Dr Helen Darlington

Dr Helen Darlington, CSciTeach, is currently faculty progress leader for science at South Wirral High School. She is an innovative and experienced teacher of science, biology and psychology with over 20 years of classroom experience. In addition to classroom teaching she has had a number of leadership responsibilities including head of department and leadership of whole school curriculum development projects and professional development. She is dedicated to her own professional development and supporting the development of others, particularly in the area of educational neuroscience. 

As such, since entering teaching she has completed a number of postgraduate courses. In 2017, Helen completed her PhD at UCL IOE which investigated ways to improve students’ interest in 14-16 science in English schools through the application of psychological theories. This work, alongside thinking in other current areas of educational neuroscience, was applied during her NPQSL project to design a curriculum implementation framework which has been successfully rolled out across the whole school and had significant impact on teaching and learning, and student experience. 

In addition to various development roles she has within school, including coaching programmes, she is heavily involved in the wider professional community. Helen has been a member of the Association for Science Education since the start of her career and currently sits on the policy committee. She is also a member of the council of the think-tank Learnus and has Lead Professional Development Leader status with STEM Learning. Her passion for evidence-based professional development is shared through her contributions to national and international conferences and a range of publications.