Polly is the Head of Academic Practice and a Principal Lecturer in Educational Development at Oxford Brookes University. She is committed to raising the profile, and enhancing the practice of teaching in Higher Education. Polly is responsible for new strategies, policies and projects that enhance academic practice locally, nationally and internationally, and is driven by the belief that good teaching should inspire learning, nurture self-confidence, transform lives and enable individuals to flourish (Freire,2001).
Following an early career teaching in Secondary Education, Polly moved into Higher Education in 2000. She became an Associate Professor in Educational Development in 2007. Since then Polly has led Postgraduate Certificate programmes in Academic Practice, Clinical Education, an Academic Professional Apprenticeship, and a Masters in Global Health. Using her wealth of Programme Leadership experience Polly mentors colleagues in curriculum enhancement activities and the development of new programmes, chairs approval panels.
In her professional capacity Polly has been an External Examiner, Educational Consultant, Network Founder, Accreditor, and Project Lead. She has a Masters and Professional Doctorate in Education and she is an active researcher with publications focusing on internationalisation, assessment and feedback, and transformative learning approaches.
Polly is a National Teaching Fellow (2021) a SEDA Accredited Teacher, and a Senior Fellow of Advance HE. She is a member of the SEDA Professional Development Committee.
A member of the International Consortium for Educational Development