Deputy Head of Service
(Staff, Pupils, Progression)

BuckleA@ealing.gov.uk

Alex is an experienced music teacher of over twenty years with experience of classroom and instrumental teaching in multiple sectors. Alex has taught music at Notting Hill and Ealing High School and has worked as a university lecturer for fifteen years, teaching in universities such as Oxford, Bristol, and Oxford Brookes. She currently runs performance classes as part of her role at St Hilda’s and St Anne’s (University of Oxford) and has acted as an external performance examiner for several universities (including Bristol and Oxford Brookes).

As a performer, Alex plays the flute, piano, and sings. She was a student at Birmingham Conservatoire Junior School and has much solo and orchestral experience. Alongside youth orchestras, she was also a member of the European Youth Vacation Chamber Orchestra, Midlands Youth Orchestra and played for New Chamber Opera for many years. Alex enjoys imparting her wide knowledge of music to students and has successfully coached students through instrumental and theory exams.

Alex has experience of observing peers and trainee teachers and wrote her dissertation on the observation of teaching for her Higher Education Diploma in Teaching. She has also published on how to observe peers with sensitivity and good outcomes. In this, she showed the importance of constructive and descriptive feedback to improve learning and teaching outcomes and as an important tool to ensure good teaching and quality assurance.

In the area of governance, Alex helped Tiffin Girls’ School to create and implement their school development plan and, more recently, she has worked with the Music Faculty at the University of Oxford, as they update their curriculum, implement new diversity and inclusion training, and establish working groups to support Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion. This has created a more inclusive music degree and given her valuable experience, which she is looking forward to applying in this role.