After enjoying an early career in marketing at a local newspaper, Chantelle spent time living in Jamaica and Canada. Settling back in Wales with her own young family, re-calibrated by time travelling, Chantelle re-entered higher education in her late twenties, thrilled to gain a first class Honours degree alongside her full time community-school practitioner role. Chantelle went on to study a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education (PGCTHE), joining Cardiff Metropolitan University (CMet) in 2008 as a lecturer.
She is now senior lecturer in Primary Education Studies and Early Years Education, a Senior Fellow (SFHEA), Forest School Leader and Trainer. From the start, she set out to liven up teaching and learning by re-imagining and starting the use of an unused ancient strip of Welsh woodland and an old concrete patch which sits on the campus. She co-created the Outdoor Learning Centre (OLC) working with students as partners to bring learning and teaching to life, linking theory and practice. The OLC now comprises a log cabin and a suite of log circles.
On campus, in local spaces and online, Chantelle works through regenerative and place responsive pedagogy, actively nurturing a sense of communities and cynefin through civic mission, taking a city-wide campus approach to learning and teaching. Reviving the use of real and virtual spaces into stimulating arenas for learning and teaching, with community core to her multi-faceted work as a lecturer with students and community stakeholders.
Chantelle is the Chair for Black History Wales 365 Management Committee, Vice Chair for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Educators Network Wales, Vice Chair for Early Years Network Wales, Deputy Chair for the Advance HE Race Equality Charter Working Group at CMet, External Examiner in two UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and an External Moderator in a HEI in Lebanon. She works within Welsh Government Steering Groups which are undertaking critical ministerial reviews in the new upcoming curriculum and play in Wales. Chantelle is Principal Investigator currently in Welsh Government funded research into recruitment and retention of teachers with ethnic minority backgrounds in Wales.
