Dr Simon Thompson

Dr Simon Thompson is Head of Education at the University of Sussex and leads a growing department of teaching and research faculty who promote the learning of over 1000 students. Formerly Director of Initial Teacher Education and leader of the History PGCE, Simon still maintains a personal teaching portfolio including contributions to foundation year modules, undergraduates, postgraduates, professional learning communities and doctoral students Simon is committed to making sure that all learning experiences, whether one to one tutorials or whole cohort lectures, are inclusive, engaging and genuinely challenge learners to think, reflect and apply their understanding. Coming to Higher Education from a background in school teaching, Simon believes all learners, whether school children or adult learners, want and need to be active in the learning process. "I regularly observe Simon with the unenviable task of lecturing 300+ students. These are always highly engaging, interactive, including bursts of peer talk and mini-tasks to enable students to critically reflect and draw links between real experiences and theoretical understanding". (Education Faculty) Impact of work Simon is driven by research informed and practice rich principles which he applies to his teaching. He looks to foreground learning with high expectations, engagement from start to finish and to balance clarity of explanations with opportunities for student led enquiry to ensure that all participants are encouraged to succeed through modelling, appropriate questioning and regular opportunities for feedback. Simon recognises that in the field of professional learning, the power of partnerships between a university and its wider community, is central to transformative change. As such he has pursued transparent, collaborative relationships with others which value and develop distributed expertise. As one school leader commented: "through Simon's stewardship, Sussex provides a model of how HEIs and Teaching Schools can work effectively in partnership. The government is wedded to school led improvement. This could be seen as a threat but Simon has been creative, proactive and responsive to change for the mutual benefit." Plans for the future Simon's recent work has involved working with teachers and teacher educators in international settings (China and Kazakhstan) and he is interested in transforming the impact of professional development courses for educators at home and overseas. His future plans involve working with participants to develop a lesson study model which seeks to monitor and evaluate the immediate and long term impact on participants and their learners.