Changes in Academic staff team in the Education area

Welcome to new staff and new roles in the Education Subject Area for 23-24

In the Undergraduate and Postgraduate Education courses team, we welcome Dr Ambreen Shahriar. She comes to us from Northampton University and will teach the first and final years of BA Education this year and also on the MA Education programme.

Ambreen has completed an MA in Applied Linguistics and TESOL from the University of Leicester and her PhD from Goldsmiths, University of London. Besides teaching, she is a keen researcher. She has published books, written book chapters and journal articles. She also supervises postgraduate and doctoral dissertations. Her areas of interest are language education, issues of culture and learner identity, multilingualism and multiculturalism.

Our Initial Teacher Education course team has five new staff members joining us this academic year.

Alex New joins us with a wealth of experience in leading in schools from her latest role as a Headteacher of a large Primary school in Croydon as the Deputy Head of ITE working alongside Rob Fonseca the Head of ITE. Alex will lead on the Primary PGCE programmes and Apprenticeship programmes.

In her previous leadership roles as a primary school Headteacher, Alex was always passionate about supporting teachers in the classroom through the delivery of high quality CPD. She is really looking forward to sharing her knowledge and expertise with the team here at London Met. Our PGCE course has received excellent student feedback and she is excited to be joining London Met when there are so many successes to build upon. She is particularly interested in enhancing the broad and balanced curriculum opportunities for our students so they have a wealth of experience to be creative primary school teachers.

Alex is also looking forward to being part of the team leading on the ‘Becoming a Teacher’ module which is an exciting opportunity to develop the talents of many undergraduate students who are interested in becoming a teacher.

Thabo Miles-Matli joins ITE team as the Course Leader for the new PGCE Secondary Computing and ICT. Thabo originally trained as a maths teacher through Teach First. After doing an MSC in applied mathematics with lots of computing and spending some time as a product manager in a tech firm, he moved back to education as a computing teacher.

Before moving to London Met he was Head of Computer Science at Isaac Newton Academy in Seven Kings and the focus he brought was on self-efficacy through programming and becoming industry-ready.

Vicky Webb has joined us from secondary school sector to become our new Course Leader for English and Media and English and Drama.

For the past 22 years Victoria has taught in mixed comprehensive secondary schools in London. She has been a Head of Department, Assistant Principal and a Vice-Principal. She has an English Literature BA and a Children’s Literature MA. She also completed her NPQH a few years ago. Victoria is delighted to be joining the ITE team at London Metropolitan University and is excited to work collaboratively with partner schools to shape the first steps of trainee teachers in their careers.

Laura Ng has joined us in a brand new role as Partnerships Development Manager working in an important liaison role with our partner schools across London. Our partner schools work very closely with the ITE course team on the delivery of our PGCE teacher training programmes to all our trainee teachers. Her role in developing relationships with our current partner schools and developing new school partnerships is therefore a pivotal one for the ITE area and she brings a wealth of experience as a mentor and Primary teacher and leader in London schools.

The last of our new staff we have also welcomed this year to the staff team in Education is a familiar face to many. Sharon Foster is a graduate (First Class) in BA Education Studies who joined the University’s Foundation year programme as a mature student. She has had many roles in the University: Success Coach, Student Ambassador, School Office Administrator to name a few. She is now our ITE Placements Officer and supports the ITE team and trainee teachers with the school placements on their PGCE programmes and other students in Education who may require help and support finding school placements.

Changes in staff within the Education area

We welcome Jo Cooke to the wider role of Principal lecturer of Education. Jo moves over from her previous role as lead of the Foundation year programmes to leading more widely on Undergraduate and Postgraduate Education courses. She will be working closely with Claire Bradshaw the Head of the Subject Area, and with the course leaders of all our Undergraduate courses: Dr Adam Beck for the BA Education, Tim Scott and Dr Karam Bhogal for the BA Primary Education and Soraya Pittiglio course leader of the Foundation year programmes. She is also the joint course leader of the MA Education alongside Dr Naveed Kazmi.

Welcome to you all!