Staff Directory

I am a Senior Lecturer and Acting Course Leader for the Integrated Foundation Years programme within the Faculty of Business and Creative Industries (Culture). My specialisms are Childhood and Youth Studies, Therapeutic Studies and Academic Study Skills. I sometimes teach within the Faculty of Life Sciences and Education at undergraduate and masters level. 

My career began in primary education specialising in the Creative Arts curriculum. I have worked in the area of child welfare in refuge and homeless hostel environments and facilitated groups in a range of community settings in partnership with third sector organisations and education providers. Further Education and Higher Education teaching experience began in 2001. 

When not teaching, I practice Art Psychotherapy in community settings with diverse populations experiencing complex mental health needs. I enjoy taking my therapy work outdoors when possible. I work on a spectrum of arts and health for well-being to art psychotherapy. My current doctoral level research and scholarly activity focuses on learning differences and the value of the arts for educational change. I use arts-based and storytelling methods informed by critical education theory. My recent publications are:

Wheeler, E. (2020) 'The Kitchen Window: to an inclusive pedagogy', [Poster]. Exhibited at: What does inclusivity look like in a post-pandemic context and can Foundation Years lead the way? Foundation Year Annual Conference. 2020 Jul 10-22; [Online]. Available at: https://foundationyear.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/EW-Poster-The-Kitchen-Window-final-3.pdf.

Wheeler, E. (2019)'Foundations of a bricolage method: Using learning stories for the co-production of curriculum design, impacting experiences of learning difference within Higher Education', Journal of the Foundation Year Network, Vol. 1, Issue 1, pp 37-49. JFYN [Online]. Available at: https://jfyn.co.uk/index.php/ukfyn/article/view/25.

Wheeler, E. (2018)'Learning about difference from observations of Case Study'. Newsbriefing: British Association of Art Therapists, July 2018. pp.17 19.