Personal statement

I began my teaching career in Glasgow City Council in 1999. I stayed with the council in a variety of establishments, working in the newly opened autism units before taking up the role of Principal Teacher within a similar establishment. I then taught and lived in the Costa Blanca in Spain, teaching in international schools in both Alicante (nursery) and San Miguel de Salinas ( years 1 and 2). 

Following a move back to the UK I worked in a grant-aided school for young people with Complex ASN, winning the Scottish Education Award for teaching Modern Foreign Languages (along with my wonderful pupils in the primary department!). Working in this school gave me a unique insight into the every day lives of young people who experience CASN and their families. This sparked my passion for raising awareness , not only their unique circumstances but their exceptional attributes. What a wonderful opportunity that was. 

Following this, I moved on to take up the role of Principal Teacher of CASN department within a large specialist school. Again, this presented me with the chance to fulfil my dream of working with some of Scotland's most exceptional young people and involved not only leadership, but the opportunity to develop new ways of working. For example, I led the development of the inclusive communication approach within the school. In November 2020 I was lucky enough to apply for and be offered  the role of Teaching Associate at Strathclyde, and gained promotion  to Teaching Fellow, consequently. I teach across a variety of ITE courses at the moment including Professional Practice, Literacy, Culture and Environment as well as supervising dissertations with an inclusion focus. I also teach on post graduate courses specialising in inclusive practice, as well as supervising up to doctoral level. I develop content , lead projects and advise on matters related to inclusive practice across our modules. I lead various projects related to inclusive education, including a project experience for our first year education students, and a professional specialism for fourth years. 

Throughout my career I have continued to study , undertaking a variety of post-graduate opportunities including my certificate in autism from Strathclyde, psychology and my MEd (on metacognition in children with Specific Language Impairment). I then undertook my doctorate, writing my thesis on agency for pupils with CASN within the education system. I hope to continue to be able to contribute to the field of research in this area and am currently developing my visibility as an early career researcher. 

I am passionate about voice and social justice, particularly the inclusion of young people with exceptional presentations within the education system and the  potentially conflicting ways that they are represented in policy/practice. I have recently co-led the production of Education Scotland's Visible Voices resource, which focuses on raising understanding of exceptional communicators across the teaching profession. Further work related to this includes presenting regularly (including a research briefing on this subject to the Scottish Government), conference bids and co-leading the faculty research sub-theme on Disability, Marginalisation and Inclusion. I am an active member of the departmental ethics committee, with a specialism in the involvement of 'vulnerable' or marginalised groups across the landscape of educational research. I am currently writing an article which highlights a tool that I have developed to support this process. This tool is being trialled by organisations such as Children in Scotland, as part of their advocacy procedures. 

I have many connections across both education and the third sector, engaing in regular collaboration/CLPL delivery, and recently took part in a Transnational Education Partnership with Beijing Normal University. This involved travelling to China to speak at a conference, visit schools and co-author a comparative journal article, as well as contributing to content delivered on campus in Scotland.