Nadia was a primary school teacher and leader for 19 years prior to becoming a Higher Education practitioner. She is currently a Senior Lecturer in Primary Initial Teacher Education, Professional Studies and Partnerships.
In 2001, Nadia achieved her undergraduate degree at the University of Wolverhampton in French and Italian Studies. In 2003 she gained Qualified Teacher Status and worked as a primary school teacher and leader for 19 years. Within her current role she teaches on the primary ITE undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, including research modules and postgraduate Masters modules. Nadia supervises both MA and BA dissertations and is module leader for Introduction to the Early Years and Contemporary Issues in Education. As Partnership lead she works in collaboration with school based mentors and oversees the training of mentors as well as the monitoring and evaluation of mentor practices.
Prior to joining Birmingham Newman University, Nadia worked in primary schools across Birmingham and London. Nadia completed a PGCE in Primary with French specialism at Birmingham Newman University which involved a teaching placement in France. Her time spent in primary education included responsibility for mentoring and coaching in the teaching of Foreign Languages. In addition to this role, Nadia has also lead workshops at the Primary Languages Show and has worked with regional support groups in Leeds with a focus on how to build capacity and plan for sustainability in schools with the teaching and learning of foreign languages.
Following on from this, she worked with the Hodge Hill Primary Consortium of Schools in Birmingham where she undertook the responsibility for introducing French into the Key Stage 1 curriculum across 6 schools. Having worked in leadership and management for several years, she also had responsibility as Lead Maths practitioner, Pupil Premium and Intervention Coordinator, as well as mentoring ECTs and RQTs in schools across Birmingham. Nadia’s experience has now enabled her to provide specialist guidance and advice when working with students on teaching placement. She gained a Masters with Distinction at Birmingham Newman University in 2022 and became an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2023. Nadia is currently undertaking a PG CERT in Higher Education and working towards fellowship of the Higher Education Academy at Birmingham Newman University.
Nadia’s MA research focused on the dissonance experienced by pre-service teachers with the prospect of undertaking teacher training placements in faith settings. Her research has been shared at the EUARE conference in Bologna in 2022, the Research in Education Knowledge Exchange conference in Egypt in 2022 (where she received an award for best paper presentation), the UCET annual conference in Stratford-Upon-Avon in 2022 and at the BERA conference in Birmingham in 2023.
Nadia lives in the West Midlands with her children and husband and enjoys baking in her spare time.
Supervisors
Nigel Fancourt and Aliya Khalid
