Lynn Sampson-Chappell | University of Chester

I currently lead the childhood, education and professional development (CEPD) department within the School of Education at the University of Chester. I have strategic and operational responsibility for the development and management of innovative undergraduate and postgraduate awards which support students and the education workforce with their strategic priorities, individual career aspirations locally, nationally and internationally. I contribute to the dynamic continuing professional learning of educators and educational research. I am passionate about improving outcomes and opportunities for children, young people and educational professionals making a real difference to their life chances and educational practice. I am also one of the co-directors of the Schools research centre: Research into Education, Creativity and Arts through Practice (RECAP).

My H.E experience includes programme leadership of a range of postgraduate awards, senior lecturer in postgraduate creative practices, leadership & management, teaching practice, social and emotional development. I am also an accredited coach, facilitator and mentor. I have led quality reviews of national and local professional development programmes, their processes, practice and impact (this includes the NPQ qualifications). My strategic partnership work with schools, Local Authorities and national agencies support the effective leadership of institutional improvement, transformational change and multi-agency working.

I was the Head of Partnership at Liverpool Hope University from 2017-2021, where I worked in collaboration with schools, local authorities, colleges and community education providers nationally and internationally contributing to the strategic and operational development of innovative teacher education, dynamic continuing professional learning of educators and support staff, school to school support and educational research. I was the co-director of the Centre for Education and Policy Analysis (CEPA) at Liverpool Hope University which has allowed me to foreground arts methodology and participatory research within the School of education and to engage in a dialogue about these practices with other HEIs and partners nationally and internationally.

I started my teaching career as a Secondary Art and Design teacher over 20 years ago, before moving into H.E as a senior lecturer in 2010. Since then I have had the privilege to teach students from level 4 to level 8 in a wide variety of disciplines including: Creative Practices, Leadership and Management, Coaching and Mentoring, Education and Pedagogy including QTS and non-QTS awards.

I am passionate about engaging students at all levels and enhancing their social learning experiences by encouraging group discussion and facilitating the sharing of practice through a theoretical lens.

My research interests are primarily within arts in education, including practice based and participatory research.

Conference Papers Delivered:

International Journal of Art and Design Education Conference, University of Chester, 2013. The Art Maths Thing; Year 8 students’ perceptions of a small scale art and mathematics classroom intervention.

International Journal of Art and Design Education Conference, University of Chester, 2015. Who’s Identity is it anyway? Explores the collaborative nature of my current art practice in exploring the tensions of motherhood in observing and contributing to the identity formation of a daughter as both the subject and participant within the making process.

Curious Minds Conference, University of Chester, 2015. The Art Maths Thing; The Transformative potential of MART for year 5 - year 8 pupils within participating partnership schools.

Postgraduate Conference, University of Chester, 2017. What is the potential of arts methodology to examine the shifting gendered identities of mother and daughter?

Accepted for the BERA conference, 2020 which was cancelled.

Joint conference Liverpool Hope University and Derby University, May 2021. Connecting Futures: A bridge into continuing professional learning. Reconceptualising University-School partnerships for social advantage.

BERA conference, 2021. The Idea of the Communiversity: possibilities, issues, tensions of Values in action.

RECAP and Postgraduate Conference, University of Chester, 2023. Conference Launch : Research from the Extended field of Education: Voices, Theory and Practice.

International Journal of Art and Design Education Conference, University of Chester, 2023. The Art Maths Thing revisited.

Funded Research:

Research and Knowledge Transfer (HEIF) funded project, to explore the notions of Partnership, in Secondary School settings across Cheshire, January 2014.

Part of the consultancy team, which worked with Bethlehem University, on a World Bank funded project to improve pedagogical capacity on teacher education programmes, 2012.

Part of the research team in a British Academy funded research project exploring the different cultural values that underpin education in the Middle East (Palestine) and England (Cheshire). The project is, via a series of collaborative research interventions, providing an opportunity to explore the conditions under which creativity in pedagogy flourishes in each community, according to the perceptions of practitioners in the field, 2014-2016.

Drama Connecting People: working with marginalized groups in Estonia, funded by Gruntvig European partnership, 2015.

Evaluation of the HENRY Approach Across Wirral: from parents to HENRY facilitators, May 2015.

Investigating the use of CLICC (Child Led Imaginative Creative Curriculum) in Primary Education – Radbrook Primary School, July 2016. Confidence in the Community: A research report to support Everton’s Lifelong Learning Strategy, March 2021.

Evaluation Report funded by the Cathedral Group of Universities: ‘Communiversity’: Hope Challenge Mentoring in MFL. October 2021. Evaluation Report funded by UOC, HE Induction 2023 ongoing.