Sheena joined SCILT as a Professional Development Officer in October 2019. She is a highly experienced secondary teacher and she also has considerable experience of working within the primary sector.
Following her graduation from Edinburgh University with an MA (Hons) in French and Italian, Sheena completed her PGCE qualification at Moray House School of Education. She is passionate about language learning and went on to complete the Continuing Certificate in Education qualification in Spanish at the University of Strathclyde, enabling her to teach all three languages. She is continuing her own professional development this year by learning Mandarin through the OU/TELT course.
Sheena began her teaching career with Scottish Borders Council, working 0.5 in secondary teaching and 0.5 teaching French in primary schools. She went on to work in Pupil Support, which, among many other things, gave her an invaluable insight into the wider curriculum. Both of these experiences have informed Sheena’s practice and enabled her to appreciate and promote the vital role of languages across sectors and across the curriculum.
Prior to joining SCILT, Sheena worked in a vibrant secondary school in Stirling teaching languages from S1-S6. She is committed to achieving equity and excellence in pupils’ language experience. As well as teaching French, Spanish and Italian in the BGE and Senior Phase, she taught Spanish in the school’s ASN unit which proved to be one of the most inspiring and rewarding experiences of her career so far. She has extensive experience of, and success in, presenting pupils for SQA qualifications, including Advanced Higher and the Languages Baccalaureate. She also undertakes marking duties at Higher and Advanced Higher.
Continuing with her commitment to cross-sector working, Sheena has been a 1+2 trainer for Stirling Council since 2014, working together with primary colleagues to equip them to deliver the 1+2 Languages Policy. She also completed SCILT’s Languages Leadership Programme in 2017.
Sheena is excited to be joining SCILT and is looking forward to working with colleagues, partners and pupils in order to continue to support and enhance Scotland’s language and cultural understanding.
Contact:
The Ramshorn
98 Ingram Street
Merchant City
University of Strathclyde
Glasgow, G1 1EX
sheena.bell@strath.ac.uk