Carole Botwright is studying for her Doctorate in Education with the Department of Education Studies at Warwick. She is combining her experience as a SEN educator with her passion for promoting Reading for Pleasure, by interrogating the barriers experienced by pupils with Moderate Learning Difficulties in accessing reading for pleasure outside of the school environment.

She is exploring this through giving year 11 pupils, who have achieved reading fluency, their voice, to reflect on their experiences. She is also encouraging parental voice in reflecting on their own experiences of learning to read and how they apply this to supporting a pupil with MLD. She is combining this with individual critical incident collages completed by Year 11 adapted to give immediate feedback on daily reading habits.

Carole is the Head of English in a MLD school where alongside of English and literacy across the curriculum, she promotes the development of social communication through her cross-age peer mentoring project. She led one of the few Special School projects to participate in the Anna Freud 2019 national pilot for the School Peer Support Programme and presented her findings in the pilot closing ceremony in London.

Email: carole.botwright@warwick.ac.uk

Education

BA English and History (UCS)

PGCE Secondary Education (UoN)

CELTA Certificate in English Teaching to Adults (Cambridge)

MA Education (UoN)

National Qualification in Senior Leadership (UCS, Institute of Education)

Research Areas

Reading for Pleasure, Special Educational Needs, Pupil Voice, Parental Engagement