The University of Sheffield
The School of Education

Professor Tom Billington C.Psychol MEd MSc PhD FBPsS

Professor of Educational and Child Psychology
Director of the Centre for the Study of Children, Families and Learning Communities

Professor Tom Billington

Tel: (+44) (0)114 222 8113
Fax: (+44) (0)114 222
Email: t.billington@Sheffield.ac.uk
Room: 8.03

Research interests

Much of Tom´s research focuses on the professional practices of Educational and Child Psychologists, in particular, the nature of work conducted with children and young people and the theoretical bases upon which practice is justified. He has published extensively in this area and has for many years sought to inform the development of practitioner assessments and interventions which are both ethical and effective through expanding the base of research evidence beyond reductionist psychopathologies. In particular, he has been locating Educational Psychology within the context of a much broader critical theoretical framework (Billington, 1997).

Tom has specialized in qualitative research methodologies, especially discourse analytic, psychodynamic and narrative approaches in individual case work with children and young people, their families and schools. Of particular concern is the power of psychological discourses as exercised by practitioners, focusing on fundamental questions as to how we go about our work; for example, `how do we speak of children? How do we speak with children? How do we write about children? How do we listen to children? How do we listen to ourselves (when working with children)? (Billington, 2006).

His published work includes books and journal articles and he has presented at many conferences, including keynotes, both in the UK and internationally. Much of Tom´s work explores the researcher-practitioner model, especially in inter-disciplinary and multi-agency contexts and he is a member of the Centre for the Study of Childhood and Youth at the University and part of Sheffield´s commitment to the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN).

Teaching

Tom has guided the development and expansion of Educational Psychology across two Doctoral programmes and has for many years been Course Director for the research Doctorate for practising Educational Psychologists. The new Doctor of Educational Psychology degree (DEdPsy) has been specifically designed as a post-qualification Doctorate for existing practitioners who wish to `top-up´ their Masters qualification. Tom also contributes widely to the BPS- and CWDC-accredited professional training programme leading to Health Professions Council registration (DEdCPsy). His teaching specialisms on that programme have included attachment, autism, child protection and developmental psychology.

He has also been involved in devising two new programmes, the MA in Psychology and Education and the BA in Education, Culture and Childhood in which there are Psychology options in each of the three years.

Tom has contributed to many other teaching and research programmes in the School, including in the Caribbean, Hong Kong and Malta. He is also an experienced examiner at Doctoral level, both of individual research theses and of professional training programmes across Psychology and also Education, in the UK, Australia, Canada and the Caribbean including, for example, Universities of Alberta, South Australia, Charles Sturt, Durham, Manchester, Nottingham and the Tavistock Clinic, London.

Indicative publications

(forthcoming) Constructing critical resources for research and professional practice with young people: Feeling, thinking, learning and neuroscientific narratives. Qualitative Research in Psychology

(forthcoming) "When they're making breakfast they'll talk"...: Narrative approaches in the evaluation of Nurture Groups. Journal of Early Childhood Research

Billington, T. (2009) Open Dialogue: `Working with children: psychologists at the boundaries of knowledge and experience´, The Psychology of Education Review, 33 (2), 3-11

Miller, A., Billington, T., Lewis, V and DeSouza, L. (2008) `Educational Psychology´ in C. Willig and W. Stainton-Rogers (eds.) The Handbook of Qualitative Research Methods in Psychology, London; Sage (pp. 472-488)

Billington, T. (2006) Working with Children: Assessment, Representation and Intervention. London; Sage

Billington, T. (2006) `Working with autistic children and young people: sense, experience and the challenges for services, policies and practices´ Disability in Society 21 (1), 1-13

Billington, T. (2002) `Children, psychologists and knowledge: a discourse analytic narrative´, Educational and Child Psychology, 19 (3), 32-41, British Psychological Society

Billington, T. (2000) Separating, Losing and Excluding Children: Narratives of Difference, London; Routledge Falmer (short-listed for 2000 TES / NASEN Book Award)

Billington, T. (1997) Separating, losing and excluding children: Readings in a critical psychology. Unpublished PhD thesis. Department of Psychology and Speech Pathology. The Manchester Metropolitan University. November.

Research Grants

Billington, T. and Pidd, M. (2010) Developing an on-line data-base of Expert Witnesses. University of Sheffield and the Merseyside Family Justice Council, Knowledge Exchange. £9489

Farrell, P. (University of Manchester) and Billington, T. (2008) The Development of a Framework for the Evaluation of Nurture Groups. Nurture Group Network. £38,000

Selected Conference Presentations

Other professional and scholarly activities

Personal Doctoral Thesis Supervision: thesis titles (PhD and EdD, EdPsych: 2003-2011)

'Beyond and through adversity: Two accounts of the impact of social support strcutures on adaptability'

`Developing a critical educational psychology practice: a Lacanian infused educational psychologist´

`Educational Psychology: a critical reflection on practice, past, present and future´

`Developing and critiquing educational psychology: dilemmas and uncertainties in changing professionalism´

`The importance of self: implications for the practising educational psychologist´

`Psychodynamic processes in a Headteacher support group´

`Exploring the assumptions behind working together in children´s services: the significance for social practices and children´

`On becoming reflexive: an analysis of inter-subjective processes and subjectivity´

`Including excluded boys: discursive constructions of identity´

`Working with pupils and teachers to improve confidence in learning: action research by an educational psychologist with her `patch´ secondary school´

`Exploring teachers´ perceptions of the accelerated learning model´

`English is more than just literacy: pupils´ experience of learning English at transition from primary to secondary school´

`Action research with teachers in a secondary school to improve the educational experiences of children with emotional and behavioural difficulties´

`An investigation into young people´s perceptions of special educational needs where they have had a Statement ceased´

`Teaching grandmothers to suck eggs? Discourses of gender and inclusion´

Other

Tom is a Chartered Psychologist registered with the Health Professions Council and is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society. He continues in professional practice providing independent expert witness testimony to the courts in Children Act cases relating to a wide range of child and family issues, including child protection, domestic violence, adoption and attachment.

Prior to a previous career in teaching, Tom had obtained a degree in Music (Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester), a Diploma in Piano (Royal Academy of Music, London) and a Masters degree in Creative Arts (University of Exeter). Later he studied at the University of Manchester and following qualification worked as an Educational Psychologist and subsequently Specialist Educational Psychologist (autism). His PhD was supervised by Professor Erica Burman in the Department of Psychology at the Manchester Metropolitan University (1997).