Ms Alison Grasmeder
BA(Hons), PGCE, MEd, SLE and NPQSL
School of Education
Deputy Director for ITE and Geography PGDE Tutor
University Teacher and Partnership Lead
+44 114 222 8133
Full contact details
School of Education
The Wave
2 Whitham Road
Sheffield
S10 2AH
- Profile
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Alison taught secondary school geography and psychology in Rotherham for 26 years. Additionally, she was Key Stage 3 Strategy Manager (leading on transitions and cross curricular literacy and numeracy), Head of the Humanities Faculty (managing Geography, History, Religious Education, Classical Civilisations and Psychology). Following this she became Senior Teacher responsible for Teacher Development of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) students and of Early Careers Teachers (ECTs).
From 2013 she was brokered part time, as Secondary Lead Practitioner for Initial Teacher Training, by Learners First, a teaching school partnership, working with over 200 schools and various Higher Education Institutions. From 2015 she also was seconded to Sheffield Hallam University, on a part time basis, to teach on the Social Science PGCE.
She joined the School of Education on a part time basis in 2017, becoming full time in January 2018.
- Research interests
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Alison has quite a broad range of current research interests including technology, transitions, special educational needs, racial literacy and mentoring. Here are some recent examples of research she has been involved with:
1. Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 3 transition and the role of technology in learning, such as Geographical Information Systems.
This paper focuses on a case study of a local primary school in Sheffield:
Grasmeder, A. (2020). Collaborating through GIS. Primary Geography, 101, pp.24-25
2. Special educational needs with a focus on dyslexia.
This paper focuses on the findings from Alison’s Masters dissertation and creating a culture of support for ITE students and Early Careers Teachers with a diagnosis of dyslexia.
Grasmeder, A. (2023). Supporting geography teachers with dyslexia. Teaching Geography, 48 (1), pp. 11-13
3. Racial literacy and whiteness in school Geography.
Alison is currently exploring student perspectives of the whiteness of the school Geography curriculum and some of the resources that support learning within Geography in schools.
Preliminary fundings from this research were presented by Alison and her co-researchers at the MA APSE New Teachers Conference at the University of Sheffield - January 2023 and at the Geography Teacher Educators Conference - online - January 2023.
4. Quality mentoring to effectively support ITE students and ECTs.
She is currently working with colleagues to design improved mentor training programmes to ensure that mentors can offer quality support to ITE students and ECT teachers.
Alison co-wrote a research paper with a focus on the success of the SHOOC (Sheffield Hallam University MOOC) and online mentoring courses.
Pountney, R. and Grasmeder, A. (2018). Building bridges: enhancing mentoring skills, knowledge and practice through an online course. Collective Ed, 3, pp. 50-56.
- Teaching activities
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Alison is Deputy Director for Initial Teacher Education and Course Tutor for PGDE Geography.
She designs the Geography PGDE programme to ensure that the ITT Core Content Framework is addressed, but also offers many additional opportunities to embed and enrich learning about becoming a teacher of Geography. Reflection is at the heart of the course and students are encouraged to link learning from university to their practical experiences on their school placements. As Alison is keen on the importance of fieldwork in Geography; she has embedded various fieldwork opportunities within the PGDE course.
- Professional activities and memberships
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- A member of the Geographical Association.
- Other interests
She has also co-led a very successful annual educational trip to Bangalore in India from 2018 – 2020 for PGDE students from across the various subject cohorts of PGDE students. The students are given an opportunity to teach some of Bangalore’s poorest and most vulnerable children.