Senior Lecturer in Childhood & Adolescent Studies

I am the Unit Co-ordinator for Exceptional Behaviour in Early Childhood and teach on the units Leadership, Management and Multi-Agency Working in the Human Services, Childhoods in Global Context, Introduction to Working With Children, Young People and Families, and Social and Developmental Psychology.  I also have responsibility for supervising undergraduate dissertations and serve as the university’s Applied Psychology unit moderator for the regional colleges offering Foundation Degree in Child and Family Studies.

Qualifications

My academic background, influenced by both American and English systems of education, is wide-ranging, from History, Religion and Philosophy to Education, Politics and Psychology, at both undergraduate and post-graduate levels.

Research Interests

My research interests focus broadly on the experiences of adult learners on Access courses and on professionalism in the early years sector.   These stem from my substantial experience of working as a Lecturer and Programmes Manager on Access, Health and Social Care, Childcare and Professional Counselling Diploma courses in the Further Education sector..

Service to the Academic/Professional Community

Much of my contribution in both Further and Higher Education sectors has taken the form of curriculum design and assessment practices. I am an executive member of the Quality Assurance Committee for Laser Learning Awards, a QAA-accredited agency for the award of qualifications in the UK. I had written, as part of my doctoral work, a paper on Curriculum, philosophical assumptions and teaching and learning implications.

• Additional academic pieces of work include, inter alia:
• A philosophical thesis on mind and body duality
• Competence-Based Education and Training
• The Educational Implications of Conservative Thought and Practice
• Education Research
• Ethical curriculum

Contact Details

T: +44 (0)1582 743060
E: humphrey.akhaine@beds.ac.uk