Ellie Rees

PGCE Secondary English subject tutor

Secondary and Post Compulsory Education

Contact Details

email: e.rees@worc.ac.uk

Ellie is a part-time member of the PGCE Secondary English tutor team, having joined in 2024. She began her career as an English teacher in 2013 and has fulfilled a variety of roles, including second in department, HE+ co-ordinator, and subject mentor for trainee teachers, across two schools in Swansea and Worcestershire.  Ellie completed her Masters in Educational Practice in 2017, with her dissertation focusing on strategies to improve pupils’ oracy in the English classroom.

More recently, Ellie has attained a National Professional Qualification (NPQ) in Leading Teaching whilst working as an English teacher in a local secondary school. As part of her Key Stage 3 Co-ordinator role, Ellie had the opportunity to be involved in a small-scale action research project focusing on reading fluency. Ellie is passionate about supporting all pupils to become fluent readers and hopes to inspire future English teachers to share this commitment. Along with her colleagues, Ellie has established an OU/UKLA Worcestershire Teachers’ Reading Group with the aim of sharing evidence-informed understanding of reading for pleasure (RfP) pedagogy and practice through collaboration.

Ellie is also currently completing her Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education.

Qualifications

  • English Literature BA (First Class Hons) - Cardiff University, 2012
  • PGCE Secondary English – Cardiff Metropolitan University, 2013
  • Masters in Educational Practice – Cardiff University, 2017
  • National Professional Qualification in Leading Teaching (NPQLT) – Teacher Development Trust, 2023
  • Post Graduate Certificate Learning and Teaching in Higher Education – University of Worcester (currently studying)

Teaching and Research

Teaching Interests

  • Developing student vocabulary within the secondary classroom
  • Supporting students’ reading fluency and comprehension
  • Reading for Pleasure pedagogy and practice in secondary schools
  • Literacy across the curriculum
  • Decolonising, diversifying, and democratising the secondary English Literature and Language curriculum

Research Interests

  • Action research project: developing pupils’ reading fluency
  • Teachers’ Reading Group (OURfP & UKLA): developing research-informed RfP knowledge and practice

 

Professional Bodies

  • National Association of Teachers of English (NATE)
  • ResearchEd
  • Open University Reading for Pleasure Programme

External Roles

Part-time Teacher of English at Hanley Castle High School