DrMatt Smith

Currently teaching on the Primary Education UG and PG initial teacher education courses, and Y3 Course Leader, Matt also teaches on the Masters and Doctoral programmes and supports research students at MA and PhD level. He has finally relinquished the English Subject Lead role for the Primary Team after a decade, but remains module leader for the UG final dissertation module amongst others, and was the co-ordinator for the annual Learning Conference for fourteen years.

Prior to appointment as interim Head of Department, Matt had been a primary teacher, Assistant Headteacher and lecturer for most of his adult life. He has worked in every Key Stage, teaching children from age 5 to 11, working with secondary school-age pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, and with students in Higher Education since 2009. Previously a Key Stage Co-ordinator in primary schools in Birmingham, Matt has been Co-ordinator for Literacy and the Creative Arts, taken responsibility for outdoor learning, parental involvement in school and their children's learning, and worked with schools on effective modelling for the social construction of high-level texts, usually through the use of poetry or story-writing; phonics instruction; tools and skills for personalising the learning journey of children; and in effective guided reading and the use of e-reading journals.