Lecturer in English in Education

JOB: Lecturer in English in Education

NAME: Sarah Olive

AGE: 28

DEGREE: Bachelor of Arts (Honours)

LOCATION: University of Adelaide

COURSE: Four years years

STUDY: I started my Bachelor of Arts at the University of Adelaide in 2000, graduating in 2003 with a First Class Honours degree. During this time, I used the Student Centre and the University of Adelaide website to find opportunities to develop and fund ideas for research. I was awarded a Summer Research scholarship, which allowed me to work on a project about semantic change.

I also won the Ian Cocks Memorial Trust Tourism Scholarship, which funded a research trip on living museums to the UK; the Norman McCann Summer scholarship, which involved a research internship at the National Library of Australia; and the Trevor Prescott Memorial scholarship towards my Masters of Philosophy (Education) at the University of Cambridge in 2004-2005.

Applying for these awards helped me to develop skills in writing research proposals and obtaining funding - two elements central to a successful modern academic career.

I had become interested in the teaching of Shakespeare in schools while supervised by Dr Heather Kerr. It then became the topic of my M.Phil dissertation.

I gained further experience as a Research Associate at the University of Sheffield. In 2007, I obtained an Arts and Humanities Research Council PhD studentship to investigate the cultural value of Shakespeare in English education at the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham.

Having taught with the Open University throughout my PhD, I recently gained a lectureship in English in Education at the University of York. Experience in academic administration is increasingly important in such a career. Studying at Adelaide, I gained awareness in this area as a student representative on the faculty board. The chief benefit of studying at Adelaide, however, was the excellent quality of teaching. My lecturers gave generously of their time and encouraged me with ideas and projects that were often beyond the scope of the course.

WEB LINK: www.hss.adelaide.edu.au

CONTACT: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (08) 8303 5245