About

I am Senior Lecturer in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). I am Programme Lead for iPGCE and Pathway Lead for PGCE School Direct (SEND).

Teaching responsibilities

I am Programme Lead on the iPGCE and teach across all Initial Teacher Education programmes.  I also teach across BA and MA programmes in the field of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.

Professional interests

My field of interest in SEND is around Social, Emotional and Mental Health difficulties in children, particularly those with Attachment Disorder and neuro-atypical children.

Research interests

I am interested in Attachment Disorder, in particular relation to its understanding in ITE students. I am also researching power relationships with vulnerable children with social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs and all children in volatile critical situations.

Membership of professional bodies

I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and am a member of the Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties Association.

Qualifications

• MEd Birmingham
• PGCE Kent
• BA (Hons) Kent

Recent conferences

• Bloor, A (Canterbury Christ Church University, UK) & Ramo Garzarán, R.M. (University of Zaragoza, Teruel, Spain (in absentia)) (2016). "Comparative study of approaches to teaching inclusive practice in Initial Teacher Education in an English and a Spanish institution." Critical Reflections on Education and Injustice. Canterbury, UK: June 2016
• Bloor, A. (2015) “Naughty or not: an investigation into Student Teachers’ Perceptions of Attachment Disorder.” First South Africa Symposia on Teacher Education for Inclusive Education. Vanderbijlpark, South Africa: October 2015
• Ferguson, B., Sollenberger , C. & Bloor, A. (2019) “Cultural and Other Influences of Teacher Preparation Programs in Three OECD Countries”. International Association of Specail Education 16th bienial conference.  Magamba, Tanzania: July 2019

Experience in industry

I spent over 20 years as a teacher in Primary and Secondary education, including working in Pupil Referral Unit and as an Advisory Teacher for Behaviour across 21 schools in west London. I have spent the last seven years in Higher Education, the last six of them as the ITE Lead in SEN at Canterbury Christ Church University.

International experience

I recently worked as an International Adviser to the World Bank, on a project looking at SEN in-service training for Palestinian teachers. This involved a site visit to Palestine and working closely with Palestinian colleague’s top devise a structured programmed for delivery in 2017. This work won the 2018 Times Higher Education International Impact Award.

I have also worked in Vietnam, establishing partnership agreements for bilateral exchanges and as a researcher and teacher as part of ERASMUS+ funded exchange with the University of Zaragoza in Teurel, Spain.

Most recently, I have supported blateral ERASMUS exchanges with students in Nijmegen and Zwolle, in the Netherlands.

International papers have included:

• Garrido, P., Repulles, F., Sanguesa, J.A., Gallardo, J., Torres, V., Tramullas, J. (University of Zaragoza, Spain) & Bloor, A (Canterbury Christ Church University, UK: (in abstentia)) (2016). "AINA: Disney Animation Information as Educational Resources." ICALT 2016 : 18th International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies. Paris, France: October 2016.
• Bloor, A (2016). "A summary of comparative approaches to teaching children with Special Educational Needs in England and Spain." Researching contemporary education: place, person and purpose. Canterbury, UK: July 2016.
• Ferguson, B., Sollenberger , C. & Bloor, A. (2019) “Cultural and Other Influences of Teacher Preparation Programs in Three OECD Countries”. International Association of Specail Education 16th bienial conference.  Magamba, Tanzania: July 2019

The ICALT paper was awarded the best paper in conference prize.

Additional interests and activities

Webinars:

The principles of International working (for the Council of British international Schools): January 2019

Power relationships with vulnerable children (for the University of Derby's first event in their online webinar series): March 2019

Courses

• International Postgraduate Certificate of Education (iPGCE) PG Cert (online)