‘An unstoppable force of nature’

A psychologist who has spent her career researching education and working to improve the careers of female academics has had her portrait unveiled at Queen's University Belfast. Emeritus Professor and BPS Trustee Carol McGuinness was painted by Jennifer Trouton as part of the Queen's Gender Initiative which, since 1999, has been aiming to enhance the participation and visibility of women at the university.

McGuinness completed her PhD at Queen's in 1979 and has remained at the university ever since – she was also the first female professor in a psychology department in Ireland. In an unveiling ceremony Professor Teresa McCormack, Head of the Queen's School of Psychology, said that she saw McGuinness as an unstoppable force of nature and shared some of the underlying passions and values that drove her, including a commitment to being collegiate and supportive.

McCormack also highlighted McGuinness' work relating to gender equality. 'Carol was very aware of the need to support other women in their careers, and along with Linda Carey (from Staff Development) she evaluated the first Queen's Gender Initiative mentoring scheme which was initially for female professors… and she was central in gaining Queen's its very first Athena Award before SWAN awards even existed.'

McGuinness added that 'Psychology as a discipline has always attracted a majority of women undergraduates, and indeed postgraduates. But the progression route was not so simple. Not surprising that one of the first issues that the Women's Forum and the Queen's Gender Initiative tackled was promotion. In the School of Psychology there was always a good representation of women on the academic staff… But it took until 2000 before one of us was appointed to a Chair! That was true across departments at Queens, particularly in the Faculty of Science and Engineering. I recall that at Faculty meetings, Louise Cosby (from Biomedical Sciences) and I were often the only women in the room. Of course, things have changed now – four chairs in psychology are now held by women. I would like to think of this portrait as a tribute to all the women in the School of Psychology, past and present.' 

McCormack also spoke of McGuinness' commitment to working with professional bodies including the BPS, and Psychological Society of Ireland – of which she is a former president. McGuinness has also been a lifelong researcher of education and worked to improve the quality of teaching at Queens. She spoke of her passion for teaching, learning and cognition – including memory, thinking and problem solving – which she combined in her research.

Psychology as a discipline has always attracted a majority of women undergraduates, and indeed postgraduates. But the progression route was not so simple.

Speaking of the portrait itself, McGuinness said she had worked closely with Jennifer Trouton, and they had spoken of some of the important symbols to be included in its background – these include the Greek latter psi, Psyche with her lamp representing psychology and learning, castles from the Dublin coat of arms, books from the Queen's coat of arms, and red hands from both the Queen's and McGuinness coats of arms. 'Something went through my mind about a portrait like this – it was going to hang in the Great Hall, or at least somewhere in Queens, for many years. People would pass through the building, school trips would come to visit, events would be held in these rooms, and long after I am gone or indeed remembered, these visitors would ask – who is she? So some of that Jennifer has managed to create as part of the portrait, to give some messages about who I am.'

How did you feel when you saw the portrait?

To be honest – relieved! I really liked it. I saw it for the first time just three days before the formal unveiling. For various reasons, the portrait had been a long time in the making. The work was delayed because of Covid/lockdown, Jennifer (the artist) was in China for part of lockdown, and I experienced some health issues during the past year. So I think everyone was pleased that at last the portrait could show its own face.

Has being painted prompted any thoughts on portraiture?

It certainly got me more interested in looking at portraits, thinking about styles, and especially the process of composing and painting a portrait. During the initial conversations about the portrait, I was asked about my preferences re style, and even preferences about local artists. To be frank, I really didn't know that much. Suddenly, I was watching Sky's Portrait Artist of the Year, visiting National Portrait Gallery and so on. I learned a lot. 

How did your journey in Psychology begin?

I graduated with a BA in psychology from University College Dublin (UCD) in 1972. But I was a late starter going to university. For three years after I left school I worked as a secretary – would you believe – at the newly created Educational Research Centre in St Patrick's College in Dublin, then a teacher training college. I worked with two research psychologists and that was my first introduction to what a psychologist was! During my time there, I provided administrative support to the standardisation of the first verbal reasoning test in Ireland (the Drumcondra Verbal Reasoning Test).  From that experience I learned a surprising number of things about test development – item analysis, sampling, standardisation, norms etc. That whetted my appetite for psychology, for education, and indeed for the research process itself!

After UCD I came to Queen's to study for a PhD in 1973, mainly through contacts I made at the Psychological Society of Ireland's conference in Sligo that year, where I gave my first paper (from my undergraduate thesis). Going to conferences, presenting at conferences, and eventually organising conferences, has played a major part in my professional life.

What do you see as the most significant changes, at Queens and in Psychology more broadly, since 1976?

Some of the change would be typical of any psychology department in the UK. For example, huge increases in students who want to study psychology as an undergraduate. In the first year I taught at Queen's there were 28 students in the final year. Towards the end of my teaching career, the graduating class was over 200… imagine the difference in terms of final year thesis supervision!

Because they are now taken so much for granted, we can forget the impact of computers and computation on lots of areas of our work – data analyses, laboratory experiments, bibliographic searches, communication through the internet and so on, to say nothing of the experience of remote teaching in the last few years. For academic staff, the rise in professional expectations re their teaching, and of course the impact of REF, were big changes.

Specific to Queen's, a good part of my professional life was during the Troubles and the impact that had on life at Queen's in all sorts of ways, the positive effects of the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement from the late 1990s onwards. These changes made such a difference to Queen's and Northern Ireland, making it a more attractive place for students and staff, in terms of it being a safe place to study, work and to live.

For some time now Queen's has had vibrant equality, diversity and inclusion policies and practices that range across a full range of issues.

You can also reflect on Queens' journey around equal opportunities and diversity.

Queen's as a major employer in a 'divided' society was impacted by the Fair Employment legislation in the 1970s and 80s. It responded by introducing a range of 'good' employment practices, like interview training for anyone involved in staff recruitment, unconscious bias workshops for all staff, creation of harassment/bullying advisors and so on. Colleagues in the School of Psychology were centrally involved in the development of some of these initiatives. It has been quite a journey. For some time now Queen's has had vibrant equality, diversity and inclusion policies and practices that range across a full range of issues – disability, family friendly policies, race equality, LGBT+, as well as gender, and the Queen's Gender Initiative is an example of that. 

What are you most proud of, from your time at Queens?

To select just one thing – the impact of my research on educational policy and practice in Northern Ireland schools, particularly in primary schools. It helped to shape significant changes to the revised Northern Ireland Curriculum which became statutory in 2007. The impact was in two main areas – teaching children to think more effectively which directly affects the experiences of all school children between 4 and 14 years of age, and the development of a play-based early years curriculum for 4-6 year olds. I had been researching these issues for many years, and received significant funding for an intervention and evaluation project from the ESRC's Teaching and Learning programme in the early 2000s. On the back of that research and through a secondment to the curriculum policy body in Northern Ireland, I was able to make a difference – that was important to me.

Some of your research has been on taking a playful approach to teaching and learning. What have you found?

This strand of my research has been in collaboration with early years education colleagues from Stranmillis University College. One important contribution was to shift the focus from play as an activity (important though that is) to playfulness as a more general pedagogical approach for early years educators. From classroom observations and video analyses of playful early years teachers we have been able to identify behaviours that can 'signal' playfulness in teacher/children interactions, like tone of voice (high pitched or whispering)and facial expressions, exaggerated gestures and whole body movements, use of humour (smiles, using nonsense words, making silly mistakes) and role play (adopting the role of a character in a story, even dressing up), as well as using props and other devices to engage children (speaking through puppets, using 'magic' wands). Teachers used these signals for a variety of traditional learning contexts like teaching reading and numbers, as well as in more creative contexts. 

Whenever I've met you, that playful approach comes across in the form of warmth and good humour. Do you think you've managed to bring that to your work for the Society, and what have you learned along the way?

That's a tricky one! I have always found that humour can relieve tension at a meeting – but you need to 'read' the situation or it can make things worse! On the whole, psychologists as a group can be very serious and intense, and being seen as playful can often be interpreted as 'not being serious' and thus not being taken seriously. So there is more to this than first meets the eye! I learned that from the early years teachers as well – who could very quickly shift from their playful persona to their 'strict' face when needed!

I imagine your research in problem solving has come in handy…

My PhD topic was on problem solving and visualisation. When I strip it all back, I consider teaching problem solving to be an important cognitive goal for education, understanding the processes of problem solving (in all of its forms) as well as teaching it to students – that was the motivation behind the work with primary schools teachers to teach children 'how to think better'. Problem solving has such general application – not just in school but in everyday life, asking questions like 'what exactly is the problem here (defining the problem), what would be a good outcome (goal direction), what are the alternatives (navigating the problem space), am I on track (metacognition and self-monitoring)?' 

I need to stop here or you will be getting the full tutorial!

As a Trustee who has put so much into the Society for so long, what have you got in return?

Before I come to that, I have been reflecting recently with colleagues about the more general benefits of being active in professional and learned societies. I got involved in these societies quite early on in my career, and when I reflect – I recognise that I learned a lot, for example, about leadership, organisational skills, influencing skills, advocacy, policy development and impact. I have to admit I didn't know what any of those words even meant in the early stages of my career, but I did learn to do them. When I look back, these experiences have shaped the other things I have done in ways perhaps that I did not realise at the time.

Being a Trustee has given me a new perspective on the Society that I have been an active member of for so long – I can sum it up in one word, governance. I now look at many issues through different lens, asking questions like, what is the purpose of the Society (not just what benefits am I getting as a member), who is accountable (where does the buck stop), what are the risks we take when we make decisions, what are the opportunities we fail to grasp if we don't take those decisions? 

What do you think our strengths are, at this point?

My view has not really changed much – the main strength of the society is being the voice for psychology in the UK, even when we sometimes speak with diverse voices!

What next for you?

Well, I am supposed to be retired! Some of you will know that Ken [Brown] and I like to travel and that has been severely curtailed during Covid, so I am looking forward to getting back to that. Specifically, with regard to BPS work, I am Chair of the Member Network Futures Steering group which has been charged with steering the implementation of the recommendations from the recent member network review. That work is very close to my own heart and, working with colleagues and BPS staff, I am eager to get on with it.