Staff profile

Julie Rattray is Professor in Higher Education at Durham University. Her research interests include the threshold concept framework, liminality, affective dimensions of learning as well as other aspects of policy and pedagogy in Higher Education. In particular she is interested in the ways that learners deal with troublesome knowledge and the extent to which affective characteristics and attributes might influence this. 

In recent years Julie has been involved in research projects and conference organisation in the area of Higher Education. She was a member of the UK team of project IBAR working with 6 European partners to explore the potential barriers to the implementation of pan-European standards and guidelines for higher education the findings of which are described in Eggins, H. (Ed). (2014) Drivers and Barriers to Achieving Quality in Higher Education, published by Sense). Julie has had an ongoing involvement in the biennial Threshold Concepts conference which started with the 5th conference held in Durham in 2014. Since then she has contributed as a paper reviewer (6th and 7th) and invited workshop facilitator at the most recent conference held at Miami University, Ohio, in June 2018. In 2016 she was the chair of the Improving University Teaching (IUT) conference held in Durham. Her most recent project is DASCHE (Developing, Assessing and Validating Social Competences in Higher Education. http://www.dasche.eu/about-project) which focuses on the identification of practice in relation to the development of social Competence in Higher Education. This project includes 5 European partners along with the UK and is funded by Erasmus +.

Julie joined the University of Durham in 2001 having completed a Ph.D in Developmental Psychology at the University of Dundee. Julie currently holds the role of Director of Education in her department which means she has strategic oversight of its teaching and learning strategy. Over the years Julie has contributed to a range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules that take a psychological approach to teaching and learning or which have a specific higher education focus. As a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy she contributes to the postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice.

Julie has a broad range of supervisory experience and is currently working with students on a range of projects that use threshold concepts theory as a framework to explore aspects of teaching, learning and policy issues in Higher Education, metacognitive awareness and psychological and affective dimensions of learning.

Completed Supervisions (since 2008)

A Longitudinal Evaluation of the Impact of a Problem-Based Learning Approach to the Teaching of Software Development in Higher Education

The Effectiveness of the Response and Follow Up Processes to the Learndirect ‘Gremlins’ Campaign in the Nottingham Area

Exploring a Group of Students’ School Experiences in a Secondary School: a Case Study in the Implementation of Invitational Education in Hong Kong

The Effectiveness in Measuring Character Development Outcomes in Singapore Schools Through the Character Development Award

Improving English Listening Self-efficacy Of Chinese University Students ----- Influences of Learning Strategy Training with Feedback on Strategy Use and Performance

Spiritual Narrative and Secondary School Pupils: How do pupils respond to spiritual narrative? What factors might influence response or evoke conceptual change?

Developing Critical Thinking through Problem-Based Learning: an Action Research for a Class of Media Literacy

LEARNING BY TEACHING: Action Research into Changes in Metalearning Capacity of Taiwanese Secondary School Students

Investigating Factors Which Promote Metacognitive Development in Early Years Children.

Does the International Baccalaureate’s Primary Years Programme facilitate students’ motivation toward self-regulatory, autonomous learning?

The use of stories as a means of teaching moral development in two Singapore secondary schools.

Towards an Effective School Improvement Model for a Middle Eastern Context: Capacity Building for Sustainable Improvement.

An investigation into the impact of an integrated curriculum on learning in the primary school.

A Comparative Study about Early Childhood Teachers’ Preparation and Role in England and Kuwait.

Civilian to Officer: Threshold Concepts in Military Officers’ Education.

An Exploratory Study of Hong Kong Chinese Students’ Conceptions and Experiences of Academics’ Care within a Higher Education Context

Threshold concepts in research and evidence-based practice: Investigating troublesome learning for undergraduate nursing students

Food for Thought: An exploration of the relationship of Academic Confidence to Academic Sustenance in Australian undergraduate students.

Exploring the Role of Psychological Capital and Academic Hope in High School Students: How they interact With Their Cognitive Strategies to Influence Learning Outcomes?

A phenomenographic study to explore tutors' perceptions of the role of written feedback in promoting self-regulated learning at Durham University.

The difficulties of conceptualising and operationalising critical thinking through assessment practices: a case study of academics in a UK business school.

Student learning experiences in higher education in Hong Kong:
An investigation of students’ experiences of academic engagement in relation to the affective dimension of learning.

Developing a Comprehensive Quality Model in Higher Education: Medical Employers’ Perspective.

Information for prospective doctoral research student supervisions

Julie would welcome applications from prospective doctoral students on any of her research interests.

• The Threshold concept Framework
• Liminality
• Affective dimensions of learning
• Higher Education pedagogy - Teaching and Learning
• Issues of quality in higher education
• Higher Education Policy

• Higher and Further Education

• DASCHE: Development, Assessment and Validation of Social Competences in Higher Education
• iBAR
• IntRef Project: Intercultural Reflection on Teaching
• PACT Evaluation

• 2018: PACT Evaluation(£200777.00 from Education Endowment Foundation)
• 2017: DASCHE: Development, assessment and validation of social competences in higher education(£43256.00 from Interreg (ERDF) Europe)
• 2012: IBAR - Identifying barriers in promoting the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance at Institutional level and making recommendations as to how these might be addressed(£97416.18 from European Commission)
• 2002: EVALUATION OF HARTLEPOOL CENTRAL SURE START(£49641.00 from )
• 2002: EVALUATION OF HARTLEPOOL CENTRAL SURE START(£63791.00 from Sure Start)
• 2001: EVALUATION OF THE STOCKTON AND HARTLEPOOL(£47877.00 from )

• 2018: 2018 invited workshop on “An Introduction to threshold concepts and Transformation” at the 7th Biennial Threshold Concepts conference, Miami University Oxford, Ohio.:
• 2016: May 2016. Invited to give a presentation on Threshold Concepts and Inclusive Pedagogy at Dortmund University as part of a German government funded project on inclusive practice.:
• 2014: Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy:
• 2009: present chair University Library users committee :

Chapter in book

• Lin,S., Rattray,J. & Walker-Gleaves,C. (2019). Designing a Meta-Learning Programme. In Thinking Skills and Creativity in Second Language Education: Case Studies from International Perspectives. Li, L. Routledge.
• Chen, D. & Rattray, J. (2018). Critical thinking threshold concepts in PBL. In Threshold Concepts in Problem-based Learning. Savin-Baden, M. & Tombs, G. Leiden: Brill | Sense. 1-17.
• Rattray, J. (2017). Assessing Liminality: The Use of Ipsative Formative Assessment During a Postgraduate Taught Induction Programme to Support the Development of Criticality. In Ipsative Assessment and Learning Gain: International Case Studies. Hughes, G. London: Palgrave Macmillan. 149-171.
• Rattray, J. (2016). Affective Dimensions in Liminality. In Threshold Concepts in Practice. Land, R., Meyer, J.H.F. & Flanagan, M.T. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. 67-76.
• Martindale, L., Land. R., Rattray, J. & Anderson, A. (2016). Exploring Sources of Trouble in Research Learning for Undergraduate Nurses. In Threshold Concepts in Practice. Land, R., Meyer, J.H.F. & Flanagan, M. T. Rotterdam, Taipei & Boston: Sense Publishers.
• Smith, J. & Rattray,J. (2016). Preface: Mapping the Terrain of Identity-Work Research. In Identity Work in the Contemporary University. Smith,J., Rattray,J., Peseta,T. & Loads,D. Sense Publishers.
• Syed Mohamed, A.T.F., Land. R & Rattray, J. (2016). Ambivalence, Hybridity and Liminality: The Case of Military Education. In Threshold Concepts in Practice. Land, R., Meyer, J.H.F. & Flanagan, M. T. Rotterdam, Taipei & Boston: Sense Publishers.
• Rattray, J. & Smith, J. (2015). Principles for reviewing the taught postgraduate induction curricula. In Masters Level Teaching, Learning and Assessment: Issues in design and delivery. Kneale, P. London: Palgrave.
• Haskova, A., Lachka, L., Pilarik, L. & Rattray, J. (2014). Information and internal quality assurance in European and Slovak Higher Education Institutions. In Drivers and Barriers to Achieving Quality in Higher Education. Eggins, H. Sense: Rotterdam.
• Land, R. & Rattray, J. (2013). Policy drivers and barriers to implementation: Context and practice. In Drivers and Barriers to Achieving Quality in Higher Education. Eggins, H. Sense: Rotterdam.
• Land, R. & Gordon, G. (2013). 'To See Ourselves as Others See Us': The Scottish Approach to Quality Enhancement. In Enhancing Quality in Higher Education: International Perspectives. Land, R. & Gordon, G. Routledge.
• Doody,J. & Rattray,J. (2008). An evaluation of the effectiveness of using a hybrid PBL approach in the teaching of the Java programming language to first year third level students. In Improving Student Learning: Improving Student Learning Through the Curriculum. The proceedings of the 16th Improving Student Learning symposium. Rust,C.
• Rattray, J., Aiston, S. & Barmby, P. (2007). Learning for Life not just for Exams: the development of metalearning in Higher Education students. In Improving Student Learning through Teaching. Rust, C. Oxford: Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development.

Conference Paper

• Reimann, N., Rajab,T., Dragas, T., Murray, M., Rattray, J. & IntRef participants from Durham (2019), Enhancing Teaching through Intercultural Reflection on Teaching: the IntRef Project, Durham University Annual Learning and Teaching Conference, 9 September 2019. Durham, England.
• Land, R., Vivian, P. & Rattray, J. (2014), A closer look at liminality: incorrigibles and threshold capital, 4th Biennial International Threshold concepts Conference. Dublin Ireland, NAIRTL, Dublin, 1-12.
• Rattray, J., Land, R., Owen, C., Eggings, H. & Gordon, G. (2013), A winding stair: implementing and establishing a common framework for QA in European higher education, SRHE Annual Research Conference 2013. Newport, SRHE, London.

Edited book

• Smith, J., Rattray, J., Peseta, T. & Loads, D. (Eds.) (2016). Identity Work in the Contemporary University Exploring an Uneasy Profession. SensePublishers.

Edited Journal

• Rattray, J & Land, R (2017). Special Issue: Threshold Concepts and Conceptual Difficulty. Practice and Evidence of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 12 (2).

Journal Article

• Tang, Anne L. L., Walker-Gleaves, Caroline & Rattray, Julie (2022). An exploratory study of university teachers’ conceptions and articulation of care amidst online teaching. Pastoral Care in Education
• Tang, Anne L. L., Tung, Vincent Wing Sun, Walker-Gleaves, Caroline & Rattray, Julie (2022). Assessing university students’ perceptions of teacher care. Quality in Higher Education
• Calduch, I. & Rattray, J. (2022). Revisiting postliminal variation in threshold concepts: issues of unexpected transformation and legitimisation. Studies in Higher Education 47(7): 1453-1463.
• Tanga, A.L., Walker-Gleaves, C. & Rattray, J. (2021). University Students’ Conceptions and Experiences of Teacher Care amidst Online Learning. Teaching in Higher Education
• Tanga, A.L., Walker-Gleaves, C. & Rattray, J. (2021). Hong Kong Chinese University Students’ Conceptions of Teacher Care: A Dialectical Framework of Care. Journal of Further and Higher Education 45(5): 573-587.
• Rattray, J. (2018). Affect and ipsative approaches as a counter to Pedagogic Frailty: The guardian of traditional models of student success. Higher Education Research & Development 37(7): 1489-1500.
• Rattray, J. & Chen, D. (2017). Transforming Thinking through Problem-based Learning in the News Media Literacy Class: Critical thinking as a threshold concept towards threshold capabilities. Practice and Evidence of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education 12(2): 272-293.
• Lin, S., Rattray, J. & Walker-Gleaves, C. (2017). Challenges affecting the development of metalearning capacity in Taiwanese secondary school students. Reflective Practice 18(3): 381-396.
• Mercier, E., Rattray, J. & Lavery, J. (2015). Twitter in the collaborative classroom: micro-blogging for in-class collaborative discussions. International Journal of Social Media and Interactive Learning Environments 3(2): 83-99.
• Land, R., Rattray, J. & Vivian, P. (2014). Learning in the Liminal Space: A Semiotic Approach to Threshold Concepts. Higher Education 67(2): 199-217.
• Owen, C., Eggins, H., Gordon, G., Land, R. & Rattray, J. (2013). Is Access to University a Matter of Quality? UK and European Experiences of Widening Participation. Journal of the European Higher Education Area 4: 17-32.
• J. Rattray & M. Suzanne Zeedyk (2005). Early Communication in Dyads with Visual Impairment. Infant and Child Development 14(3): 287-309.
• C. Bagley, C.L. Ackerley & J. Rattray (2004). Social exclusion, Sure Start and organizational social capital: evaluating inter-disciplinary multi-agency working in an education and health work programme. Journal of Education Policy 19(5): 595-607.

Report

• Mellors-Bourne,R., Mountford-Zimdars,A., Wakeling,P., Rattray,J. & Land,R (2016). Postgraduate Transitions: Exploring disciplinary practice. Higher Education Academy.