Alex Moore

Alex Moore was born and brought up in London, where he continues to live with his wife Anna.

Following a school teaching career lasting eighteen years, he entered Higher Education in 1990 as a Lecturer in Education at Goldsmiths University of London, moving to the UCL Institute of Education (then the Institute of Education University of London) in 2000. His first book, 'Teaching Multicultured Students', which explored cultural bias in school curricula, pedagogy and assessment, was published in 1999, building on research undertaken during the course of his Masters and PhD degrees. His most recent publication, 'The Affected Teacher', draws on original research to examine the role played by emotions in teachers' work, and the tensions experienced by teachers who have to put into practice central policies to which they may be ideologically or educationally opposed. Alex is particularly interested in applying theory drawn from the field of psychoanalysis to develop understandings of everyday teacher and student experiences of school. Now an Emeritus Professor at UCL, he has travelled widely, both to present lectures and seminars, and to observe and experience alternative educational practice around the globe. His best known book, 'The Good Teacher', takes a critical look at the dominant discourses within which 'good teaching' is typically constructed and presented, arguing against attempts to essentialise good practice or to reduce it to check-lists. Ongoing interests in pedagogy and in the nature, content and purposes of national curricula are reflected in two other popular texts 'Understanding the School Curriculum: theory, politics and principles' and 'Teaching and Learning: pedagogy, curriculum and culture'.