Sarah Cobbe

Email: edslc@leeds.ac.uk
Thesis title: "If We're Happy and We Know it..." A Study of Self-Efficacy and its Impact on the Inclusion of Children with Autism and Social Communication Needs in Nursery Settings
Supervisors: Dr Paula Clarke , Dr Judith Hebron

Profile

Academic background

I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Maths and Psychology, which was awarded by Keele University in 1993. This award was held concurrently with a certificate in Education - providing me with Qualified Teacher Status. I also gained a Masters in Education from the University of Birmingham in 2010. My MEd comprised aspects of management relating to special education in home and international contexts.

My MEd dissertation contrasted the in-service training experiences of teachers in the UK and in Kenya
As a Masters student, I also served as a researcher with a team of lecturers compiling a report for UNICEF. The report focussed on natural disasters and education in South East Asia and I was credited as one of the co-authors
The report can be located here: https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/F8D29B0871704C44852576120065A845-Full_Report.pdf

Biography

I've worked in the field of autism for more than two decades, primarily as a teacher or an advisor.

This has included posts with the National Autistic Society, VSO in Kenya and Autism West Midlands
I have experience of supporting children of all ages between 2-16 and more recently, as an autism advisory teacher in Merseyside - working with hundreds of families and many multi agency services
I am currently working as a private autism consultant, in addition to studying for my PhD

Research interests

My thesis will explore measures of self-efficacy amongst the staff working in private day nurseries and pre-school settings, and consider how these may be related to inclusive practice. I will be concentrating on the staff who support children with autism and social communication needs. My research will enable me to look more deeply into working practices in Early Years settings in contexts which are not yet comprehensively represented in academic literature.

In brief, my research interests / academic interests are in:-

self-efficacy
private day nurseries and nursery practitioners
children with autism in the Early Years
women and girls on the spectrum

Qualifications

MEd International Management and Policy
BSc Maths and Psychology
Qualified Teacher Status