Lesley Nelson-Addy

Education (2019 cohort)

Lesley is interested in curriculum design in English Literature; decolonising the canon; the learning experiences of and pedagogical choices made to teach black students and students from disadvantaged backgrounds; higher education; secondary education; initial teacher education.                

Lesley is currently completing her PhD in Education and she is looking at the experiences of Black British students who study English at elite institutions across the UK. Lesley taught English in two local Oxfordshire state secondary schools for five years, having completed her PGCE at the Department of Education in Oxford. In addition to her teaching of students through GCSE and A Level English Language and Literature, Lesley has also been a professional programmes tutor at Oxford University where she teaches on the English PGCE course and is an examiner for the Masters in Learning and Teaching course. She has also developed her interest in education research and has recently contributed to a chapter in the book: IFTE Dartmouth: The Future of English Teaching Worldwide and its Histories edited by Andy Goodwyn and others. The chapter is entitled: ‘Back to the future: the Restoration of Canon and the Backlash against Multiculturalism in Secondary English Curricula.’