Maths teacher and international lead for The Academy at Shotton Hall, Ian Kell, has been awarded a Churchill College travelling research fellow at Cambridge University, a post that will see him undertake innovative educational research.
Mr Kell's research will focus on children in other countries who learn online due to the very rural location of their homes. For example, in some parts of Australia children go to school via video conferencing and sit in virtual classes where they are taught remotely by a teacher in a physical school. Mr Kell will be working to understand the impact of this type of learning and whether there are applications in the UK e.g. whether subjects could be offered in virtual classrooms to groups of interested students who otherwise wouldn't have been able to choose that subject, or whether rural schools could access wider learning opportunities through the implementation of new technologies.
As part of his research, Mr Kell will be given the opportunity to travel to Australia, New Zealand, Estonia and of course Cambridge.
Mr Kell said: “I am honoured to have been awarded this fellowship and look forward to embarking on this exciting opportunity. I am passionate about improving education and the life chances of children, as well as exploring and learning about other parts of the world. Being given the chance to combine the two is a dream come true."
Lesley Powell CBE, executive head at the Academy at Shotton Hall added: "Ian's enthusiasm and talent for his international work are infectious and thankfully he has infected one of the leading universities in the world! I am incredibly proud of Ian and his work and the fact that he is highly regarded across the UK and with educationalists in many other countries. I am keen to see the outcomes of Ian's research and the impact that this learning could have on teaching and learning here at home."