Personal profile
Overview
As an experienced educational practitioner who has worked across educational sectors teaching secondary, primary and early years I have a broad understanding of the learning journeys and experiences of children, young people and educational practitioners.
Prior to working at UWS I was an English as an Additional Language (EAL) Teacher supporting children and families mainly in primary and early years. Through this area of work I was able to develop and explore my interests in additional support needs specifically focusing on work around inclusion, language acquisition and the challenges of representation, recognition and redistribution for bilingual children and families within mainstream and ASN settings.
As an EAL Teacher I taught across the curriculum and stages. EAL is a descriptive and functional approach to language acquisition which utilises the curriculum content to develop and support inclusion on a day to day basis for learners. I enjoyed the challenge of using innovative and adaptive pedagogies to motivate, support confidence and success for all learners in the EYC and schools in which I worked. The learners and families I worked with came from various cultures, languages and attended a variety of education settings. It was a privilege and a key learning journey for me in developing my ideas and practice in particular around concepts and practices of equity and inclusive practice.
My Masters research focused on the language practices of classroom teachers exploring how changes to the oral language planning and practices of the teacher impacted on the linguistic output and learning for bilingual learners.
Current research:
As an EdD student I have continued to explore concepts around representation and recognition in particular for bilingual learners. As I move to the research phase of my studies I am focusing on LGBTQI representation and recognition within the Catholic primary school. Taking a liberal feminist perspective I am exploring how a consensus of values and concepts of justice can support inclusion.