Louise Connolly

Louise has established a career in education over the last 24 years. Having previously worked with the University as a Visiting Tutor for three years before joining the team permanently, Louise joined Bishop Grosseteste University in September 2020 in a permanent role as a Senior Lecturer in Initial Primary Teacher Education where she now works on both undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Louise leads academic writing, research modules and also supervises masters students through their dissertations.

Prior to joining the university academic team, Louise was a teacher in primary schools for nearly 20 years. Throughout her time in school, she carried out a number of roles such as Foundation and Key Stage One Leader, English Lead, History Lead and was also a Special Educational Needs Coordinator for 15 years. She later became a Head Teacher of a large primary school in a deprived area in Nottinghamshire and was also the Safeguarding Lead and Special Educational Needs Coordinator for a Multi-Academy Trust.

Louise completed a Masters in Education in 2019 and predominantly focused on areas of Special Educational Needs and Emotional Health. Louise achieved Fellowship with the Higher Education Academy in 2021 and is in the final stages of her PhD where her topic of interest is around worry and wellbeing in undergraduate student teachers. She is a review editor for an educational journal and also an external examiner for Initial Teacher Education at another university. Louise also enjoys a role as a Primary School Governor in a local school.

Louise has previously written articles on educational areas of interest in the TES and other educational magazines. She had her first book published by Sage in 2022 in their Super Quick Skills series about proofreading essays and also recently had an article approved for publication by The Teacher Education Advancement Network (TEAN).