Since winning the NTFS Award in 2022, Dawne has moved to a new role as a Professor of Learning and Teaching at BPP University.
Dawne is passionate about raising the profile of scholarship. Determined to create opportunities for others, she established the ‘The National Teaching Repository’ where colleagues can share interventions globally that lead to real improvements in teaching and learning in a way that secures recognition for their practice.
Determined to address educational inequality, Dawne started her educational career in challenging schools, where her students achieved outstanding outcomes, winning multiple awards, including the Young Engineers of Britain. Her success led to a local authority secondment to raise teaching-standards across the borough. Sharing her expertise, she also led work to redress poor HMI/Ofsted inspection outcomes. This experience empowered Dawne to move into higher education and she joined Edge Hill University because of their commitment to widening participation.
Shaping teaching in her subject-discipline, Dawne also led and developed teacher-education programmes enabling students like her to realise their teaching-ambitions. Seizing the opportunity to further her scholarship of learning and teaching, Dawne’s track-record of teaching excellence, leadership, and staff-development expertise, enabled her to join the Centre for Learning and Teaching in 2017.
Dawne’s teaching is rooted within the philosophies of Dewey and underpinned by principles she developed while working in educational settings across all levels. She believes that effective learning is cultivated from productive relationships with students where everyone learns together. Focused on relational pedagogy Dawne creates learning environments where, with students at the heart of her practice, an ethos of mutual respect nurtures the spirit as well as the mind.
Dawne is dedicated to raising the profile of SoTL and passionate about creating opportunities for others. She established, and leads, The National Teaching Repository, a platform where colleagues share proven interventions capable of driving real improvements in teaching and learning, whilst securing recognition for colleagues who generate the original work. Selected from a global field of scholars Dawne was appointed to lead ISSOTL's International Teaching Fellow programme. In 2019 she was awarded Principal Fellowship of Advance HE and in 2020 she received a National Award in recognition of her outstanding contribution in re-shaping teacher-education, was promoted to the position of a Reader in Learning and Teaching and became the proud recipient of a Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence.
