Professor Sarah Speight

National Teaching Fellow 2013 Professor Sarah Speight is an archaeologist working within an academic school of education. These two disciplines jointly form her guiding principles: that teaching and learning must have relevance to real lives, and that what and how people learn should enable them to make a worthwhile contribution to society. She began her university teaching career as a peripatetic 'extra-mural' tutor teaching evening classes to adult students in local centres around the East Midlands region. This experience equipped her with the skills she needed for working with diverse groups in diverse settings. She had to be adaptable in managing challenging spaces and creative in using teaching methods that engaged students of all ages, educational backgrounds and life experiences. When she moved into 'mainstream' university teaching she brought these skills with her and has continued to apply them. Sarah's research interests have changed considerably during her career although a consistent thread runs through them: using the past to illuminate the present, and investigating responses to change and crisis through time. Towards the end of her post-PhD work, on early Norman castles, Sarah was exploring the impact of redundant medieval monuments upon communities and local identities. She was interested in the 'adaptive re-use' of past culture for present needs. This linked to a period researching the history of adult education in which she examined the impact of crisis upon curriculum (e.g. the shift from political history to local history that is found after the second world war). Sarah is still looking at the impact of crisis on curriculum, but now her focus is on 'employability and sustainability', areas linked to the crisis points of our age.