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Ania Atkinson

Ania Atkinson

Senior Lecturer

School of Social Sciences

Role

Ania is a Senior Lecturer in Education Studies at the Nottingham Institute of Education.

Career overview

I have 18 years’ experience teaching, teacher training, and lecturing in education which include time spent at an international university in Thailand as a BA programme leader. I have also been involved in the development and training of new teachers and was responsible in leading initial teacher training for a large school centred initial teacher training organisation. During my time at NTU I have had the opportunity to lecture on a wide range of programmes which include: The MA in Education, The FdA in Education, the BA Education Policy and Practice, The SENCo Award, and the BA in Education.

Research areas

My research interests include: Autodidacticism, Early Career Teachers, Education Policy, SEND, and Inclusion.

I am a member of the Work Futures Research Group which is part of the Centre for Policy, Citizenship, and Society.

I have just submitted my PhD and am awaiting my Viva: ‘An exploration into the needs of Early Career Teachers, through the lens of Rousseau and Émilian autodidacticism.’ My identity as a former English teacher, and Teacher Trainer is strongly interlinked with my interests in the field of education. I am also interested in literature - often foreign and often centuries old. I discovered Rousseau's Treatise: Émile, or on Education, during my PhD studies, and quickly fell in love with its philosophical concepts. ​ My thesis aims to fuse Rousseauian philosophy with educational praxis by evaluating ECT induction needs against the model of the autodidactic learning approach presented in Rousseau’s Émile. Émile forms the basis of the theoretical framework and unusually, excerpts from the text are also presented as coded qualitative data and analysed alongside ECT interviews and ECT survey data. ​ The main goal of my research is to interest and inform. From a personal perspective, my study represents my own hopes and dreams for the future of Early Career Teacher training – a hope for a kinder induction approach that supports new teachers in the way that they choose to be supported. Early Career Teacher voices have been marginalised in the landscape of education reform. My thesis aims to listen to them, understand them, and champion them.

External activity

Fellow of The Higher Education Academy (HEA)

Member of the Work Futures Research Group

Member of The British Educational Research Association (BERA)

Member of The United Kingdom Advising and Tutoring Association (UKAT)

Press expertise

Early Career Teachers

Autodidacticism

Course(s) I teach on