Meet Senior Lecturer Alison Taylor

Alison Taylor is a Senior Lecturer and Course Leader for the Nursing (Child) BSc(Hons) at the University of Brighton.

Your journey into teaching

I have been a registered children’s nurse for 25 years and have taught at the University since 2014. I was in full time clinical practice as a Staff Nurse and then Deputy Sister on children’s wards for 12 years, including a two-year stint working across Australia.

After coming to Brighton and a spell working at the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital, in 2008 I started the PgCert in Health and Social Care Education at the University of Brighton as I really enjoyed teaching and mentoring student nurses on the ward. I got to know the children’s nursing team here through the course, engaged in some teaching as a Visiting Lecturer which I loved and then managed to secure a full-time post with the team.

How my professional life supports my teaching

I regularly work clinically on a local children’s ward, aiming to do a weekend shift every few months. This ensures I remain clinically current and credible and allows me to maintain links with clinical staff. This is so important in order to understand the many and changing challenges in children’s healthcare.

I am most proud of working with a team at the University which supported nurse education colleagues in Lusaka to develop the first children’s nursing course in Zambia.

How my work responds to global challenges

I teach quite a lot of clinical skills and we have recently been focusing on sustainability within this aspect of teaching and learning throughout the nursing programme, including reducing waste, smarter procurement of supplies and reduction in single use plastics. This has allowed both staff and nursing students to reflect on their own practice both at university and in clinical settings.

As future frontline staff, our students will experience the consequences of climate change first hand, and must be equipped to encourage preventative change.

What I love about teaching

I love explaining and breaking down difficult concepts to students to help them understand complex issues. I also love hearing about their experiences in clinical practice.

I am proud of all our students who complete their courses, but particularly those who are parents, carers or who have health or learning needs. Nursing is demanding and requires commitment, and seeing students managing to juggle competing priorities and succeed on the course is always impressive.

Students are very well supported on the children’s nursing course by both our immediate team and the wider School and University whatever their needs. This includes our brilliant Student Support and Guidance Tutors and Disability and Dyslexia Team.

My advice to students

Children’s nursing is a unique and varied profession. Find out as much as you can about nursing- talk to registered children’s nurses about what they do in a variety of roles.

Learn about studying nursing and midwifery at the University of Brighton