Michele Westhead
Assistant Director of KLI (Policy and Development)
Senior Lecturer in Higher Education
Contact
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7848 3853
Email: michele.westhead@kcl.ac.uk
Room 5.20, Waterloo Bridge Wing,
Franklin-Wilkins Building,
Waterloo Road,
London, SE1 9NN
Biography
Dr Michele Westhead joined the Kings College London in November 2010 as Assistant Director of the Kings Learning Institute (Policy and Development) from her role as the Director of Education and Social Science at St Mary’s University College. She originally trained as a nurse and midwife and practised for 10 years until moving into the teaching of health and social care in higher, further and secondary education. She holds a Doctorate in Education awarded by the University of Surrey. She also has an MSc in Clinical Studies and Education and a PGCE from the Brighton University, a Postgraduate Diploma and professional qualifications in both nursing and midwifery from the University of Manchester. Her particular area of interest is in curriculum design and has a portfolio of developmental work ranging from Foundation Degrees in Education, Health and Social Care to a Masters and Professional Doctorate in Education, short courses to staff development programmes. Her teaching interests are predominantly in pedagogy, curriculum, professional education, research methods and philosophy of social science research. Michele teaches on the Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PGCAP) and Masters in Clinical Pedagogy (MA Clin Ped) programmes and is also a PhD supervisor.
Teaching Approach
Simply and fundamentally, I believe that learning and teaching in higher education should be a way of using theory, research and experience to develop others, foster inter-disciplinary understanding and improve academic practice. I have a rather unusual background as I spent many years as a clinical nurse practitioner and midwife, practicing and teaching in both primary and secondary care settings, before retraining as a secondary teacher. I then went on to become a teacher educator as well as specialising in HE pedagogy, pedagogical research and professional studies.
My philosophy and practice of teaching and learning derives from this multi-disciplinary perspective by merging several professional identities that collectively provide the skills to successfully operate across disciplines and at the boundaries between HE, FE and the workplace. I argue that this 'bricolage' of knowledge and pedagogies have demonstrably enhanced my students' success. Overall I take a (social) constructivist view of learning in the importance it places on activity, discovery and independent learning with an emphasis on the importance of communities of practice/others in the learning process (Lave and Wenger, 1991: Vygotsky, 1978). I use the concept of problem-based learning both as a philosophy and a method:
‘that allows the students to explore ‘real life’ situations, with emphasis on problem-solving and team work in developing educational skills which will enable them to cope with an ever changing world’. (Boud and Feletti, 1997)
I believe that students need to be more proactive in their learning, be prepared to debate and critique, thus I adopt a dialogical and facilitative approach to my role as an educator. This approach enables students to draw from their own life and experiences to learn and develop within subjects and make his/her own connections between the disciplines. My problem-based learning techniques, developed from my involvement in medical and nursing courses, have been adapted for use beyond healthcare into other disciplines with particular success in teacher education and educational leadership.
Linking teaching, research and professional practice lies at my core belief of what higher education (for the professions) should be about. My approach to curriculum development also supports the idea of student choice, activity in learning and developing research capability for example, incorporating PBL, the systems-based approach, resource-based learning, and experiential/ personal relevance approach (Toohey 2000) into my design. An example of these ideas in practice would be the rationale for my revision of the third year of a BA in Education Studies to have choice, take ownership of their learning and prepare them for teacher training. I create a nested programme for aspiring teachers within an existing modular programme which enabled students to theorise and design their own curriculum which also they had to make into lesson plans. After research methods training, they designed and conducted a small study on an aspect of pedagogical practice related to the subject, curricula or age phase chosen for that project for their dissertations. They conducted both the research and the lessons in a school or other educational setting as part of a bespoke work placement. I used a problem based learning approach to ‘teach’ much of this course supplemented by formative learning through assessment workshops where students had the opportunity to test out their ideas on their peers and practice their teaching in 'micro-teach' format which received peer and tutor feedback. The students responded powerfully to active learning activities linked to their immediate interests and future employability. These student-centred, enquiry-based learning-through-assessment strategies have not only demonstrably enhanced these students' academic success but also provided them with invaluable transferable skills to prepare them for the workplace and advanced study. Michele has been able to draw upon her years of experience in clinical and teacher education to lead on other education initiatives in work-based learning, inter-professional learning and peer-assisted learning to enhance student’s learning and develop her colleagues to do the same.
References :
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Boud, D. and G. Feletti (1997). The Challenge of Problem Based Learning. London: Kogan Page.
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Lave, J. and Wenger, E. (1991) Situated Learning. Legitimate peripheral participation, Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press.
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Toohey, S. (2000). Designing Courses for Higher Education. Buckingham: SRHE and Open University Press.
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Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Research - King's Research Profile
Michele’s research expertise is in the conceptualisation and exploration of professional knowledge, curriculum development and medical education. Her doctoral thesis was a phenomenological case study of the experiences of students who were working as classroom assistants whilst undertaking a bespoke teacher education programme in a London university. She focussed on how their ‘cultural capital’ as non-traditional students, such as gender, class, cultural identity, maturity, past educational experience and previous/enduring occupational identity as a teaching assistant impacted upon their personal, academic and professional development as a teacher. Other research interests stemming from the doctoral work include developing methodological approaches to examining student experience, widening participation in higher education, inter-disciplinary/ multi-professional education, higher education policy, professional doctorates and work-based professional learning in medicine, nursing and allied health care.
Publications - Full pulications (pdf, 20KB)
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Westhead, M. (2011) Education in Context: A Phenomenlogical Case Study of a Cohort of Non-Traditional Entrants to the Teaching Profession in the United Kingdom. A paper presented at the 6th Interdisciplinary Social Science Conference, 11-13 July, University of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
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Westhead, M and Flint, K. (2011) The Phenomenology of Change- the impact on the professional development of holders and candidates of a professional doctorate. A plenary paper presented at the SIG /UKCGE Conference on Professional and Practice-based Doctoral Research, 1 July, Strand Campus, King's College London, UK.
Presentations
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Westhead, M. Burton, R. (2010) Travellers Tales: Epistemological, methodological and practical issues in undertaking a professional doctorate. SIG/UKCGE conference in professional and Practice Focused Doctorates. London. June 2010
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Westhead, M. (2006) Problematising the Professional Practice Component of Professional Courses. A Position Paper. University of Surrey/Roehampton and Kingston Universities Doctoral Student Conference
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Westhead, M. (2005) How Much Does Every Child Matter? An examination of values in inter-professional education and practice. University of Surrey/Roehampton and Kingston Universities Doctoral Student Conference
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Westhead, M. (2005) Using Critical Thinking and Reflection as a Teaching and Learning Tool within Professional Courses in Higher Education University of Surrey/Roehampton and Kingston Universities Doctoral Student Conference
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Westhead, M. (2004) Reflective Practice in the Professional Education of Undergraduate Paramedics. University of Surrey/Roehampton and Kingston Universities Doctoral Student Conference