I am a teacher-researcher who has enjoyed working across various educational sectors and settings. Passionate about inclusion and access to high quality, meaningful education for all, I began my teaching journey as a Learning Support Assistant in a busy secondary school, working with colleagues and young people who encouraged and inspired me to become a teacher. I spent approximately 5 years working in secondary education, teaching Social and Cultural Studies, Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education and Citizenship, before moving into adult and community learning, the sector that stole my heart! Here I worked as a practitioner on the Healthy Schools Programme and, more recently, as an Access to Higher Education teacher, English teacher and a Community Youth Justice teacher.

My work with young people across each of these settings inspired me to undertake my PhD research, which used art and storytelling to explore loss in the lives of young people who offend. Most recently I have been fulfilling my love of teaching and research through my work with CC Consultancy, where I have been working on a variety of projects, from running a practitioner action research group with PDN (PD North), to supporting the Education and Training Foundation’s Outstanding Teaching, Learning and Assessment (OTLA) and Essential Digital Skills (EDS) action research programmes. Recently I have also been thrilled to be part of adult literacy initiative, Citizen Literacy, working as a researcher and evaluator on their programme.

My two greatest loves are sport and nature – running in nature is a particular passion of mine and now I live in Scotland I have the most beautiful place in the world to enjoy my favourite hobbies. I’m also incredibly passionate about animal rights. In my spare time I volunteer at a local animal rescue centre and I am vegan for the animals, for the environment and for our future.