Starting her career through Teach First in 2004, Jennifer Shearman quickly developed a passion for education that saw her remain at CCCU for 14 years, progressing from trainee teacher to academic leader. Alongside her professional roles, she completed both a Master\u2019s and a Doctorate in Education, shaping her expertise in maths education and research. Now Chief Learning Officer at Maths in Education and Industry (MEI), Jennifer leads national efforts to improve maths learning and champion equitable access, drawing on the knowledge and experience she built during her time at CCCU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I started at CCCU by accident. I had been accepted as part of Teach First\u2019s 2004 cohort and whilst all participants were placed in London schools, the teacher training all took place at CCCU in Canterbury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After graduating from Teach First and teaching maths and economics in schools, I took a one-year contract to be a tutor for future Teach First Teachers at CCCU. I ended up staying for 14 years, working across a variety of programmes within education. Alongside my job I studied part-time for an MA in Education (2014) and then a Doctorate (2022). By the time I left CCCU I was leading the MA in Education and was undertaking external research and evaluation projects within maths education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n“CCCU welcomes and develops students from all walks of life. When I first set foot into CCCU and trained to be a teacher, I had no idea I would end up with a Doctorate. CCCU helped me balance part-time study alongside a full-time job and a growing family.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
The most surprising thing about studying at CCCU was probably understanding the varied research interests of my lecturers (who became my colleagues) and that there was room for lots of research methods that fit every type of specialism. My own Doctorate research involved giving teachers a \u2018sort card\u2019 exercise which I then quantitively analysed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What advice would you give to a prospective student considering studying the same programme as you?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
I suspect that most people considering studying an aspect of education will be combining their studies with a job that involves working with children or young people. Try and find out how much you can combine your study with your work. This includes practical aspects (such as which days you will need to be on campus, and how to access reading material online) but also ask questions about the type of assignments you will do. You might be pleasantly surprised about how much you can link your studies to your work. This not only makes studying more manageable but also makes you (even) better at your job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tell us about your current role<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
I am currently Chief Learning Officer at MEI, a national maths education charity. I lead a large team of maths education experts who run <\/strong>maths courses for learners, teachers and leaders. MEI\u2019s mission is to help everyone become proficient in maths, regardless of their current level of attainment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What do you enjoy most about your role?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
I love working with my colleagues who are all maths education experts, motivated to make a difference every day. The biggest challenge is, of course, finding funding to do what we need to do. I am also a proud woman in STEM and I am incensed that girls are still under-represented in maths and STEM subjects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How did your time at Christ Church support your career journey?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Whilst the \u2018average\u2019 attainment in maths in the UK compares favourably with most countries worldwide, not every person is equally likely to succeed in maths. We know that children from disadvantaged backgrounds make less progress in maths than their more advantaged peers: gaps are apparent when children start school then widen over time. This outcome is not inevitable and there is lots that can be done to change this. I try to use my knowledge and position to play my part in improving equitable access to maths education through designing high-quality courses and talking and writing about challenges and solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CCCU gave me the knowledge, skills and experience to succeed in my current role. I enjoy critically engaging with the latest research in maths education and supporting others to create courses that are based on the best available research evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is your proudest achievement in your career so far?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Finally achieving my Doctorate in 2022 and taking my children to my graduation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In what way is remaining connected to your alumni network important to you?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
All of us who work in education want to help more children, young people and adults succeed, and there are lots of barriers to success. Alumni networks are an opportunity for a professional community to connect, share their experiences and help each other out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Starting her career through Teach First in 2004, Jennifer Shearman quickly developed a passion for education that saw her remain at CCCU for 14 years both teaching and achieving her PhD.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":352486,"featured_media":39978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,38,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-updates","category-feature","category-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"authorName":"Celia Pearce","featuredImage":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/750\/2026\/07\/jen-2-cropped.jpg","postExcerpt":"Starting her career through Teach First in 2004, Jennifer Shearman quickly developed a passion for education that saw her remain at CCCU for 14 years both teaching and achieving her PhD.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/352486"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39974"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40042,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39974\/revisions\/40042"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}