Lucinda Becker is Professor of Pedagogy in the Department of English Literature at the University of Reading. Lucinda has also had a successful career as a professional trainer of soft skills within engineering, science and law, and has taught across many departments where her cross-disciplinary expertise has relevance. Lucinda entered university as a mature student, having left school at 16 with little hope of entering higher education.
Succeeding within academia, having entered it as a non-traditional student, has had a profound effect on her view of higher education. The Arts and Humanities Foundation Year is the realisation of a long-held dream to reach students who, like her, saw a degree as unobtainable. She never forgets that students live outside, not just in, our classrooms – they come from somewhere and are going somewhere. She aims to help students reach beyond their preconceived expectations, empowering them to reap rewards from learning that goes beyond the standard university classroom.
This approach has led to two schemes that allow students to reach out to the professional community: an academic placement scheme, in which students partner with professional organisations, exploring academic material by applying it to a commercial or public setting, and a professional track scheme, through which students in the School of Literature and Languages at Reading can gain professional qualifications through training provided by external trainers on the campus. This scheme develops graduate attributes while also empowering students to become mature, autonomous leaners with an appreciation of the relevance of their learning to their futures.
Lucinda has fostered a sense of community within her university by introducing student-led, grass-roots schemes such as these, which have then influenced university pedagogical practice and policy. She also created a Student Impact Network within her school, based on principles of fairness, equality and dynamic partnership.
As the school Director of Teaching and Learning, Lucinda reimagined the staff peer review process and introduced training in reflective practice, which was then used in regular professional conversations as part of the staff development process. As with all her innovations, this has fostered the idea of university as a community based on productive partnerships.