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My career has focussed on children, family, education, and the community. 

I started my career as a paediatric nurse and became a community children’s nurse, supporting children with life-limiting illnesses, their families, and schools in South Wales. 

I became interested in adult education during my time as a community nurse; I also studied community development, community engagement, community organisation and public health at postgraduate level. 

I have previously worked in Organisational Development for a local authority, focusing on training senior managers in high-performance coaching and facilitation skills. 

I worked for many years as a family facilitator, providing one-on-one support for parents and their children to prevent family crises. Part of my role was also to set up and facilitate community parenting groups, such as domestic abuse groups, in Flying Start areas. This work also embedded a Team Around the Family approach as well as restorative and solution-focused work with parents and children. I was involved in designing Flying Start programme evaluations during this time. 

In my previous role, I worked for the Children’s Commissioner for Wales as an Investigations and Advice Officer, advising and supporting children and young people or those caring for them when they felt they had been treated unfairly. I also worked as a Participation Officer, helping the Commissioner engage with and respond to the views of children and young people in Wales using participatory approaches underpinned by The Right Way Approach. 

I am a systems thinker, meaning I believe in whole systems approaches to complex problems and have skills in linking and connecting people who need to work together. 

I supervise at a doctoral level as part of Yr Athrofa with a specific speciality in qualitative research, lived experience research, participatory methods, narrative inquiry, poverty and disadvantage, communities and working with children and young people. I specialise in relational ontology, research methods and ethics.

Peer reviewer for the journal: .

I teach and supervise MA students on MA Children’s, Young People’s and Community’s Services with a special interest in research methods, working with, for and on children, and wicked problems.

Module lead and coordinator

• ECEW7015 Responding to Poverty and Disadvantage in Education module for the  Equity in Education pathway
• ECCP7002 Critical perspectives in policy, planning and delivery  MA Children’s, Young People’s and Community’s Services
• ECEY6004: Inclusive Leadership: Working together to support families
• ECEY6012: Entrepreneurship 
• ECEY5010: Research for Learning

Further Teaching 

• ECCP7001: Critical Reflections of Academic and Professional Practice 
        Session: Wicked Problems and Whole Systems Approaches
• ECEG7005Q: The Philosophy and Practice of Social Research 
        Session: Researching With, On and For Children
• ECEY6006: Supporting Children with Additional Learning Needs
• ECEY6005: Regaining Paradise? Sustainability in the Early Years
• ECEY5011/C Safeguarding: practice, legislation and the multidisciplinary team 
• ECEY5007: Awe and wonder: Science and mathematics in the outdoors
• ECEY5004: Language and literacy in the digital age
• ECEY5003: Wellbeing, Care and Healthy Living
• ECEY4007: Developing Successful Academic Skills
• ECEY4004: Multilingualism and multi-thinking
• ECEY4001: Human Development
• ECEY4005: The First 1000 days
• ECEY4003: Children’s play: theory and practice
• ECEY4009: The Professional Practitioner

Research

I have expertise in lived experience interviews, qualitative research methods and ethical considerations related to working with specialised groups of people, 

Strategic

I have a keen interest in widening access related to student’s whole journey from accessing education to success.

I am a member of Yr Athrofa’s Research Committee and regularly review ethics proposals for the university.

Key words:

• Narrative Inquiry
• Narrative Analysis
• Participation 
• Belonging in education
• Employment in areas of disadvantage
• Narrative interview methods
• Process consent and ethics committees 
• Biographical interviewing methods
• Community education and community work
• Facilitating community groups
• Safeguarding and rights
• Inverse Protest Masculinity (IPM) (Pitman, 2021)
• Hegemonic fatherhood
• Identity Capital
• Psycho-social elements of identity
• Single fathers 
• Supporting parents in practice
• Community Violence Exposure (CVE)
• Relational Ontology
• Re-presentations in the research process
• Narrative methodology and lessons in research practice

Evans, C., Welton, N., Pitman, J., Clegg, Z., and Williams, D. (2024). . Research Papers in Education, 0, 1–18.

Evans, C.; Pitman, J; Whelton, N.; Williams, D. Clegg, Z. (2023) Close to Practice Research Case ÃÜÌÒ´«Ã½: Swansea Local Education Authority. Research for Welsh Government in relation to policies for Community Focussed Schools

Wilson, P., Russell, H., Julings, M., MacDonald, N., Waters-Davies, J., Tinney, G., Pitman, J., Young, N., Darby, P. (2023) Analysis of feedback on the Welsh Government public consultation process on draft assessment arrangements for funded non-maintained nursery settings. Cardiff: Welsh Government. 

Pitman, J. (2021) . Doctoral thesis, University of Wales Trinity Saint David. 

Pitman, J. (2016) ‘Capturing capital: Exploring identity capital (IC) from the perspective of parents who attend parenting groups in Flying Start areas, and the implications for practice’ In: ‘Happiness, relationships, emotion and deep level learning’  Dublin: EECERA, p. 41. 

Pitman, J. (2015) . Postgraduate dissertation. University of Wales Trinity Saint David.