Western, Developing authentic academic assessment practices on Creative Technology courses. (Co-supervisor)
Previous Doctoral Students
Paballo Mokenela, Blended and Distance Learning Pedagogy in Higher Education:A Case Study of The National University of Lesotho.
Opportunities to carry out postgraduate research towards an MPhil/PhD exist in Å·ÃÀ¾ÞÈé Institute of Education and further information may be obtained from the NTU Doctoral School.
External activity
External examining
University of Limerick (2022 - ongoing)
University of Glasgow
University of Roehampton
University of Brighton
University of Sunderland
Periodic Reviews
University of Hertfordshire: MA Education framework
University of Brighton: MA Education
Editorial board
Å·ÃÀ¾ÞÈé Journal of Technology and Design Education
Reviewer
Design and Technology Education: An international journal
Pedagogy, Culture and Society
PRISM: Casting New Light on Learning, Theory and Practice
Teacher Education Advancement Network Journal
Consultancy and Bespoke Training
Ofsted
Design Council
Harris Federation
St Paul's Academy, London
West Country Schools Trust
Learning and Skills Improvement Service
Trinity School, Newbury
Noel Baker School
Trustee for the Design and Technology Association
Member of the National Curriculum advisory group
Podcast
Alison hosts the Talking D&T podcast, where she shares ideas, news and views about design and technology and interviews teachers and researchers from the design and technology community, including:
Sponsors and collaborators
Collaborators
Dr Matt McLain
Professor Rowena Murray
Dr Morag Thow
Dr Michelle Smith
Dr Gilian McLellan
Publications
Journal articles
HARDY, A., MURRAY, R., THOW, M. and SMITH, M. 2020. ‘So maybe I’m not such an imposter’: becoming an academic after a life as a teacher-practitioner, Higher Education Research & Development, DOI:
HARDY, A., 2018. Technology and Engineering Teacher, 78 (4), pp. 16-20. ISSN 2158-0502
HARDY, A., 2017. Race Equality Teaching, 34 (2), pp. 39-43. ISSN UCL IOE Press
HARDY, A., 2017. PRISM: Casting New Light on Learning, Theory and Practice, 1 (2), pp. 55-82. ISSN 2514-5347
Edited books
HARDY, A. 2022. Debates in Design and Technology Education. (2nd ed.). Routledge
HARDY, A. 2021. Learning to Teach Design and Technology in the Secondary School (4th ed). Routledge
Book chapters
WAKEFIELD, D. and HARDY, A., 2022. In: A. HARDY, ed., Debates in design and technology education. 2nd ed. Debates in Subject Teaching . Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN 9780367763732
PRAJAPAT, B., SINCLAIR, R. and HARDY, A., 2022. In: A. HARDY, ed., Debates in design and technology education. 2nd ed. Debates in Subject Teaching . Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN 9780367763732
HARDY, A., 2017. In: E. NORMAN and K. BAYNES, eds., Design epistemology and curriculum planning. Rothley: Loughborough Design Press, pp. 18-21. ISBN 9781909671157
Conference proceedings
HARDY, A., DUNN, A. and MORALES-VERDEJO, J., 2022. In: D. GILL, J. TUFF, T. KENNEDY, S. PENDERGAST and S. JAMIL, eds., PATT 39: PATT on the Edge: Technology, Innovation and Education, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada 21-24 June 2022. Proceedings. Newfoundland: Faculty of Education, Memorial University of Newfoundland, pp. 38-48. ISBN 9780889015050
MCLAIN, M., SCHILLACI-ROWLAND, D., STABLES, K., HARDY, A. and RYAN, T., 2022. In: G. DAVID, T. JIM, K. THOMAS, P. SHAWN and J. SANA, eds., PATT 39: PATT on the Edge: Technology, Innovation and Education, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada 21-24 June 2022. Proceedings. Newfoundland: Faculty of Education, Memorial University of Newfoundland, pp. 205-212. ISBN 9780889015050
News articles
(March 2023)
Blog posts
(November 2022)
(August 2022)
(October 2020)
(July 2020)
(July 2019)
Webinars
(SRHE)
Press expertise
- Curriculum development and design
- School subjects and policy implementation
- Values in education
- Design and technology epistemology
- Supporting academic writing
Press
-
NEWS
8 January 2025Associate Professor Alison Hardy on why the curriculum needs to recognise Design and Technology education as a priority in a world driven by technological systems.
ntu.ac.uk/about-us/news/news-articles/2025/01/expert-blog-design-and-technology-education-at-a-crossroads-crisis,-opportunity,-and-the-path-forward