About

I am Associate Professor of Learning and Teaching, supporting staff to enable them to deliver an excellent and engaging experience for every student here at the University of Derby.

I work with colleagues to implement university policies in relation to learning, teaching and assessment at all of our campuses. I help colleagues to work towards gaining professional accreditation of Advance HE, and deliver a range of academic development events.

A large focus of my role is supporting the development of research into pedagogy, to enable staff to innovate in, and investigate, their learning, teaching and assessment practices. 

I am also an experienced lecturer in English Language/Linguistics and Secondary Teacher Education.

Teaching responsibilities

From September 2018 I will be teaching on some undergraduate Linguistics modules on the BA English and Joint Honours programmes. 

Research interests

Much of my research interest is located in the area of pedagogy in Higher Education (HE). I am particularly interested in how staff can help students in Higher Education to develop 'Growth Mindsets' to improve their achievements at university and beyond.  My work is focused on how we can use the HE teaching environment, and existing pedagogies, to enable this without resorting to a 'deficit' view of the student. 

I am also interested in language and power relations, and Ecolinguistics as defined by Arran Stibbe. My most recent work is looking at how the 'stories' that are told about HE are shaping conceptions of what HE is, and is for, and both the social and environmental implications of this.

I am developing innovative pedagogies for HE and sharing and piloting these practices at the University of Derby.

Membership of professional bodies

• Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Qualifications

• BA (Hons) English - Loughborough University
• PGCE (Secondary) - Loughborough University
• MPhil (Education) - Loughborough University
• PhD (English) - University of Birmingham
• PGDipHE - University of Warwick
• PGCert (Buddhist Studies) - University of Sunderland

Recent conferences

I have presented recently at a number of conferences on Growth Mindset in Higher Education, including at HEA conferences, PEDRIO, Nottingham Trent University, and at the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLE) conference in Ontario, Canada in 2016.

Experience in industry

I taught English up to A Level in secondary schools in both the state and independent sectors for twelve years. 

I also led the national reaccreditation of the A Levels in English Language for Ofqual in 2014.

I serve on the Board of Governors of Nottingham College.

Recent publications

• Janan, D., Wray, D. & Pope, M. (2010). Paradigms in Readability Research. International Journal of Arts and Sciences, 3 (17): p19-29
• Hammond, M.,  Fragkouli, E., Suandi, I.,  Crosson, S., Ingram, J., Johnston-Wilder, P., Johnston-Wilder, S., Kingston, Y., Pope, M. and Wray, D. (2009). What happens as student teachers who made very good use of ICT during pre service training enter their first year of teaching? Teacher Development, 13 (2), p93-106
• Hammond, M., Crosson, S., Fragkouli, E., Ingram, J., Johnston-Wilder, P., Johnston Wilder, S., Kingston, Y., Pope, M. and Wray, D. (2009). Why do some student teachers make very good use of ICT? An exploratory case study, Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 18 (1), March 2009, p59-73
• Hammond, M., Pope, M., Reynolds, L. & Ingram, J. (2009). Engagement and ICT: a study supported by a small grant from Becta. Digital Education Resource Archive (DERA) http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/1454/
• K. Shilvock and M. Pope(eds.) (2008). Successful Teaching Placements 11-18.  Exeter: Learning Matters
• Pope, M. (2007). What do I know? Redesigning literacy pedagogy based on what secondary pupils can tell us about their own language use and processes Journal of Reading, Writing and Literacy, 2 (2)
• Pope, M.  and Purnell, L. (2006). Lost in Transition: supporting Key Stage 2/3 English trainees during secondary placement.  . Education 3-13, 34, (2), 113-122
• Robinson (nee Pope), M. (2005) Metalanguage in L1 speaking 12 year-olds: which aspects of writing do they talk about? Language Awareness, 14 (1), p39-56
• Pope, M. (2005). Classroom Language: linguistic reflexivity and planes of discourse. In: Heffer, C. & Sauntson, H. (eds) Words in Context: A Tribute to John Sinclair on his Retirement. Birmingham: ELR Discourse Analysis Monograph 18.  Chapter in CD-Rom e-book