Karen Beswick

I have worked in education for the last twenty four years teaching children fom the ages of four to eighteen, undergrads, postgrads and trainee teachers. In 2003 whilst continuing my work in the classroom, I became an Advanced Skills teacher of primary science and a local authority advisor, providing tailored programmes for schools, and whole borough CPD in science teaching and science leadership.  

I started teaching at The University of Manchester as a science and design technology consultant on the primary PGCE nineteen years ago, and have worked for the University of Leeds and The University of Manchester as a professional tutor across the ITT programmes, (primary PGCE, School Direct, SCITT and Teach First). I have since led the North West Teach First primary cohort.

Following a master's in Teaching and Learning at The University of Manchester focusing on assessment in Higher Education, I continue my research in Teaching, Learning and Assessment in Higher Education through my work with students in MIE. I am the co-author of a SAGE publication, 'Curious learners in primary maths, science, computing and DT' aimed at trainee and early career teachers, which was nominted by the Association for Science Education for the award of 'book of the year' in 2017, and have written student and teacher books with the University of Cambridge for the Qatar government.

I am currently leading two modules on the Undergraduate BScEduction and BScEd Psych programmes in academic writing and international primary curriculum comparatives, I am a dissertation tutor for the Master's in Leadership in Learning, and continue my work on the primary PGCE.