Gaynor Sharp

Gaynor has a passion for science and STEM education and is aware that not many pupils understand the excitement of working within STEM subjects and particularly engineering. She thinks that the Godiva Awakes initiative is a perfect vehicle for promoting collaboration between the creative arts and creative engineering. Gaynor believes that this amazing community project will have a very positive impact on learners of all ages in Coventry particularly and across the country and is very keen to get schools involved inthe development of Engineering and Arts activities in the city in the future.

Gaynor has a thorough understanding of the education system from a STEM and a pedagogical perspective and has a broad range of experience in research, evidence and evaluation.

Gaynor holds the contract for STEM Ambassadors in Coventry and Warwickshire. The work involves the development of meaningful relationships with teacher and senior leaders in local secondary schools. The meaningful relationships ensure that schools are clear how STEM Ambassadors can help them to enrich and enhance pupil learning in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. We induct STEM Ambassadors and match Ambassadors to school requirements. In this role Gaynor has been working with schools to support a National Research organization in their 3 year evaluation of the effectiveness and impact of STEM Ambassadors in the enrichment and enhancement of pupil experience in STEM in schools. Gaynor has recently been instrumental and worked with a National Organisation to provide the STEM input into a National School’s Challenge which is due to be rolled out nationally in September 2012. Gaynor also works with the Royal Academy of Engineering to encourage teachers to participate in STEMnetworking events in order to raise the profile of stem subjects in secondary schools.

Gaynor’s previous role was as a research manager in the Evidence and Evaluation team at Becta, a government agency. Gaynor’s role was primarily managing national research and evaluation projects that explored the ways in which technology could positively impact on learning. Gaynor worked closely woth the Policy team and Becta in order to disseminate findings from the research she had managed and evaluated.

Gaynor is also a Field Officer for the Association for Science Education in the West Midlands. The role involves the initiation and co-ordination of a range of activities including area CPD meetings, supporting ASE regions and representing the Association in a variety of national and local contexts, for example liaison with Science Learning Centres, Science Specialist schools and STEMNET. Gaynor worked with the Salter’s Nuffield course development and piloting.

Gaynor has organised numerous teacher events focusing on a broad range of issues, for example transition, formative assessment, creativity in school science, setting up STEM clubs, How Science Works, etc. The workshops are organised as a response to teacher requests and the workshops help to inspire teachers to be creative and challenging to learners in a constructive and meaningful manner.

Gaynor has been involved the Open University PGCE courses since 2002 in a variety of roles including: tutoring PGCE students and their mentors in science education; visiting PGCE students in schools; briefing mentor and school co-ordinators in schools and interviewing potential PGCE students and assessing their suitability for a career in teaching. Gaynor was a teaching fellow for the Open University at this time.Gaynor is a Chartered Science teacher.Gaynor also worked at Becta (2006-2011) primarily managing school based qualitative research projects.

She completed a Master’s degree in teaching, learning and assessment. She taught school science for about 12 years in a number of schools in the Midlands. In 2004, Gaynor completed her doctoral thesis on pupil’s attitudes to secondary school science experiences, whilst lecturing in biomolecular science at Coventry University. Her thesis has been published as a book –Through the Pupils: girls and boys learning science at school.

Gaynor enjoys fundraising and has been on a cycling adventure in SW India (2008) and climbed Kilimanjaro for charity the previous year.