It is unusual to have two doctor of education (EdD) oral examinations (or ‘vivas’) in one day, but very rare indeed for the students to be husband and wife. This was the case when Hubert and Beatrice Fulford both successfully negotiated their EdD theses at the Graduate School of Education.
Hubert and Beatrice are citizens of the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), a British overseas territory and archipelago in the Carribbean with a population of approximately 22,000 people. Their research is informed by a wealth of professional experience gained from working in the small state of theTCI and it is hoped their research findings will be useful for other educationalists, particularly those working in similar small states world-wide.
Hubert, who is Executive Permanent Secretary for the government in the TCI, wrote his thesis on human resource management and staff appraisal models in Small States and TCI. His study concluded that staff appraisal models can be empowering instruments in human resource development, cautioned against the uncritical international transfer of policies and practices, and highlighted the need to carefully tailor human resource management strategies to local cultural and contextual conditions.
Beatrice, who is Director of Education, Department of Education in the TCI, studied the factors impacting upon teacher recruitment and retention in small states, and the challenges they pose for education systems, with particular reference to the TCI. Her conclusions drew attention to the impact of global migration trends upon small states, to the strategic importance of continuing professional development and improved conditions of service for teachers, and to the benefits to be gained from locally grounded research into such issues.
Both Hubert and Beatrice hope their work will influence policy-makers and practitioners in the TCI and the Caribbean, and make a helpful theoretical contribution to the international literature on small states. The Graduate School of Education is planning to develop further research links with them and this small state in the future.
More information about the School's international and comparative education work is available here.
More information about the School's doctoral programmes is available here.
Hubert and Beatrice were supervised by Professor Michael Crossley and both are members of the Graduate School of Education’s small states research network.