Connor Lamb Email & Phone Number

After leaving sixth form in 2019, I entered university with the outdated notion that all that was needed was to get a degree and then enter whatever job I wanted. However, I soon realised that in order for me to unlock my true passion within education, I needed to create opportunities to get practical experience and make the most of them all. When the COVID-19 lockdowns happened, I promised myself that I would use make the most of everything available to me, be it virtual or in-person.In my second year I started voluntary work, passion projects, and immersed myself in education research. Starting the Northumbria Life magazine developed my leadership and project management skills and I was able to get over a dozen articles published, as well as led online social events. I also became a programme representative to help my peers navigated the difficulties of being in Higher Education during COVID-19, and I achieved several pedagogical changes such as the removal of "breakout rooms" from online lectures. I became an intern for the New Access Programme over the summer, helping neurodiverse students transition to university through aiding with curriculum development and delivery. In my final year I was the Social Sciences Department Representative, mentoring programme representatives in their roles. I graduated Northumbria University with a 2:1 in Sociology, a 1st in Youth and Education, and skills in web design and project management.After realising that the education sector is my true profession, I did my MA at Newcastle University to study education theory and the fundamental building blocks of our education systems. I studied a variety of topics including pedagogies such as Project Based Learning and the innovations and challenges that genAI platforms are bringing to education. The latter became an unexpected passion as I gained mastery of ChatGPT, conducted a distinction-graded dissertation on how HE students use it in their studies, and did a paid research project to help HE teaching staff incorporate it into their pedagogy. I graduated with a Distinction and experience with utilising advanced technology. I also became a KS2 and KS4 English tutor for various charitable organisations which, in addition to allowing me to implement the pedagogical practices studied during my MA, has reinforced my communication and interpersonal skills, and my commitment to helping students achieve their full potential. I am now preparing to become a trainee teacher with North East SCITT next year, using the skills I have developed over the past few years.