Faces of Reading

Collaboration was never something we planned, it was more of a way of doing things that seemed practical to us. But, when it came to finding institutional support for our work, particularly in academia, we found that it was quite difficult to square this way of working with existing frameworks. 

Few universities were willing to take us on as joint lecturers, so we were delighted to find the ÌÒÉ«ÊÓƵ more open-minded. Here, our collaborative approach is not only supported, but reflected in the teaching in the Department.

The Art Department offers many opportunities for students to work collaboratively and really fosters an engagement with practices that challenge the idea of individual authorship.

As well as working students in the studio, we have had several opportunities to run projects offsite as mini-residencies with students in collaboration with various venues both nationally and abroad, from the Merzbarn in Cumbria to Nova Perla on the outskirts of Prague. In these less formal environments, we have found group work to be particularly useful as a way of instilling the mutual support that we hope will serve our students as well when they graduate as our collaboration has done for us.

When the TAEDS courses closed down in 2018, I started lecturing initially for BA Education Studies and more recently became the SEND Pathway Lead for the PGCE students specialising in SEN education.

Since 2017, I have been working for the Institution-Wide Language Programme, within the Department of Languages and Culture, where I have taught BSL at all three stages with its linguistics and history, and had very positive feedback.

I'm originally from London and my parents were from the Middle East; my father was born in Egypt and my mother in Syria. I remember seeing Arabic, French and Hebrew being spoken. I knew a little, however I fully absorbed the Middle Eastern culture, particularly cooking.

I'm the only deaf person in my family. My family never learned any sign language, so I relied on lip reading. I've had some fantastic students; most aren't deaf, but they have a passion for teaching and learning sign language.

A lot of my students have become teachers, usually in special needs education. Others have become interpreters, actors and drama therapists. I'd like to think I've played a small part in their career choices.

For example, there are days when I work at home so I can pick up my five-year-old son from school. My electric car cuts down on carbon emissions but unfortunately not on travel time; I still have at least an hour-long commute each way, so being able to work from home on certain days really helps to fit everything in.

There’s a lot of support for doing things differently at the University, and from my mentor and manager. In addition to flexible working, I also benefit from interdisciplinary research interactions through my work with the Centre for Past Climate Change, and I’m co-chair of the Equality and Diversity Committee in the School of Mathematical, Physical, and Computational Science.

Read more about flexible working in the School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences.

While at Reading I have developed in so many different ways. At a professional level, when I arrived I was in charge of the secondary history teacher training course. I was soon asked to take responsibility for the MA in Teaching and Learning, and shortly after that I became programme director for the MA in Education programme.

More recently I have been School Director of Teaching and Learning (SDTL) – this was a very varied role, but the main focus was on ensuring all of our students have a really positive academic experience with us. I was involved in leading initiatives within the Institute of Education to enhance the quality of our teaching and learning provision, monitoring the quality of our programmes, and supporting the implementation of university wide projects. As SDTL I sat on the senior management group for the Institute of Education and line managed a number of staff. My role therefore involved working with lots of colleagues within Education and across the University.

Since stepping down as SDTL I have taken on more teaching and supervision of PhD students, and have been able to develop my research interests – in particular, I have been looking at the experience of LGBTQ+ students in schools. I also feel privileged to have been involved with many interesting national and international projects, most notably the Council of Europe’s ‘Pestalozzi’ teacher training programme.

On a personal level, I joined Reading at a point where I was coming out as transgender. My colleagues have been tremendously supportive and I work in an environment where I am accepted and respected for who I am. My colleagues are very used to me presenting whichever way I feel comfortable, which can shift from day to day.

Working at Reading is very much about people – the staff are truly committed to their students and the university is committed to developing and supporting both staff and students.