An EconoTimes perspective

Sarah Bloomfield

Lecturer in work-based learning, The Open University

I am a Lecturer in work-based learning and the Qualification Lead for the Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship (CMDA) programme at The Open University. I joined the OU central academic staff in 2021, having worked in Associate Lecturer and Practice Tutor roles for the University since 2009, and as a Senior Lecturer in Business and Management at Bath Spa University (where I still work as an external examiner). I gained my ESRC funded PhD and MRes at the University of Bath (where I maintain a role as a Visiting Research Fellow), and I have an MBA from INSEAD in France. Before joining academia I had an extensive career in the consumer goods industry which included developing the launch of vacuum cleaners and washing machines; project managing a sponsor's on-site presence at the winter Olympic Games in Japan; and working as the UK Marketing Director of a major beauty brand. Research interests I am interested in the lived experience of work, with a particular focus on the lived experience of learning in and for work, recognising that each work situation is unique. This has led to two complementary research streams: one focused on work-based learning as a pedagogical approach; and the other related to how organisational contradictions are lived, and the impact those contradictions have on leadership, behaviour and organisations. I use engaged methods of research, and have a published book chapter on employing an ethnographic methodology within organisational research.