Teaching Interests
Stan’s teaching interests include simulation, clinical skills teaching, leadership, and practice learning within Operating Department Practice. He is especially interested in designing active and inclusive learning experiences that help students connect theory with practice and build confidence in clinical environments. He also has a strong interest in student wellbeing and peer support, informed by his licensed Look After Your Mate training, as well as the effective and ethical use of AI to enhance learning and academic development.
Bio
After studying a range of subjects and working across a broad range of fields, I began working in community healthcare and quickly found an affinity for it. I soon gravitated towards hospital work, and then towards operating theatres. To me, there was no place more rewarding.
In 2016, I graduated from Staffordshire University, qualified as an Operating Department Practitioner (ODP), and have been registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) ever since. By 2017, I had embarked on the Support Learning and Assessment in Practice (SLAiP) university module, which enabled me to become a clinical mentor for students undertaking their ODP training. This almost completely changed the focus of my practice, as mentoring soon became the most rewarding part of my work. To engage with students, connect with their learning needs, and inspire those ‘light-bulb moments’ — then to share in them — made me realise that I belonged in teaching.
I continued to develop my skills as both an ODP and a mentor, strengthening my practice, taking on further clinical responsibilities, and accepting a position on my Trust’s Simulation Faculty, all with a growing ambition to become a university lecturer in ODP.
Then, in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic stretched my profession, my skills, my resilience, and my fortitude to new levels. During this time, most training was suspended and students were removed from placement areas. Losing that aspect of practice for such a long period made me realise just how strongly I was driven to be part of education, so I enrolled on the CertEd in Post Compulsory Education and Training (PCET) with Shrewsbury Colleges Group. This course completely opened my eyes to the importance of effective, active, and dynamic education, not only for my students, but for myself as well.
During my time on the course, I undertook a placement teaching BTEC Health and Social Care at a college, while also becoming a Senior ODP, Clinical Lead for Anaesthetics, and Lead Practice Educator within my Trust.
Subsequently, I was encouraged to apply for a role as an ODP Lecturer. I applied and was successful. I’d made it. Very soon afterwards, I began leading academic modules and recruitment for the ODP team, which contributed to my achievement of Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).
Now, I am honoured to be the Course Lead for ODP at the 成人B站, where I have the opportunity to share my profession with new generations of ODP students.