Dr Broadfoot's main academic interests are in
sociology and educational
assessment. Her studies began at the
University of Leeds,
graduating in 1971 with a
Bachelor of Arts in sociology. She spent the following year obtaining a
Postgraduate Certificate in Education at the
University of London, before beginning her
career in
education by teaching in
Wolmer's Boys High School, Jamaica (1971–73). She returned to the
United Kingdom and began her research career with a four-year period as a researcher for the
Scottish Council for Research in Education. She pursued a
Master of Education at the
University of Edinburgh, which she earned in 1977. Her first academic post was as a lecturer (and later a senior lecturer) at
Westhill College, Birmingham (1977–81) (now part of
Birmingham University). In 1981, Broadfoot moved to
Bristol to take up a lectureship in education. At this point, she did not yet have a
PhD, eventually obtaining one from the
Open University in 1984. Ten years after joining the university, Broadfoot was appointed to the
Professorship of Education in 1991, marking the beginning a series of promotions in university management in 1993, she became Head of the Graduate
School of Education and
Dean of the
Faculty of
Social Sciences. These appointments ended in 1997 and 1998 respectively, before, in 2002, she became a
Pro-Vice-Chancellor, with particular responsibilities in the
teaching and
learning aspects of the university. In the
New Year honours list in 2006, she was appointed a
Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), "for services to social science". ==Personal life==