Gillian Horribine
Hello, my name is Gillian and I am an HCPC registered Educational Psychologist (EP) living near Dundee, Scotland. I have been a Lecturer at the University of Dundee since late 2018, having the privilege of teaching future EPs. I am also a part-time PhD student, supervised by Dr Tracey Colville and Dr Daniela Mercieca. The working title of my PhD is ‘Researching Possibilities for Learning and Development in Educational Psychology: A CHAT based study’.
Before joining the University of Dundee, I was a full-time Educational Psychologist in a Scottish Education Authority. There, I had responsibilities in leading and developing action research projects for school practitioners with a focus on student engagement and apprenticeship models of self-regulation support. The challenges and benefits of systems-level, practitioner-led development work engaged my interest in implementation models and how we learn as professionals. The focus on coaching self-regulation led to a keen interest in how the Executive Functions are conceptualised and how we understand (or don’t understand) brain functions associated with learning. In 2016 I was awarded funding from the Scottish Division of Educational Psychology for a study visit to the USA to learn more about the Tools of the Mind curriculum for Executive Function.
My PhD research has progressed non-linearly. Always with the aim of supporting development of psychology in education, it started as enquiry into Educational Neuroscience. I then experienced the value of CHAT-based research through collaboration with my supervisor as we considered the needs of Trainee Educational Psychologists. With new confidence and value in CHAT, I questioned my original focus and sought to re-trace the passions and ‘practice-problems’ I’d experienced as an EP. A series of autoethnographic accounts were written which I then analysed further using 2nd Generation activity system models as second stimuli. Doing that analysis, with contradictions more visible, was transformative and from that point I decided to research possibilities for EP development as both the researcher and practitioner-interventionist via something I have termed a ‘Personal Change Lab’. The study has been guided by processes of a change laboratory and the cycle of expansive learning. Turning points have included expansions from viewing research activity in one Activity System (EP) to three overlapping Activity Systems (EP; HE Lecturer; PhD Student) each with their own historical contradictions. 3rd Generation CHAT models have been helpful with that, supporting analysis and transformative agency as I consider how cultural norms have influenced practice in each.
While unconventional, I argue that insider-research (researcher as practitioner-interventionist) is enhanced by CHAT tools. Concepts of transformative agency by double stimulation are possible here too, offering theoretical grounding and instruments to support critically reflective research within a socio-cultural-historical perspective. Thus far, a mix of knowledge generation (the history of EP work in Scotland; implications of Educational Neuroscience for Educational Psychology as future possibility) and collaborative practice development (an EP focussed podcast – ‘Ed Psych Bite’) have been outcomes. The use of change laboratory methodologies in this work could have implications for their expansion into other fields such as supporting critically reflective professional practice, readiness for change laboratories and supporting professional transitions perhaps especially for second-career academics (or pracademics). The next phase of my research will seek feedback on Ed Psych Bite as a pedagogical tool to support non-hierarchical dialogue. If you have listened to any episodes, I’d love for you to take part. Please follow links ‘how to get involved’ in the website here: https://www.gillianorb.com/howtogetinvolved/ .
As a practitioner psychologist, I was Chair of the Scottish Division of Educational Psychology Training Committee and an active member of the Scottish Division of Educational Psychology Executive Committee. I have studied at the University of Glasgow, University of Otago New Zealand and the University of Dundee. In my spare time I enjoy time with my family, friends, dog and doing CrossFit.
Key links
Ed Psych Bite podcast –
Website –
Colville, T & Horribine, G (2023). Expansive and expensive EP training: A CHAT analysis of the training programme in Scotland. Educational and Child Psychology, 40 (2),83-108. https://doi.org/10.53841/bpsecp.2023.40.2.83
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