Dr Amy Bywater

Senior Lecturer in Physical Education and School Sport and Inclusivity Lead

  • Email a.bywater@wlv.ac.uk
  • Faculty FEHW
  • Campus Walsall Campus
  • School School of Sport
  • Areas of expertise
    • Physical Education and School Sport, with particular enthusiasm for OAA and event management
    • Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy development and implementation
    • Mixed Methodological Research (MMR)
    • Personal and professional development of students, specifically around belonging, engagement and self-confidence through the lens of Intersectionality
    • Pedagogical approaches, equity in learning and teaching, and quality in teaching
    • Neurodiversity and its impact on education, particularly ADHD in higher education
    • Mindfulness and identity development in students

     

Amy is a passionate and dedicated academic who specializes in Physical Education and School Sport. With a background in neurodiversity, Amy brings a unique and compassionate perspective to her work. She has been Inclusivity Lead in the School of Sport for four years, strategically influencing student success and belonging through theories of change.

Her teaching philosophy centers on inclusivity, personal growth, and transformative learning experiences, particularly through innovative and student-centered pedagogies such as team-based learning and mindfulness. She is committed to fostering belonging, engagement, and self-confidence in her students while exploring intersectionality and academic ableism through both teaching and research. 

 

 

  • EDI
  • Mindfulness Interventions
  • Quality in Teaching
  • Belonging, Engagement and Self-Confidence
  • Mixed Methodologies

  • British Educational Research Association (BERA)
  • Association for Physical Education (afPE)

EdD - Doctor of Education

PgCERT - Higher Education and Professional Practice

MA - Education

PGCE - Secondary Physical Education

Level 7 Strategic Leadership of Equality, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (InPD)

Senior Fellowship - Advance HE

Mindfulness/ Yoga Teacher

Aurora Leadership Programme

In press:

- Mindfulness and Resilience: The Experiences of Global Majority Students in a Mindfulness Intervention Programme at a UK university.

- Negotiating the ‘q’ and ‘Q’: Conceptualising Q/quality in Secondary Physical Education Teaching

- A Mixed Methods Approach to Understanding Physical Education Teachers’ Constructs of Quality Across a Career

Currently writing:

- Belonging on Their Own Terms: An Intersectional Analysis of How Higher Education Students Define Belonging, Engagement, and Self-Confidence

Five and a half years working across the age ranges of 2-18 in academies and state schools. 

Teacher of PE, Lead for Hockey, Head of PE, Head of House and Boarding parent - all roles held across the primary and secondary education sectors. 

Eight and a half years as an academic in Higher Education.