Contact
Biography
Katie Willshire is an Assistant Professor in Secondary English Teacher Education and is a tutor on the Secondary PGCE English course. She is also the Admissions Tutor for this course.
Katie is an experienced teacher educator and a Senior Fellow of Advanced HE. Before joining the university in September 2025, she was a Course Leader and Senior Lecturer at Nottingham Trent University. During her six years at NTU, she led on Mentor Development and taught across undergraduate and postgraduate Initial Teacher Education courses.
She completed the Aurora Women's Leadership program in July 2024.
Before moving into HE, Katie was an English teacher and Middle Leader in local Secondary schools. One of her most cherished roles in school was as ITE mentor, supporting beginning teachers coming into the profession.
A more detailed account of Katie's experience in ITE can be found on the School of Education's 'Meet the ITE Teaching Team' page.
Katie is a staff mentor and colleagues looking for a mentor can find her in the coaching and mentoring directory.
Research Summary
Katie is co-researcher on a small-scale research project exploring pupil transitions between key stage 2 and 3 ('moving up' from Primary to Secondary).
The study considers pupil and teacher perspsectives on the concept of transition and how oracy might impact on pupils' experiences.