Julie joined the University of Worcester in Spring 2021. She teaches across a range of University of Worcester programmes including the BA Special Educational Needs, Disability and Inclusion, BA Education Studies, MA Education and the recently developed Higher Education Short Courses. Her teaching and course development contributions are mostly focussed on autism, SEND and Inclusion, and research methods. Julie has recently completed a PhD, which was focussed on education and autism. Her thesis has explored how children and young people with autism are told about and supported to understand an autism diagnosis.
Julie has a background in teaching in both mainstream and special school settings and has also been a SEND coordinator. Julie has taught children across the primary age range within mainstream and special education settings. She has also taught within secondary and post-16 education. Within special education, Julie has taught children with a range of complex and additional educational needs including children with speech, language and social communication needs, physical and sensory needs, autism and social, emotional and mental health needs.
She has also worked in a specialist advisory capacity within 3 different local authorities. While working as an advisory teacher, Julie provided specialist advice related to the provision, teaching, and learning needs of children and young people with autism. She also delivered training programmes for parents of children with autism and provided professional development training for schoolteachers and other local authority staff.