Sarah McNeill loves inspiring her students to explore the world of law. As an A-Level law teacher, a visit to the University of Salford with her students showed her the impact that higher education could have and inspired her to become an academic herself.
Now Interim Deputy Head for Law at Salford Business School, Sarah focuses on bridging the gap between further education and higher education and ensures that students are fully supported during their academic journey.
In this blog, we spoke to Sarah to find out why she chose to work at the University of Salford, her favourite memories and what research she is currently focusing on.
How did you get into academia as a career path?
As I loved being a student so much and didn’t want my degree to end, I decided that the best career for me would be teaching, as no two days are alike, and most days it is possible to learn more than you teach. I began teaching as soon as I graduated from my law degree in 2002 and enrolled in a PGCE in Post Compulsory Education to teach 16 to 18-year-olds. I had taught A-Level law for almost 20 years before starting at Salford.
Why did you choose to work at the University of Salford?
When I was teaching, I was approached by the Recruitment and Outreach Team from Salford as they were seeking to promote their courses at the college where I used to work. We worked together for several years – they brought the Salford Mooting Team to visit my students, ran a workshop, and invited my students and I on campus visits. I fell in love with the campus, and the staff and students were amazingly friendly and supportive, so when I saw there were vacancies at the University of Salford, there was no doubt in my mind that it was the right place for me.
What’s the best thing about being an academic at Salford?
I love knowing that we have a positive impact on our wonderful students, for example, helping them develop their knowledge and skills in areas of law that I’m super passionate about, such as tort law, media law and employment law.
Can you tell us about your career highlights to-date?
My top career highlight to-date was taking a group of students to the annual Women in Law Conference, where we attended a speech given by Baroness Hale of Richmond, the first female president of the Supreme Court – she was hugely inspiring.
What’s your current research focused on?
Currently, I’m focused on the steps universities can take to effectively bridge the gap between A-Levels, BTEC, and undergraduate study. For example, universities can bridge this gap by providing tasks that are appropriately scaffolded to ensure students are fully supported through their transition from further education and higher education.
Do you have any published papers we can read?
You can watch an ITV report on an All About Law Outreach Event that I delivered, where pupils from a local school visited our University to do a workshop on tort along with a mock trial: School pupils brush with the law in Salford could bring bright future | ITV News Granada.
You can also listen to Episode 52 of the Lucy Letby Podcast, as I was a guest speaker: Episode 52, Vanilla Killer – The Trial of Lucy Letby.
And finally, the all important question, where in Manchester or Salford is best to grab a coffee?
I often grab a coffee in Maxwell Building, and it is lovely, but the very best coffee in the whole world is from a small independent coffee shop in my hometown of Colne, Lancashire – called About Coffee.