TEACHER TRAINING STAFF PROFILE

Liz has taught in the secondary, FE and HE sectors since 1992. She initially taught English as a Foreign Language in schools and colleges in Bordeaux and Nancy in France and worked as a teacher, school manager and teacher trainer in Yokohama and Zushi in Japan, subsequently returning to university to undertake postgraduate research. Her PhD was in French, and she also taught French language and culture at the Universities of Leeds and Sheffield for nine years, during which time she delivered research papers at French studies conferences in the UK, USA and Canada, as well as publishing research internationally in an encyclopaedia and in various academic journals. She also worked at the University of Leeds as editorial assistant for the journal Al-Masāq in the Centre for Mediterranean Studies before being appointed to a post-doctoral role in the French Department. Following this, Liz taught ESOL and EAP in the FE and HE sector for ten years, working as a lecturer, course leader, mentor and learning leader, prior to moving into teacher education.

Recent conference papers:

• Haan, N., and Newton, E. (2016) , “Coaching for Sustainable Learning”, presented at NATECLA Yorkshire and Humberside conference, 31 03 16, Leeds Beckett University, and at Autonomous Literacy Learners – Sustainable Results international conference, 17 06 16, South and City College, Birmingham.

Amber started her working life in the NHS as a State Registered Biomedical Scientist, specialising in medical microbiology. She returned to education when her children started school and gained a BSc(Hons) from Leeds University and followed this with a PGCE in Further Education.

She has taught a variety of ages and subjects, which range from setting up and running science clubs at junior schools to teaching mathematics in prisons and teaching science on degree courses. She has been an assessor for public examinations for many years and had assessed for OCR, CIE and Edexcel in science and mathematics.

Amber is currently teaching mathematics in a Further Education College and is a Senior Assessor for OCR. She also teaches and assesses on Initial Teacher Education courses and has written several courses including the L3 Award in Mathematics for Numeracy Teaching at Leeds City College.

Angela has worked in Teacher Education for over ten years. She has worked with Higher Education courses primarily.  Before this, Angela worked as a programme leader for the Supporting Teaching and Learning in Schools programme supporting students working or volunteering in a range of different education settings.  In additional to this, Angela delivered and assessed on the Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA) programme.  Angela is interested in the psychology of teaching and in digital literacies.

Susan has been a teacher in the Education and Training Sector for fourteen years. Initially Susan taught literacy and numeracy in the workplace as well as within an FE environment before moving into training other teachers in 2005.

Karen began teaching young people with learning difficulties and disabilities at Joseph Priestley College in 2007 and qualified to teach in post-compulsory education and training in 2009. She gained specialisms in the teaching of literacy and the teaching of numeracy in 2014 and 2015 respectively while continuing to teach on courses designed for learners with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEN).

Karen is particularly interested in making mathematics and English concepts and curricula accessible to students with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities. She is also interested in the assessment of non-accredited learning, educational interventions for young people with autism and additional educational needs and restorative practice in education. Her Masters dissertation is entitled The Potential of Restorative Practice: A Systematic Literature Review. She is in the first year of an Education Doctorate at the University of Leeds. Her research proposal is a study of the impact of a curriculum based on PEERS (Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills) on student participants’ social functioning.