Emeritus Professor
Faculty of Social Sciences University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA
https://www.stir.ac.uk/people/catewatson
Cate Watson is Professor of Educational Leadership and Professional Learning within the Faculty of Social Sciences. As well as publishing extensively in these areas she is also interested in humour as a methodology for the social sciences and is the author of 'Comedy and Social Science: towards a methodology of funny' (Routledge).
Cate Watson's research interests lie mainly in organisation and professional practice.
She is currently PI on an ESRC funded project: 'Processes and practices of governing in further education colleges in the UK: How do governing boards realise the strategic aims of the organisation?'
She also has an interest in the development of innovative methodologies especially in relation to narrative and humour as a methodology for the social sciences.
Waste Stories
PI: Dr Anna Wilson
Funded by: The Leverhulme Trust
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Processes and practices of governing in further education colleges in the UK:How do governing boards realise the strategic aims of the organisation?
PI: Professor Cate Watson
Funded by: Economic and Social Research Council
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100 years of radical Adult Education in Scotland: building hope for the future
PI: Dr Sarah Galloway
Funded by: Lipman Miliband Trust
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Project Report
Watson C, Husband G, Hill R, Ireland A, Gilbert E, Bathmaker A, Pennacchia J, James D & Gardner S (2021) Processes and practices of governing in colleges of further education in the UK: Uncovering the complexities of governing. ESRC. Stirling.
Article
Boards in action: processes and practices of 'strategising' in the Boardroom
Watson C & Ireland A (2021) Boards in action: processes and practices of 'strategising' in the Boardroom. Journal of Management and Governance, 25 (3), pp. 933-966. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10997-020-09545-7
Article
Watson C, Husband G & Ireland A (2021) Opening the 'black box': what does observational research reveal about processes and practices of governing?. Journal of Management and Governance, 25 (1), pp. 189-221. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10997-020-09503-3
Article
Further education in the UK: lessons from the governance of colleges in Scotland
Watson C, Husband G & Young H (2020) Further education in the UK: lessons from the governance of colleges in Scotland. Journal of Education and Work, 33 (2), pp. 129-142. https://doi.org/10.1080/13639080.2020.1722989
Book Review
Book Review: Jessica Milner Davis and Sharyn Roach Anleu (eds), Judges, Judging and Humour
Watson C (2020) Book Review: Jessica Milner Davis and Sharyn Roach Anleu (eds), Judges, Judging and Humour. Review of: Judges, Judging and Humour, Jessica Milner Davis & Sharyn Roach Anleu, (eds) Judges, Judging and Humour, London: Palgrave, 2018, 335 pp. ISBN: 9783319767376. Sociology, 54 (2), pp. 415-417. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038519872150
Article
Perspective by incongruity in the performance of dialectical ironic analysis: a disciplined approach
Watson C (2020) Perspective by incongruity in the performance of dialectical ironic analysis: a disciplined approach. Qualitative Research, 20 (1), pp. 91-107. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794119830073
Research Report
Governance and the centrality of failure: a comedy of errors
Watson C Governance and the centrality of failure: a comedy of errors. University of Stirling. Comedy and social science: New directions in sociology, 1. Stirling: University of Stirling.
Article
From accountability to digital data: the rise and rise of educational governance
Watson C (2019) From accountability to digital data: the rise and rise of educational governance. Review of Education, 7 (2), pp. 390-427. https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.3125
Article
Learning analytics: challenges and limitations
Wilson A, Watson C, Thompson TL, Drew V & Doyle S (2017) Learning analytics: challenges and limitations. Teaching in Higher Education, 22 (8), pp. 991-1007. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2017.1332026
Article
Watson C & Drew V (2017) Enacting educational partnership: collective identity, decision-making (and the importance of muffin chat). School Leadership and Management, 37 (1-2), pp. 3-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2016.1209181
Article
Small data, online learning and assessment practices in higher education: a case study of failure?
Watson C, Wilson A, Drew V & Thompson TL (2017) Small data, online learning and assessment practices in higher education: a case study of failure?. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 42 (7), pp. 1030-1045. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2016.1223834
Article
Humour and laughter in meetings: influence, decision-making and the emergence of leadership
Watson C & Drew V (2017) Humour and laughter in meetings: influence, decision-making and the emergence of leadership. Discourse and Communication, 11 (3), pp. 314-329. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750481317699432
Article
Big data and learning analytics: Singular or plural?
Wilson A, Thompson TL, Watson C, Drew V & Doyle S (2017) Big data and learning analytics: Singular or plural?. First Monday, 22 (4). http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/6872/6089#author
Article
Watson C & Michael MK (2016) Translations of policy and shifting demands of teacher professionalism: from CPD to professional learning. Journal of Education Policy, 31 (3), pp. 259-274. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2015.1092053
Article
Criticality and the exercise of politeness in online spaces for professional learning
Watson C, Wilson A, Drew V & Thompson TL (2016) Criticality and the exercise of politeness in online spaces for professional learning. Internet and Higher Education, 31, pp. 43-51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2016.06.002
Newspaper Article
Éducation et ironie : les universitaires se doivent d’avoir de l’humour
Watson C & Batlle I (2016) Éducation et ironie : les universitaires se doivent d’avoir de l’humour. The Conversation. 21.04.2016.
Newspaper Article
An education in irony: why academics need to be funny
Watson C & Batlle I (2016) An education in irony: why academics need to be funny. The Conversation. 04.04.2016.
Authored Book
Comedy and social science: Towards a methodology of funny
Watson C (2015) Comedy and social science: Towards a methodology of funny. Routledge Advances in sociology, 153. New York/London: Routledge. http://www.tandf.net/books/details/9781315731407/
Article
Watson C & Fox A (2015) Professional re-accreditation: constructing educational policy for career-long teacher professional learning. Journal of Education Policy, 30 (1), pp. 132-144. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2014.907446
Article
A Sociologist Walks into a Bar (and Other Academic Challenges): Towards a Methodology of Humour
Watson C (2015) A Sociologist Walks into a Bar (and Other Academic Challenges): Towards a Methodology of Humour. Sociology, 49 (3), pp. 407-421. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038513516694
Article
Teachers’ desire for career-long learning: becoming 'accomplished' -- and masterly. . .
Watson C & Drew V (2015) Teachers’ desire for career-long learning: becoming 'accomplished' -- and masterly. . .. British Educational Research Journal, 41 (3), pp. 448-461. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3149
Conference Paper (unpublished)
Opening critical spaces for professional learning: Online pedagogy and assessment
Thompson T, Watson C, Drew V, Doyle S, Smith S & Wilson A (2015) Opening critical spaces for professional learning: Online pedagogy and assessment. University of Stirling Learning and Teaching Conference, 04.2015-04.2015.
Article
Watson C (2014) Effective professional learning communities? The possibilities for teachers as agents of change in schools. British Educational Research Journal, 40 (1), pp. 18-29. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3025
Article
Identification and desire: Lacan and Althusser versus Deleuze and Guattari. A short note
Watson C (2013) Identification and desire: Lacan and Althusser versus Deleuze and Guattari. A short note. International Journal of Zizek Studies, 7 (2). http://zizekstudies.org/index.php/ijzs/article/view/411
Article
How (and why) to avoid making rational decisions: embracing paradox in school leadership
Watson C (2013) How (and why) to avoid making rational decisions: embracing paradox in school leadership. School Leadership and Management, 33 (3), pp. 256-269. https://doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2012.723614
Article
Watson C (2013) The ironies of leadership: insights from a narrative analysis of the TV Western drama series, Rawhide. Organization, 20 (6), pp. 924-935. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508412464896
Book Chapter
Between diary and memoir: documenting a life in wartime Britain
Watson C (2013) Between diary and memoir: documenting a life in wartime Britain. In: Stanley L (ed.) Documents of Life Revisited: Narrative and Biographical Methodology for a 21st Century Critical Humanism. London: Ashgate, pp. 107-120. http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9781409442899
Edited Book
Watson C (ed.) (2012) The transformation of children's services: Examining and debating the complexities of inter/professional working. London: Routledge. http://www.routledgementalhealth.com/books/details/9780203818411/
Article
'Today, how can we not speak of the university?' Towards the next generation...
Watson C (2012) 'Today, how can we not speak of the university?' Towards the next generation.... Power and Education, 4 (3), pp. 342-354. https://doi.org/10.2304/power.2012.4.3.342
Book Chapter
The pretty story of 'joined-up working': questioning interagency partnership
Watson C (2012) The pretty story of 'joined-up working': questioning interagency partnership. In: Forbes J & Watson C (eds.) The transformation of children’s services. Examining and debating the complexities of inter/professional working. London: Routledge, pp. 154-168. http://www.guilfordpress.co.uk/books/details/9780415618472/
Book Chapter
Picturing validity: autoethnography and the representation of self
Watson C (2012) Picturing validity: autoethnography and the representation of self. In: Hughes J (ed.) Sage Visual Methods. SAGE Library of Research Methods. London: Sage. http://www.uk.sagepub.com/books/Book237792#tabview=toc
Book Chapter
Analysing narratives: the narrative construction of identity
Watson C (2012) Analysing narratives: the narrative construction of identity. In: Delamont S S (ed.) Handbook of qualitative research in education. Elgar original reference. London: Edward Elgar, pp. 460-473. http://www.e-elgar.com/bookentry_main.lasso?id=14185
Article
The natural unnaturalness of real-time narrative: the complex case of the sporting radio broadcast
Watson C (2012) The natural unnaturalness of real-time narrative: the complex case of the sporting radio broadcast. Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast and Audio Media, 10 (1), pp. 53-64. https://doi.org/10.1386/rjao.10.1.53_1
Article
Test Match Special, Twenty20 and the future of cricket
Watson C (2011) Test Match Special, Twenty20 and the future of cricket. Sport in Society, 14 (10), pp. 1383-1394. https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2011.620379
Article
Watson C (2011) Notes on the variety and uses of satire, sarcasm and irony in social research, with some observations on vices and follies in the academy. Power and Education, 3 (2), pp. 139-149. https://doi.org/10.2304/power.2011.3.2.139
Article
Accountability, transparency, redundancy: academic identities in an era of 'excellence'
Watson C (2011) Accountability, transparency, redundancy: academic identities in an era of 'excellence'. British Educational Research Journal, 37 (6), pp. 955-971. https://doi.org/10.1080/01411926.2010.508514
Article
Staking a small claim for fictional narratives in social and educational research
Watson C (2011) Staking a small claim for fictional narratives in social and educational research. Qualitative Research, 11 (4), pp. 395-408. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794111404317
Article
Home–school partnership and the construction of deviance: being and becoming the Goldfish family
Watson C (2011) Home–school partnership and the construction of deviance: being and becoming the Goldfish family. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 11 (1), pp. 20-29. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-3802.2010.01183.x
Book Chapter
Watson C, Shucksmith J, Spratt J & Philip K (2010) 'Part of who we are as a school should include responsibility for well-being’: Links between the school environment, mental health and behaviour. In: Rix J, Nind M, Sheehy K, Simmons K, Parry J & Kumrai R (eds.) Equality, participation and inclusion 2: Diverse contexts. 2nd ed. Abingdon: Routledge/Open University Press, pp. 284-296. http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415584241/
Article
Spratt J, Shucksmith J, Philip K & Watson C (2010) 'The Bad People Go and Speak to Her': Young People's Choice and Agency when Accessing Mental Health Support in School. Children and Society, 24 (6), pp. 483-494. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1099-0860.2009.00246.x
Article
Test Match Special and the discourse of cricket: The sporting radio broadcast as narrative
Watson C (2010) Test Match Special and the discourse of cricket: The sporting radio broadcast as narrative. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 45 (2), pp. 225-239. https://doi.org/10.1177/1012690210362430
Article
Educational policy in Scotland: inclusion and the control society
Watson C (2010) Educational policy in Scotland: inclusion and the control society. Discourse, 31 (1), pp. 93-104. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596300903465443
Book Chapter
Shucksmith J, Spratt J, Philip K & Watson C (2009) Learning how to collaborate? Promoting young people’s health through professional partnership in schools. In: Forbes J & Watson C (eds.) Service integration in schools: Resaerch and policy discourses, practices and future prospects. Rotterdam: Sense, pp. 5-22. https://www.sensepublishers.com/catalogs/bookseries/other-books/service-integration-in-schools/
Book Chapter
Watson C (2009) Mythical spaces and social imaginaries: looking for the global in the local in narratives of (inter)professional identification. In: Forbes J & Watson C (eds.) Service integration in schools: Research and policy discourses, practices and future prospects. Rotterdam: Sense, pp. 157-166. https://www.sensepublishers.com/catalogs/bookseries/other-books/service-integration-in-schools/
Article
Watson C (2009) Micropolitics of desire: participant self observation, critical autoethnography and the (re)turn to the baroque. Education In The North, 17 (1), Art. No.: 8. http://www.abdn.ac.uk/eitn/display.php?article_id=8
Edited Book
Service integration in schools: Research and policy discourses, practices and future prospects
Watson C (ed.) (2009) Service integration in schools: Research and policy discourses, practices and future prospects. Rotterdam: Sense. https://www.sensepublishers.com/catalogs/bookseries/other-books/service-integration-in-schools/
Article
Futures Narratives, Possible Worlds, Big Stories: Causal Layered Analysis and the Problems of Youth
Watson C (2009) Futures Narratives, Possible Worlds, Big Stories: Causal Layered Analysis and the Problems of Youth. Sociological Research Online, 14 (5), Art. No.: 20. https://doi.org/10.5153/sro.1969
Article
Watson C (2009) ‘Teachers are meant to be orthodox’: narrative and counter narrative in the discursive construction of ‘identity’ in teaching. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 22 (4), pp. 469-483. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518390902736520
Article
Picturing Validity: autoethnography and the representation of self?
Watson C (2009) Picturing Validity: autoethnography and the representation of self?. Qualitative Inquiry, 15 (3), pp. 526-544. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800408318426
Article
The 'impossible vanity': uses and abuses of empathy in qualitative inquiry
Watson C (2009) The 'impossible vanity': uses and abuses of empathy in qualitative inquiry. Qualitative Research, 9 (1), pp. 105-117. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794108098033
Authored Book
Watson C (2008) Reflexive research and the (re)turn to the baroque. (Or, how I learned to stop worrying and love the university). First ed. Rotterdam: Sense.
Article
Tensions and aporias in the narrative construction of lives
Watson C (2008) Tensions and aporias in the narrative construction of lives. Qualitative Research, 8 (3), pp. 333-337. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794106093629
Article
Thomas Pynchon: Realism in an Age of Ontological Uncertainty?
Watson C (2008) Thomas Pynchon: Realism in an Age of Ontological Uncertainty?. Literature Compass, 5 (1), pp. 11-19. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119424968/abstract; https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-4113.2007.00512.x
Book Chapter
Watson C (2007) 'Teachers are meant to be orthodox’: counter-narratives in the development of a professional identity in teaching. In: Robinson D, Kelly N & Milnes K (eds.) Narrative and Memory: Selected papers from the sixth annual conference. Huddersfield: University of Huddersfield, pp. 1-12. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/4577/
Article
Small stories, positioning analysis, and the doing of professional identities in learning to teach
Watson C (2007) Small stories, positioning analysis, and the doing of professional identities in learning to teach. Narrative Inquiry, 17 (2), pp. 371-389. https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.17.2.11wat
Article
Spratt J, Shucksmith J, Philip K & Watson C (2007) Embedded yet separate: tensions in voluntary sector working to support mental health in state‐run schools. Journal of Education Policy, 22 (4), pp. 411-428. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680930701390545
Article
Narratives of practice and the construction of identity in teaching
Watson C (2006) Narratives of practice and the construction of identity in teaching. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 12 (5), pp. 509-526. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540600600832213
Article
Encounters and directions in research: Pages from a simulacrum journal
Watson C (2006) Encounters and directions in research: Pages from a simulacrum journal. Qualitative Inquiry, 12 (5), pp. 865-885. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800406288627
Article
Spratt J, Shucksmith J, Philip K & Watson C (2006) ‘Part of Who we are as a School Should Include Responsibility for Well-Being’: Links between the School Environment, Mental Health and Behaviour. Pastoral Care in Education, 24 (3), pp. 14-21. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0122.2006.00374.x
Article
Interprofessional support of mental well-being in schools: a Bourdieuan perspective
Spratt J, Philip K, Shucksmith J & Watson C (2006) Interprofessional support of mental well-being in schools: a Bourdieuan perspective. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 20 (4), pp. 391-402. https://doi.org/10.1080/13561820600845643
Article
Unreliable narrators? ‘Inconsistency’ (and some inconstancy) in interviews
Watson C (2006) Unreliable narrators? ‘Inconsistency’ (and some inconstancy) in interviews. Qualitative Research, 6 (3), pp. 367-384. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794106065008
Article
Discourses of ‘indiscipline’: a Foucauldian response
Watson C (2005) Discourses of ‘indiscipline’: a Foucauldian response. Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties, 10 (1), pp. 55-65. https://doi.org/10.1080/1363275205052530
Article
Living the life of the social inquirer: Beginning educational research
Watson C (2005) Living the life of the social inquirer: Beginning educational research. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 6 (2), Art. No.: 28. http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/471
Article
A breakfast club for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties
Watson C & Marr C (2003) A breakfast club for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties. Education 3-13, 31 (3), pp. 15-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004270385200291
