Dr Amanda O'Shea

I have over 20 years experience of teaching across a range of educational settings from early years, primary schools, secondary schools and Higher Education. Since 2011, I worked in Higher Education, focusing on mathematics teaching, learning and assessment from degree level to PhD supervision. At the University of Northampton, I was the programme leader for the highly successful Postgraduate Mathematics Specialist Teacher programme and the Master's in Mathematics. I have supervised students through masters dissertations and PhD research projects. My experience has included working within University Academic Integrity teams and Research Degree Boards. I joined the Open University in 2021 as a Lecturer of Microcredentials

My research degree was completed in 2015 at the University of Cambridge with a PhD project in assessment for learning in primary mathematics. I studied the conceptions of assessment and the development of autonomy in key stage 2, with a focus on the whole classroom as a system, including teachers and learners. As a result of the research I presented a paper at ICME-13 in Hamburg in 2016. This is also the subject of a paper https://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/poljes/72/1/article-p64.xml?language=en

My research has included the SUP4PCL Erasmus+ funded project that was a collaborative partnership between several international Universities, including Alexandria University and the American University of Cairo. This has broadened my interest in mentoring and coaching to include research into peer professional communities of practice. My other research interests include mathematics teaching, with a particular focus on mathematical talk and reasoning, educational assessment for learning and learner autonomy. I am also currently researching inclusion and neurodiversity at Higher Education master's level courses with developments in microcredentials.

Since 2016 I have also been a mathematics consultant, working on projects for the NCETM Maths Hubs, Cambridge Assessment International Education, and Marshall Cavendish publishers. I am an external examiner with the University of Chichester.