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Sarah Speight

Deputy Head of School, Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences

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Biography

Sarah Speight is the Deputy Head of School and an Associate Professor of Archaeology and Medieval History. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a member of the Institute of Field Archaeologists. In 2006 Sarah received the University of Nottingham's Lord Dearing Award for excellence in learning and teaching. In September 2010 she was appointed Academic Director of the Nottingham Advantage Award, the University's initiative to support Undergraduate students develop their life and work skills (http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/Careers/Students/AdvantageAward/Index.aspx).

Sarah is a member of the Centre for Research in Higher, Adult and Vocational Education (HAVE). She has research interests in the areas of community and citizenship (via heritage education and the built heritage) and in the practice and pedagogy of adult education. Her current research focuses on two areas; first, the impact of policy change upon the composition of student groups in adult and continuing education; secondly, employability as a strand of HEI work. Other recent work has focused upon the role of archaeology and local history in the formation of cultural identities past and present.

Sarah served five years as Archaeology editor of Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire (the county's archaeological and historical journal) and three years on the advisory panel of the Archaeology Subject Centre of the Higher Education Academy. She has acted as an external reader for the Journal of Education and for Studies in the Education of Adults.

Expertise Summary

Sarah's expertise lies in the history and pedagogy of adult education and in personal and professional development for students and staff. She has acted as external examiner for PhDs exploring community archaeology, and has supervised PhDs looking at the impact of information technology upon older learners and at the role of CPD within adult education.

Research Summary

Sarah is a member of the School of Education's centre for research into Higher, Adult and Vocational Education (HAVE) and has interests in both its major strands of work on community and citizenship… read more

Recent Publications

  • SPEIGHT, S., 2008. Castles as Past Culture 2: Identity and adaption in the post-life of castles The Castle Studies Group Journal. 22, 268-275
  • SPEIGHT, S., 2008. Castles as Past Culture: Living with Castles in the Post-Medieval World. In: ETTEL, P, FLAMBARD-HERCHER, A.M and AND MCNEILL, T.E., eds., Chateau Gaillard 23: Etudes de castellologie medievale 23. Publications du CRAHM - Caen. 385-394
  • SPEIGHT, S., 2007. Review: A Few Well-positioned Castles. The Norman Art of War Medieval Archaeology. 51, 356-357 (In Press.)

Sarah is a member of the Centre for Research in Higher, Adult and Vocational Education. Her research supervision areas include:

  • adult and lifelong education
  • higher education
  • employability in the higher education context
  • historical perspectives on lifelong learning and education
  • education and citizenship
  • community engagement and widening participation

Research proposals: please email Sarah if you would like to discuss the appropriateness of your research topic.

Current Research

Sarah is a member of the School of Education's centre for research into Higher, Adult and Vocational Education (HAVE) and has interests in both its major strands of work on community and citizenship and practice and pedagogy.

She is currently working on a small project which examines the experiences of academics moving from the teaching of mixed-ability 'mature' and part-time groups, to the teaching of mixed-economy full and part-time groups. The project explores the tensions academics perceive in managing the expectations of 'young' or 'first-time' HE learners alongside the expectations of 'return to learn' adults. Managing the post-ELQ market has required academics to reflect upon their practice and to adapt new strategies to ensure inclusivity. It can be argued that the traditional strengths of adult education tutors in engaging with mixed ability are insufficient to meet the needs of a new group of learners, fresh from school, seeking degrees rather than subjects, tutor-directed learning rather than assisted learning, and a wider University experience. Initial responses to these perceived challenges are explored via a series of interviews with academics and learners - both those who have seen their learning community change, and those who may have found it different to what they imagined. A separate project is exploring the impact of the Nottingham Advantage Award, examining the institutional context in which it was developed and the patterns of student, staff and employer engagement that have emerged.

  • SPEIGHT, S., 2008. Castles as Past Culture: Living with Castles in the Post-Medieval World. In: ETTEL, P, FLAMBARD-HERCHER, A.M and AND MCNEILL, T.E., eds., Chateau Gaillard 23: Etudes de castellologie medievale 23. Publications du CRAHM - Caen. 385-394
  • SPEIGHT, S., 2008. Castles as Past Culture 2: Identity and adaption in the post-life of castles The Castle Studies Group Journal. 22, 268-275
  • SPEIGHT S, 2007. Review of 'Castles'by T.E.McNeill The Castle Studies Group Journal. 20, 246-7
  • SPEIGHT, S., 2007. Review: A Few Well-positioned Castles. The Norman Art of War Medieval Archaeology. 51, 356-357 (In Press.)
  • SPEIGHT, S, 2006. Castle Studies Society for Medieval Archaeology Newsletter (Special Anniversary Edition). 36, 3
  • SPEIGHT, S.J., 2006. Castles in The Nottinghamshire Heritage Gateway
  • SPEIGHT, S.J., 2006. Transactions of the Thoroton Society:The Journal for Nottinghamshire History and Archaeology
  • SPEIGHT, S.J., 2006. Castles and Settlement in Rural Nottinghamshire, Egmanton, Laxton and Greasley. In: Chateau Gaillarol, 22 Actes du colloque International de Voiron.
  • SPEIGHT, S.J., 2005. Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire
  • SPEIGHT, S.J., 2004. Archaeology in Nottinghamshire: Work Carried Out in the Period 2002-2004 108
  • SPEIGHT, S.J., 2004. Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire
  • SPEIGHT, S.J., 2004. British Castle Studies in the Late 20th and 21st Centuries
  • SPEIGHT, S.J., 2004. Religion in the Bailey: Charters, Chapels and the Clergy In: Chateau Gaillard 21: Actes du colloque international de Maynooth. 271-280
  • SPEIGHT, S., 2004. Teachers of adult education in British universities 1948-1998 Studies in the Education of Adults. 36(1), 111-127
  • SPEIGHT, S.J., 2003. Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire.
  • SPEIGHT, S.J. and FRANKLIN, G., 2003. Egmanton near Laxton; Nottinghamshire's Second Finest Motte and Bailey Castle? Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire. 107, 65-81
  • SPEIGHT, S.J., 2003. Digging for History Adults Learning. 15/2, 20-21
  • SPEIGHT, S.J., 2003. An Officer and an Antiquary: Major Hayman Rooke and the beginnings of archaeology in eighteenth century Nottinghamshire. In: Nottinghamshire Past 1st Edition, 2003. 116-136
  • SPEIGHT, S., 2003. Residential archaeology and local history in British university adult education, c.1940-1980 Journal of Adult and Continuing Education. VOL 9(PART 2), 149-166
  • SPEIGHT, S.J., 2003. Localising history 1940-1965: the extra-mural contribution Journal of Educational Administration and History. 35(1), 52-64
  • SPEIGHT, S.J. and HENSTOCK, A., 2002. Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire
  • SPEIGHT, S., 2002. Digging for history: archaeological fieldwork and the adult student 1943-1975 Studies in the Education of Adults. 34(1), 68-85
  • SPEIGHT, S.J. and HENSTOCK, A., 2001. Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire

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