Biography
Claire is a lecturer on the primary ITE undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, including all research modules. Prior to joining Newman University, Claire spent over 20 years working in secondary and primary schools across the West Midlands. Claire completed a PGCE in secondary French and German and her time spent in secondary education also included responsibility for running a modern language department and overseeing GCSE and ‘A’ level modern language qualifications. Following this role, Claire then moved into primary education. She spent 10 years working in a primary school in Birmingham where she took on responsibility for introducing French into the curriculum whilst also working as a language coach for other primary schools in the area. Claire’s experience has now enabled her to provide specialist guidance and advice when working with students on teaching placement. In 2016 Claire completed an MA in Education at Newman University and is currently undertaking a PhD here at Newman.
Profile
Qualifications
Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (Newman University, 2018)
MA Education (Newman University, 2016)
Postgraduate Certificate in Education – Secondary MFL (University of Central England – now Birmingham City University, 1994)
BA (Hons) Modern European Studies – French, German and Politics (Loughborough University, 1991)
Research Interests
Innovative pedagogy and its impact on pupil and student motivation.
Teaching
Claire particularly enjoys planning and delivering interactive sessions which provide students with an opportunity to extend their pedagogical knowledge and allows them to try out teaching strategies which they can then adapt for their own classroom practice.
Administrative Responsibilities
Newman University Research Ethics Link Tutor
Membership of professional organisations
Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Member of the Society for Research in Higher Education
Other Activities
Conference Addresses and Papers:
Owen, C. (2017) ‘Assessing the motivational effects of creative teaching strategies on learners of primary French’, Teaching and Learning conference, Newman University, Birmingham, 20 January.
Owen, C. (2017) ‘Games in primary languages: assessing the motivational impact’, Gamification Conference, Aston University, Birmingham, 26 May.
Owen, C. (2019) ‘All aboard the merry-go-round: The carousel-style lesson’, Language World conference, Loughborough University, Loughborough, 23 March.
Publications:
Owen, C. and Thomas, L. (2019) ‘The carousel-style lesson: an effective intervention to enhance motivation and the learning of foreign languages at primary school’, The Language Learning Journal DOI: 10.1080/09571736.2019.1598473