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Rebekah Gear

Senior Lecturer

School of Social Sciences

Staff Group(s)
Primary Teacher Education

Role

Rebekah Gear is a Senior Lecturer in Initial Teacher Education and leads the Close to Practice partnership initiative for the Nottingham Institute of Education. Her work sits at the intersection of research, practice, and partnership, with a particular focus on teacher and child agency, practitioner led inquiry, and research informed approaches to professional learning. She teaches across initial teacher education undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, specialising in mathematics.

Career overview

Before joining NTU, Rebekah worked across Nottinghamshire as a teacher and leader. She is an accredited Mastery Specialist with the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) and continues to work closely with the East Midlands Maths Hubs as a Local Leader of Mathematics Education. In these roles, she facilitates Teaching for Mastery workgroups and serves as an Intensive Support Partner for the Targeted Support in Mathematics programme, supporting school leaders to translate evidence into meaningful, usable classroom practice.

As Close to Practice Lead for the Nottingham Institute of Education, Rebekah shapes high‑quality, research‑ and practice‑embedded professional experiences, working closely with partner schools to strengthen coherence between theory and practice. Her work is grounded in the belief that teachers are agents of their own learning, and she is committed to developing sustainable models of professional growth that honour the realities of classroom life. Her works centres on enabling agency, in children, practitioners, and trainee teachers, and on championing curriculum design that is responsive to the identities, experiences, and ways of making meaning of the people it serves.

Rebekah’s research interests include play across the birth‑to‑18 continuum, practitioner‑led inquiry, and the design of research‑informed tools that support colleagues to apply evidence in real‑world contexts. She collaborates widely with schools, hubs, and professional networks to build long‑term communities of practice that extend beyond initial teacher education.

She serves on the executive committee for the Association for the Study of Primary Education (ASPE) and is the founder of Research into Research: Conversations from Primary Classrooms, a journal created to support teachers to move from consumers to contributors of research and to strengthen practitioner voice within the research landscape.

Research areas

Rebekah’s research focuses on close‑to‑practice inquiry, teacher and child agency, primary mathematics education, and the development of professional identity through collaborative learning. Her work explores how research can be meaningfully applied in real classrooms, and how teachers can act as agents of their own professional growth.

Current Projects

Curriculum Study and Lesson Research (CSLR) Project

Rebekah is currently working on the Curriculum Study and Lesson Research (CSLR) project which explores how structured lesson study can support teachers to critically engage with standardised curriculum resources such as those produced by Oak National Academy.

The programme adopts a four‑phase cycle:

  1. understanding the mathematics
  2. examining teaching
  3. conducting a live research lesson
  4. analysing learning

This is to deepen teachers’ curriculum understanding and pedagogical decision‑making.

Developing Children’s Agency through outdoor learning:

Based on her previous research within developing children’s agency within the outdoor environment, she has developed an agency toolkit. This was designed to support practitioners to engage with research in ways that strengthen autonomy, reflection, and practice‑embedded inquiry. This toolkit provides an outdoor agency model that is designed to help practitioners develop not only children’s agency within the outdoors, but to support positive risk management and partnerships with parents. Elements of this work has been shared externally through the Chartered College of Teaching Rethinking Curriculum project including publication within Developing Children’s Agency Through Outdoor Learning and inclusion in both the Nature‑based and Outdoor Learning Toolkit and the Pupil Voice and Agency Toolkit. This dissemination has offered the toolkit significant sector visibility and demonstrates its relevance to school leaders and practitioners seeking to nurture agency in their settings.

The toolkit is now available to download from the NTU website here.

Promoting Play based learning from birth-18

With a passion for play as both a sense of being, belong and doing, Rebekah is currently writing a book that focussing on play based learning from birth to 18.

External activity

Rebekah contributes to the wider education community through a range of leadership and editorial roles, including:

  • Editorial Board Member, Education 3–13
  • Chartered College Ethics Committee Member
  • Blog Editor, Nottingham Institute of Education
  • Executive Committee Member, ASPE
  • Chartered College of Teaching Member

She is committed to amplifying practitioner voice and supporting accessible, research‑informed dissemination across the sector.

Publications

Rebekah contributes to multiple outputs and is most passionate about platforms which are used and accessible to practising teachers.

Conference presentations:

  • Gear, R., 2023, June. Playing the Game: The teaching and learning of multiplication tables. Paper presented at the Flying High Futures Maths Conference. Nottingham, UK.
  • Gear, R and Hurley R., 2022, September. Curriculum Conversations: Planning for purpose and pedagogy. Paper presented at Principles for Curriculum Excellence – ensuring a debate for the future. Why this is important for senior leaders? Education Learning Trust. Manchester, UK.
  • Gear, R. and Kassim-Lowe, T., 2022, September. 'It all adds up!’
    Exploring the implications of social capital on children's metacognition. Paper presented at the Association of Teachers of Mathematics 2022 Virtual Conference online.
  • Gear, R. and Sood, K., 2021, July. How are middle leaders developing a leadership culture to support sustainable curriculum change in maths in an English primary school? Paper presented at the 4th National ECD Conference ‘Building High Quality ECD research and practice in South Africa: Birth to Grade R’ The South African Research Association for Early Childhood Education (SARAECE) online.
  • Gear, R. and Sood, K., 2022, July. How does Teaching for Mastery mixed ability group improve mathematical achievement for all? Paper presented at the Children and Childhoods Conference at the University of Suffolk. Ipswich, UK.
  • Mawson, K. and Gear, R., 2025. ‘Enhancing practitioner research in school settings: Insights from close‑to‑practice partnerships’. In: ICERI2025 Proceedings. Seville: IATED, pp. 504–504. https://doi.org/10.21125/iceri.2025.0252
  • Mawson, K. and Gear, R., 2026 'Empowering Educators through Close-to-Practice Research: A Case Study of Partnership and Impact' Paper presented at the BERA Teacher Network Conference, London, UK.

Journal Publications:

  • Gear, R., 2022. A curriculum masterclass: Inspired by lessons we have learned from mathematics. Impact: Journal of the Chartered College of Teaching, 14, 59-61.
  • Gear, R., 2022. How do children with special educational needs experience retrieval practice? Impact: Journal of the Chartered College of Teaching [online], 16 (September). Available via: https://my.chartered.college/impact/issue-16-autumn-2022/ [Accessed 03 October 2022].
  • Gear, R., 2022. Teaching for Mastery and Textbook tensions. Mathematics Teaching: Journal of the Association of Teachers of Mathematics, 280, 25-26.
  • Gear, R., 2026. Pedagogical connections in debating division with student teachers. Mathematics Teaching: Journal of the Association of Teachers of Mathematics, 299, 29-31.
  • Gear, R., Hurley, R and Waters, M., 2023. Curriculum innovation: Considering the connections between policymakers, leaders and teachers. Impact: Journal of the Chartered College of Teaching, 18, 14-16.
  • Gear, R. and Sood, K., 2021. School Middle Leaders and Change Management: Do They Need to Be More on the “Balcony” than the Dance Floor? Education Sciences [online], 11 (11) (20 November), 1-12. Available via: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/11/11/753
  • Gear, R and Kassim-Lowe, T. 2023. From consumers to contributors: The transition of early career researchers. Research Intelligence. British Educational Research Association, 155, 14.
  • Gear, R and Kassim-Lowe, T. 2024. Reframing ‘disadvantaged’ as ‘underserved’ in mathematics education professional development design. Impact: Journal of the Chartered College of Teaching, 20, 14-16.
  • Mawson, K., and Gear, R. 2026. Enhancing practitioner research in school settings: insights from close-to-practice partnerships. Professional Development in Education, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2026.2625125

Research  Toolkits

Book Contributions:

  • Gear, R. and Sood, K., 2022. An auto-ethnographic study exploring middle leaders’ strategic leadership to impact children’s learning. In Ebrahim, H.B., Harrison, G., Ashley-Cooper, M., Martin, C.D., & Shaik, N. (Eds). Voices from the Early Childhood Care and Education Field in South Africa: Research and Promising Practices for New Directions. Pretoria: South African Research Association of Early Childhood Education. ISBN: 978-1-998981-43-4.
  • Gear, R. and Kassim-Lowe, T., 2025 ‘The cyclical nature of being both “practitioner” and “researcher” and the influence on professional development design’. In: Mawson, K., Tyson, C., Perry, T. and Chen, J. (eds) The BERA guide to practitioner research: Developing professional knowledge in educational research and practice. Emerald Publishing, pp. 51–59. ISBN 9781836089636

Articles for a wider audience:

  • Beauchamp, G. and Gear, R., 2023. ASPE: a too well-kept secret?. Education 3-13, , 1-3. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2023.2252248.
  • Gear, R., 2023. How does the use of an intensive training and practice (ITaP) period enhance students’ professional placement experiences, whilst strengthening their application of theory into practice? Innovative Practice in Higher Education [online] 1 November. Available at: https://journals.staffs.ac.uk/index.php/ipihe/issue/view/17
  • Gear, R. and Mistry, M., 2022. What is the impact of mindfulness based interventions? ASPE Bulletin [online], (35) June, 1-4. Available via: https://www.aspe-uk.eu/bulletins/
  • Gear, R. and Sood, K., 2021. The impact of pupil voice and the social nature of learning on mathematical thinking and problem solving: Stories from a Year 5 primary classroom. ASPE Bulletin [online], (28) (October), 1-4. Available via: https://www.aspe-uk.eu/bulletins/
  • Gear, R and Torr, R., 2026. Developing children’s agency through outdoor learning: A close-to-practice inquiry. Chartered College Research Hub [online] March. Available via: Developing children’s agency through outdoor learning: A close-to-practice inquiry : My College
  • Gear, R and Woodford, M., 2022. Playing the game. Equals: Realising potential in mathematics for all [online], (27) 3 (October), 20-23. Available via: https://www.m-a.org.uk/equals-online

Blogs:

Rebekah hosts a personal blog space: 'Humble Thoughts from just a  Teacher'

Editorials and Special Editions

An introduction to Reaching into  Research Issue 1

Gear, R., 2023. Reaching into Research. Insights from Primary Classrooms. Journal of the Association for the Study of Primary Education. 1

Special Edition celebrating research from early careers teachers Issue 5

Gear, R., 2025. Reaching into Research. Insights from Primary Classrooms. Journal of the Association for the Study of Primary Education. 5

BERA Bites Issue 14: Rethinking Primary Education through pedagogical innovation & wellbeing

See all of Rebekah Gear's publications...

Course(s) I teach on

My goals are linked to: quality education, reduced inequalities, climate action and good health and well-being.

4 - Quality Education Badge 10 - Reduced Inequalities Badge 13 - Climate Action Badge 3 - Good Health and Well-Being Badge