Meet the colleague: Katy Bernardelli

Katy Bernardelli is a Senior Education Developer for Assessment and Feedback, working within the Education Development Service. In this blog she tells us about her role and the projects she’s working on at the Learning and Teaching Academy.

Tell us about your career history:

Working for the Learning and Teaching Academy (LTA) has been a new experience for me. Until now I have always been in the classroom teaching students. My first job after university was in China, teaching English to school children. After that, I worked for over 20 years teaching English, mainly English for Academic Purposes on foundation, pre-sessional, in-sessional, pre-masters and international year one courses.

My most recent role before coming to work at the LTA was Programme Leader for an International Foundation Programme and International Year One in Business.

I have to say, I do miss teaching students! I’ve learnt so much over the years about what works in the classroom, and have enjoyed developing my teaching practice, learning to produce bespoke resources, writing assessments, and planning courses.

What does your role involve and how long have you been in the role?

I joined the LTA in January 2024 and I have been supporting work on the Rethinking Assessment Project, primarily on running bespoke CPD with Schools to ensure readiness for the new Marking and Moderation Policy. In a typical week, I could be in workshops and meetings with four or five different Schools.

I also have a particular interest in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and I’ve been working on enhancing the Sustainability resources within the Education Development Toolkit. I’m particularly inspired to explore how ESD can be embedded within disciplines that aren’t an obvious fit, such as the Arts and Humanities.

What projects/tasks are you currently working on within your role?

I’m currently in contact with Schools about running workshops on pre-marking social moderation and calibration. I’m enjoying watching staff get into lively discussions as they mark student work together and justify the marks they’ve awarded. I’ve also been adding generic assessment criteria to the Marking and Moderation page of the Toolkit as Schools start to produce and share these following our initial workshops. It’s been exciting to see collaborative partnerships develop across Schools and the LTA as best practice is shared in this way.

What do you do in your spare time?

I have a ridiculous number of hand-knitted jumpers, but my favourite thing to do in my free time is long-distance running. This hasn’t been going well recently. I’ve entered the Movember half marathon, so I need to get myself fit again!