English Teachers: Writing and Developing Writer Identity
This consultancy, curated by Aisling Walters, is designed to generate discussion around the teaching of writing and the impact of this on developing students’ writer identities. The target audience for this would be school leaders and literacy specialists.
About the consultancy
Aisling’s research focuses on the writing identity of trainee teachers. Her work examines the impact of formative experiences on peoples’ perceptions of themselves as writers and aims to provoke reflection and empathy for student writers in classrooms.
She leads Nottingham Trent University’s Secondary English PGCE course. She has recently completed her MA in Education. Aisling’s research focuses on writing pedagogies and the formation of writer identity in trainee English teachers. Aisling is interested in writing for pleasure and how this approach can support student writers’ agency and empowerment.
Before she joined NTU, Aisling worked as a Specialist Leader in Education and an Advanced Skills Teacher at The Fernwood School in Nottingham. At Fernwood, Aisling taught KS3 and KS4, led on whole school literacy and supported colleagues with their classroom practice through training courses and one to one coaching. Aisling also worked with several other partnership schools in Nottinghamshire.
Aisling started her teaching career in Oxford, after completing her PGCE at the University of Oxford. She spent several years at Bartholomew School in Eynsham, teaching English at KS3 and KS4 and English Literature and Film Studies at KS5
How to access this consultancy support
To access this support, please email Aisling.walters@ntu.ac.uk or telephone: 07765 803 574.
Testimonials
I first heard Aisling present her work during the meeting of the UKLA's Writing Significant Interest Group where she had been invited to share her research by the group's leaders. It was immediately clear that her findings, although based on the experiences of post graduate Secondary initial teacher education students, were relevant to all teachers within the Primary age phase too as they are all teachers of writing.
Aisling’s presentation was really engaging, and this was further enhanced by the creative presentation of her findings. Following this, I then approached Aisling to ask whether she would consider talking to a group of Primary phase teachers who were engaged in their own small-scale enquiries which focused on the teaching of writing. She was generous in giving her time which involved both a planning discussion with me before the event and at the event itself where she presented her work to the teacher group.
As well as the group of teachers, there were a number of academic staff from the University of Chichester who attended Aisling's presentation and who were similarly moved and inspired by her work, in response both to the creative way in which she had chosen to present her results and through the way she talked about her work and her students. This shared experience for a number of our team has been an invaluable opportunity to think collaboratively about the experiences of ITE students which is still ongoing and has inspired a new research project with our own students.
We are so grateful that Aisling gave her time so generously to share her work. It was a real highlight for both the practising teachers and academic staff who had the opportunity to hear her presentation.
Client, University of Chichester
Recent publications
Views from a conference: https:bera.ac.uk/blog/views-from a-conference
Cave Encounters at Nottingham Contemporary: https://nottinghaminstituteofeducation.wordpress.com/2023/06/23/cave-encounters-at-nottingham-contemporary/