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Louise Connolly
Louise has established a career in education over the last 24 years. Having previously worked with the University as a Visiting Tutor for three years before joining the team permanently, Louise joined Bishop Grosseteste University in September 2020 in a permanent role as a Senior Lecturer in Initial Primary Teacher Education where she now works on both undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Louise leads academic writing, research modules and also supervises masters students through their dissertations. Prior to joining the university academic team, Louise was a teacher in primary schools for nearly 20 years. Throughout her time in school, she carried out a number of roles such as Foundation and Key Stage One Leader, English Lead, History Lead and was also a Special Educational Needs Coordinator for 15 years. She later became a Head Teacher of a large primary school in a deprived area in Nottinghamshire and was also the Safeguarding Lead and Special Educational Needs Coordinator for a Multi-Academy Trust.Louise completed a Masters in Education in 2019 and predominantly focused on areas of Special Educational Needs and Emotional Health. Louise achieved Fellowship with the Higher Education Academy in 2021 and is in the final stages of her PhD where her topic of interest is around worry and wellbeing in undergraduate student teachers. She is a review editor for an educational journal and also an external examiner for Initial Teacher Education at another university. Louise also enjoys a role as a Primary School Governor in a local school. Louise has previously written articles on educational areas of interest in the TES and other educational magazines. She had her first book published by Sage in 2022 in their Super Quick Skills series about proofreading essays and also recently had an article approved for publication by The Teacher Education Advancement Network (TEAN). -
Katie Furnival
Katie joined BGU in September 2020. During her teaching career, Katie taught in a range of schools in different parts of the UK, teaching every year group across the primary range. She has been responsible for many curriculum areas, including English, SEN, ITT and Art and also has been a member of SLT as a KS2 leader. In addition, Katie has been a Director of Learning for a large academy trust in the North of England. She provided modelled teaching, pedagogical leadership and professional development to colleagues in order to develop teaching and learning. She has also researched and developed a new approach to Feedforward marking; a method embraced by 32 schools. Katie has SLE (Specialist Leader of Education) status for ITE, support for the most able and English and is a trained KS2 writing moderator for Doncaster Council. She has previously been a guest lecturer at another HEI and enjoyed delivering a workshop at the Festival of Education in Sheffield. -
Professor Julian Stern
Professor of Education and Religion julian.stern@bishopg.ac.uk Julian Stern works on education and religion, leading research projects and organisations, and supervising doctorates. He qualified as a piano teacher, and then as a teacher of humanities and social sciences, and was a school teacher for fourteen years. Moving into teacher education and research, he has worked in universities in London, Yorkshire, and now Lincolnshire. Themes of his work include the philosophy of schooling, religious education, spirituality in education, research methods, and issues related to solitude, silence and loneliness. Related courses: PGCE Religious EducationMA in EducationEdDPhD -
Sophie Longney
Sophie Longney joined Bishop Grosseteste University in February 2021 as a Senior Lecturer in Initial Primary Education. She had previously visited the university as a guest lecturer for many years, where she contributed to the Education Studies undergraduate programme. Prior to joining the university academic team, Sophie was the Vice Principal of a large primary school located in a deprived area of Nottinghamshire. As part of this role, she was Head of Teaching and Learning, English and Key Stage Two Lead while continuing to teach daily English lessons in Year 6. She was also the English and Year 6 Lead for a multi-academy trust. Sophie completed her Master's in Education in 2019 and focussed on improving the teaching of reading within Key Stage Two. The findings from this research had a very positive impact and significantly improved end of KS2 reading outcomes. Sophie has also been awarded Chartered Teacher Status (CTeach) and is a trained KS2 writing moderator for Nottinghamshire County Council. -
Stefanie Jacklin
Stef joined Bishop Grosseteste University in January 2021, on a part- time basis whilst still working as a primary school teacher. In April, she moved across to BGU full- time. Stef is an ex-student of Bishop Grosseteste University and has many fond memories of the University. Stef started her teaching career in Peterborough and then moved to Lincolnshire. During Stef’s many years of teaching, she has led a range of subjects including Science, English, and Humanities. Humanities, diversity, and black history are areas which really interest Stef. In her previous teaching role, Stef was School Direct and NQT Lead mentor for a multi-academy Trust in Lincolnshire. As a Senior Lecturer, Stef primarily teaches and contributes to the PGCE 5-11 programme as well as contributing to the Undergraduate and School Direct programmes. -
David Wallace
Dave joined BGU in February 2021 moving from his Head Teacher role in a Lincolnshire Primary School. Dave achieved a First Class Honours degree in his initial teacher training at BGU and was keen to take his next career step here. Dave started his teaching career as an NQT in a community primary school in Lincolnshire leading a range of subjects from humanities to maths and later becoming Key Stage Leader. His move into leadership took him to a new school where he took the role of Deputy Head and then Head Teacher. Before joining BGU, Dave was regularly involved in interviewing prospective students for the university. As a Senior Lecturer, Dave will primarily teach on the three year undergraduate course as well as contributing to the postgraduate program. -
Dr Amy Webster
Amy joined BGU in the summer of 2020 as a Senior Lecturer in Education Studies after finishing her PhD at the University of Cambridge. She has a BA (Hons) in Education with Primary Qualified Teacher Status from Durham University and an MPhil in Education with distinction from Cambridge. She was also previously an Associate Lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University. Her doctoral project focused on the historical recovery and analysis of British series of children’s classics using digital humanities methods, particularly historical shifts in the titles included in series and how these classic works have been abridged and repackaged since the turn of the twentieth century. Amy is part of the Literature and Literacies (LiLi) Research and Knowledge Exchange Unit and is co-editor of The Four Corners, BGU’s newsletter on children’s literature. She teaches on the Education Studies undergraduate programme as well as the new MA in Children’s Literature and Literacies. She also supervises dissertations on the MA in Education. -
Dr Ursula McKenna
Dr Ursula McKenna is Senior Research Fellow in Implicit Religion at BGU where she is located within the Department of Theology and the World Religions and Education Research Unit. Upon completion of her BA (QTS) she was awarded an Economic and Social Research Council MA studentship and obtained an MA (with distinction) for her work on religious education for children with special educational needs in the primary school. While combining a part-time research post with a job-share class teaching position she then completed her doctorate. Her research was an evaluation of the Building E- Bridges programme, a project which advocated the use of email in primary schools to promote interfaith dialogue amongst pupils across the UK. For fourteen years Ursula taught across the primary age range and as research fellow at the University of Warwick (1999-2021) she contributed to the PGCE Primary and Early Years Religious Education module and the MA in Religious Education by distance learning course. She has undertaken supervision of dissertation students on BA and MA Education Studies degrees and has co-supervised research students. For twelve years she was editorial assistant for the British Journal of Religious Education, co-ordinating the refereeing process for all submissions and special issues. -
Revd Canon Professor Leslie J Francis
Leslie Francis holds the part-time post of Professor of Religions, Psychology and Education. He works with doctoral students in fields that connect religious studies, theology, psychology, and education. Before joining Bishop Grosseteste University he held chairs in Pastoral Theology at Lampeter, Practical Theology at Bangor, Religions and Education at Warwick, and Religions and Psychology at Warwick. Currently he holds visiting positions in universities in Pretoria and Newfoundland and serves as Canon Theologian at Liverpool Cathedral. -
Alison Taylor
Alison joined Bishop Grosseteste in 2018 and is currently teaching on the undergraduate programme in Special Educational Needs, Disability and Inclusion (SENDI). She delivers modules which cover such topics as complex needs; social, emotional and mental health; the professional context; barriers to learning. Her career has included ten years of primary class teaching, advisory work for the autism team of the Specialist Advisory Service (Herts) and five years as a special educational needs coordinator (SENCO). Alison has written and delivered a variety of SEND and safeguarding presentations, with a particular passion for autism education. She has contributed to the Lincolnshire Autism Partnership Board since 2015. Alongside this professional practice, Alison has gained a post graduate diploma in autism (University of Birmingham), the National Award for SEND Coordination (NASENCO) and a master’s qualification in Special Education and Inclusion (Northampton University). She is recognised as a fellow by the higher education academy (FHEA).
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