ITE Lecturer and Mentoring Lead
Dimitrios Kousisis is an Initial Teacher Education (ITE) Lecturer and Mentoring Lead in Further Education, with a professional and research background in English education. He holds a Level 7 PGCE, has completed QTLS, and is currently completing an MA in Education at the University of Sunderland. His current role focuses on the education and professional development of trainee teachers, including ITE delivery, mentoring, mentor development, and supporting the relationship between educational theory and professional practice. His subject-specialism is English and has worked in delivery in all aspects of FE English delivery, including GCSE Resits, Functional Skills, ESOL, A-Level English Language.
His academic interests include teacher education, mentoring, teacher professional practice, GCSE English Language resit pedagogy, subject-specialist teaching, tacit professional knowledge, teacher identity, curriculum enactment, datafication, and the relationship between educational theory and classroom practice. He has co-authored published work on the GCSE English resit curriculum and decolonial pedagogy, contributing to debates surrounding learner voice, curriculum relevance, and the underrepresentation of Further Education within educational research.
Alongside his role, Dimitrios is engaged in scholarly and professional activity through educational research, conference presentation, evidence-informed practice, mentor development, academic writing support, CPD delivery, and the development of research-informed approaches to teaching, mentoring, and teacher education within Further Education.
Key research interests
Further Education, GCSE English Language resits, post-16 education, resit pedagogy, teacher professional judgement, teacher perceptions, enacted practice, curriculum enactment, subject-specialist pedagogy, tacit knowledge, datafication, accountability, assessment pressures, high-stakes testing, teacher identity, evidence-informed practice, classroom decision-making, vocational education, learner disengagement, policy-to-practice translation.
Current research projects
My current research examines perceived and enacted teaching practices in Further Education GCSE English Language resit classrooms. This work explores how lecturers conceptualise effective teaching, how these understandings are enacted in practice, and how contextual factors such as assessment, accountability, learner needs, institutional expectations, and professional judgement shape classroom decision-making.
Areas of specialism
Further Education, GCSE English Language, resit pedagogy
Publications
- Sohdi, R. and Kousisis, D. (2026). “Reimagining the GCSE English resit curriculum: A dialogue between Further Education practice and decolonial pedagogy.” https://doi.org/10.1002/curj.70060