CV

Current employment

Previous Employment (Teaching)

Previous Employment (Non-Teaching)

Additional Information

I currently possess an MSc in Computing, as computing has also long been a hobby of mine, a BA in Management and Media and have also completed my PG Cert. in Adult Literacy to accompany my PG Cert. Ed. in Post Compulsory Education. I am a member of the BCS and am currently completing my membership as a Senior Fellow of the HEA. In addition to this I have had papers published and presented at the HEA STEM Conference 2014 on the subject of “Using Technology to Motivating Learners in Higher Education” as well as the 2016 Chartered ABS on the subject of “Student Engagement in Higher Education”. Future intentions are to work on my Doctorate, researching in the field of Learning Analytics and Big Data.

I am an extremely organised and highly motivated individual, coming from a background in the telecommunications sales arena; culminating with seven years in various managerial positions. With my managerial experience I have proved that I am able to motivate others, this especially has been shown in my ability to motivate my learners and colleagues within my previous FE positions. In this I also proved my own ability to work both, independently under my own initiative, or as part of a team. I am able to work flexibly, under pressure and to tight deadlines.

I am most recently employed as a lecturer at Birmingham City University and previously program leader and a permanent lecturer at Coventry University College. I have been the course leader for all IT foundation and undergraduate courses (at CUC) and taught (at both institutions) on selected modules as well as being personal tutor for several tutor groups. I also managed a team of lecturers and tutors team teaching on all courses, creating modules, supporting them with their day to day work, and managing the data produced in forms of results, marking etc.

From October 2005 to February 2008 I was employed by South Birmingham College, where I was working as part of the Basic Skills team teaching Literacy and Numeracy on Basic Skills courses as well as running several tutor groups and teaching on BTEC Skills for Working Life units. From February 2008 to January 2011, I was engaged as one of a team of Assistant Directors in the Skills for Life; see ‘Previous Employment’ for specific details of this role.

I have been involved in several projects run in conjunction with agencies namely QIA, LSIS, SSC and the LSC as part of the Skills for Life Improvement Programme (SfLIP). These projects include working in both a Peer Working Group and an Effective Practice Project regarding SfL in Train to Gain, as well as an LSC working party around Taxi Driver qualifications in Train to Gain and wider Skills for Life provision, including embedding and ESOL.  I was also initially involved in the Functional Skills pilot that was later rolled out to replace Basic and Key Skills, sitting on the working group for this, and creating the new schedules to enable the Functional Skills standards mapping onto Schemes of Work.

I have a long-standing experience of line management from my teaching employment as well as from my previous career in the telecommunications industry as a sales and an account manager, with many transferable skills gained here. In these positions I have worked substantially on staff recruitment and performance management, target setting and appraisal of such and developing teams. I have also worked on strategic development and organisational development management; managing change within an organisation. I am very conscious of the need to adapt at all times in any management situation, be that to suit a project, recruitment requirement, or different people’s own specific styles; we are all individuals and so need to be managed individually. The greatest challenge to management is communication, and I feel my experience is invaluable in being able to communicate well with staff, even changing methods to suit the individual’s needs.

In my role as Assistant Director I implemented many new processes and procedures in order to manage the substantial provision of Skills for Life in Train to Gain. Every one of these processes and procedures I created were with a view to implementing and monitoring quality within the provision, from tracking each individual learner, to groups of learners at specific workplaces, I created the processes in order to do this, with a view to maximising achievements. Furthermore I created several quality systems outside of the Train to Gain remit, most notably the divisional Induction Presentations that were used for all SfL new starters, new SfL Initial Assessment Packs that were rolled out and used, and previously created resource banks for Numeracy tutors to ‘get more interactive’, as well as working to create the divisional Moodle site on which I operated as a Moodle administrator and qualified E-Guide.

In order to have done all of the above I believe I have shown that I have excellent IT skills; I also have a very good working knowledge of MIS & CRM systems. I am a certificated E-guide, Moodle Administrator and completed the Online Learning Matters course (through NIACE). I have also created my own website which I use as a repository for useful resources, links and assignments of my own.

As part of my job I interact with my colleagues as well as new students daily, to this end I feel that I am very easy going and approachable. I am a good communicator and am often complimented on my ability of helping students and colleagues understand some quite complex issues. Indeed in my previous employment in the telecommunications sector my favourite part of my job was the training of both colleagues and end users.

Finally as an individual I have an excellent attendance record and am committed to equal opportunities, and would always wish to promote equality and diversity.

Some of my Award Certificates

Senior Fellow HEA

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