Simon Chapman

Simon joined the University of Northampton in 2022. He is currently the Year 1 Leader for the BA Primary Education (QTS) and curriculum lead for Computing.

Simon studied for his first degree at the University of Leicester and was awarded a BA (Hons) in History. He holds a Postgraduate Certificate for Education and a Masters in Education, both awarded by the University of Northampton; he is currently undertaking his PhD at the institution.

Simon began his career in education teaching in a range of primary schools in Northamptonshire and Leicestershire. Simon has held many posts within primary schools including being a subject leader in Humanities, Modern Foreign Languages and Physical Education. Simon also spent time as a Key Stage Leader, Phase Leader and an Assistant Headteacher.

Simon is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He is a Physical Education specialist and designs and teaches across a range of undergraduate modules including Professional Studies and Research Methods; he is also a dissertation supervisor and Personal Academic Tutor.

Simon’s research interests include Physical Education; for his Masters in Education thesis, Simon explored undergraduate teachers' perceptions on their preparedness to deliver curriculum physical education on completion of their Initial Teacher Education. For his PhD, working with the Centre for Educational Research (CER), Simon is exploring Physical Education globally considering the types of knowledge ‘consciously incompetent’ teachers require to become better prepared to teach the subject irrespective of their primary teaching context.

Simon is also interested in the role of developing technologies in education. More recently, he has been researching the role of Extended Reality resources in Teaching and Learning and has become the leader for the XR Special Interest Groups as part of the University of Northampton's Centre for Active Digital Education (CADE).