Dr Tim Herrick
BA, PCHE, MA, MEd, PhD, PFHEA, NTF
School of Education
Senior University Teacher
Senate Award Fellow
CILASS Fellow
Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
National Teaching Fellow
+44 114 222 8109
Full contact details
School of Education
The Wave
2 Whitham Road
Sheffield
S10 2AH
- Research interests
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My research interests cross-pollinate with my teaching, and are concerned with several of the same areas. For example, I am exploring the philosophical grounds on which civic universities should play an active role in working with members of migrant communities to enhance their access to higher learning.
My (many and varied) classroom experiences have led me to research the emotional aspects of learning and teaching, with a particular interest in theories and practices grounded in psychotherapies.
I am interested in the history of radical pedagogies, especially the crop of ideas from the late 1960s and early 1970s about alternatives to compulsory schooling. Finally, I have a particular engagement with the ideas of Paulo Freire, and a commitment to broader-based notions of education for democracy.
- Publications
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Journal articles
- Learning in community: Student-staff partnership schemes at two UK universities. Student Engagement in Higher Education Journal, 5(3).
- Navigating financial barriers in English universities: a phenomenographic exploration of mature male students' experiences. Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning, 25(2), 6-38.
- Trainee engagement with reflection in online portfolios: A qualitative study highlighting the impact of the Bawa-Garba case on professional development. Medical Teacher.
- Mapping the campus learning landscape. Pedagogy, Culture and Society. View this article in WRRO
- Supporting wellbeing through scholarship of teaching and learning. Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education. View this article in WRRO
- The student guide to Freire’s pedagogy of the oppressed. Pedagogy, Culture and Society. View this article in WRRO
- Book reviews: Teaching in lifelong learning: a guide to theory and practice. Journal of Education for Teaching, 36(2), 254-256. View this article in WRRO
- Teaching in lifelong learning: a guide to theory and practice. JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR TEACHING, 36(2), 254-256.
- "A book which is no longer discussed today": Tran Duc Thao, Jacques Derrida, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. J HIST IDEAS, 66(1), 113-131.
- Criteria of quality in fiction-based research to promote debate about the use of AI and robots in Higher Education. Higher Education Research and Development. View this article in WRRO
Chapters
- Social and Informal Learning Spaces and Inclusion In Everitt R & Everitt N (Ed.), Privileged Spaces: Academic Libraries in University Estates Strategy (pp. 157-173). London: Facet.
- All-Age Schooling: Alternatives from History, Reimagining the Purpose of Schools and Educational Organisations (pp. 243-252). Springer International Publishing
Website content
- The Academic Skills Hub.
- Learning in community: Student-staff partnership schemes at two UK universities. Student Engagement in Higher Education Journal, 5(3).
- Teaching interests
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I am involved with a range of teaching within the School, primarily on the BA in Education, Culture, and Childhood where I co-ordinate the dissertation module, run another final year module, and lead Level Three seminars.
Alongside these responsibilities, I also contribute to teaching on the full-time MA and the EdD, support PhD and EdD students working on their dissertations, and undertake a range of responsibilities for the Faculty and University. Since March 2025, I have been a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and I have won institutional teaching awards in 2019 and 2025. I was made a National Teaching Fellow in 2025.
Teaching is the most important part of my work, and a privilege that I try to carry responsibly. In 2016, I was lucky to be involved with a University project interviewing "inspirational academics" about their teaching practice.
In previous years, I have been departmental director of learning and teaching; served three years as Faculty Director of Learning and Teaching Enhancement, and another four as Faculty Deputy Director for Education, initially for undergraduate affairs and then for student voice; contributed to institutional projects to enhance learning and teaching, including CILASS, the Centre for Inquiry-based Learning in Arts and Social Sciences, where I was an Academic Fellow; and led a cross-institutional team in developing TASH, The Academic Skills Hub. This online study skills resource supports students at all levels, and is now incorporated within 301, the Student Skills and Development Centre.
The underlying ethos of my teaching is enabling access to higher education for all who have the potential to benefit, with a special interest in widening participation for non-traditional students. In particular, I am interested in enhancing opportunities for people seeking asylum in this country to engage in formal education. This forms part of a living tradition of hospitality and support in which Sheffield and this University play a proud part, and is underpinned, like all my work, by my Quaker faith and practice.
- Teaching activities
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Outstanding Feedback and Assessment award (Academic Awards 2019)
Overall Contribution to Learning and Teaching award (Academic Awards 2019)
Student Choice award (Education Awards 2025)
- Professional activities and memberships
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- Reviewer for Teaching in Higher Education
- Member of Learning and Teaching Professional Recognition Scheme, steering group, and regular reviewer of applications for HEA fellowships.
Tim discusses the impact and value of scholarship of teaching and learning-led (SoTL)-led professional development in higher education (HE), with a focus on practitioner wellbeing in this video. It was made by Faculti, and also features Jenny Louise-Lawrence, the co-researcher on the project.