Dr Vic Pearson is an interdisciplinary teacher and researcher with a passion for ensuring students are able to study in ways that work for them, regardless of their circumstance.
Her first teaching experience was as a part-time Associate Lecturer at The Open University, where she experienced first-hand the diverse academic and other needs of students. This, plus the ‘open’ ethos of the institution was pivotal to her decision to teach with the Open University and she was thrilled to be able to take her experiences as an Associate Lecturer and apply them to the production and support of teaching and learning for students within a full-time academic role. Now, as Senior Lecturer in the School of Physical Sciences, she predominantly teaches interdisciplinary science, including at Level 1 where the academic and support challenges are magnified and within modules that explore the role of science on society. This diversity of subject and of student is exciting, but also challenging, particularly ensuring that every student, regardless of need, is able to study and succeed.
Given her experiences, she became the Faculty Accessibility Coordinator, with responsibilities for developing and embedding inclusive and accessible practices into the science curriculum. She has worked with academics across every science discipline to achieve successes for students with disabilities. In turn, this has led to benefits for those students that study in prisons or other secure environments, who often have similar access needs. She has led on several initiatives to improve how we teach and support students with varied needs and is extremely proud to have led institutional change in both the way they think about inclusion and the way they turn this into business as usual.