Staff profile

Steve is Head of Transitional Education for Durham University, which includes Durham's Foundation Programmes and Graduate Teaching Assistant Training Fellowship programme (Foundation Fellows). He is an Anthropologist and educator and has been teaching in HE since 2002. Steve entered higher education as an adult via the Durham University Foundation Programme. 

Since 2005 Steve has worked for Durham University with a remit to widen participation and to support Fair Access. His main role has been to develop and deliver pathways into Higher Education for under-represented groups including mature, non-traditional and International learners. He is responsible for the design and implementation of a wide range of academic programmes and modules that prepare students for successful transition to undergraduate study at Durham. He has previously led a team of staff in the unique and complex process of UK, EU and International marketing, recruitment and admissions for Foundation level study. He is Chair of the Foundation Year Network, the UK's national practitioner network for Foundation Level provision and an Executive Borad member and Trustee of Advance Learning Partnership, a North-East Multi-Academy Trust providing outstanding primary and secondary education to some of the country's most disadvantaged children. Steve provides expertise in the fields of Fair Access and Social Mobility and developing strategy for the engagement of under-represented groups within Higher Education. 

• 2022: Chair the Foundation Year Network: The Foundation Year Network is the UK's national practitioner network for Foundation Level provision with over 500 members from across the UK HE sector.
• 2019: Advance Learning Partnership (ALP): Director of the Advance Learning Parnership (ALP) multi-academy trust
• 2019: FYN Executive Committee: Executive Committee Member for the Foundation Year Network (FYN) https://foundationyear.ac.uk/

  Secretary 2014-2017

  Conference Organising Committee (Chair) 2013-2017

  Consitution Working Group 2017-

• 2019: External Examiner: External Examiner Kings College London, UK
• 2019: External Moderator: External moderator for University of Warwick Business School

Chapter in book

• Nolan, S., Bruce, M., & Leech, S. (2016). Engendering an Online Community: Supporting Students on the Transition into University Life. In C. Marshall, S. Nolan, & D. Newton (Eds.), Widening participation, higher education and non-traditional students : supporting transitions through Foundation Programmes (119-132). Palgrave Macmillan
• Leech, S., & Marshall, C. (2016). Understanding Foundation Year Provision. In C. Marshall, S. Nolan, & D. Newton (Eds.), Widening Participation, Higher Education and Non-traditional Students: Supporting Transitions through Foundation Programmes. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-94969-4

Conference Paper

• Leech, S. (2019, December). Augar and Foundation Years: Love or Hate. Paper presented at FYN and OfS Training Workshop, University of Chester, England
• Leech, S., & Dunn, R. (2019, December). Foundation Skills: An Innovative Approach to Multi-Disciplinary Foundation Year Teaching. Presented at UALL Annual Conference, UEA, England
• Leech, S. (2017, December). Gateway to Medicine: Lessons for Widening Participation. Presented at Learning and Teaching Network, Durham University, England
• Leech, S. (2017, December). Working toward an Admissions Toolkit to support non-traditional entry to HE. Presented at Learning and Teaching Network, Durham University, England
• Leech, S. (2016, December). Modelling Foundation Year Provision in the UK. Presented at Foundation Year Network Annual Conference (FYNAC), University of Southampton, England
• Nolan, S., Bruce, M., & Leech, S. (2013, December). Foundation Centre: Enhancing Learning from Day One. Presented at Foundation Year Network Annual Conference (FYNAC), Durham University, England
• Leech, S. (2005, December). Toward an understanding of triadic bed sharing. Foundation for Sudden Infant Death. Presented at Foundation for Sudden Infant Death (FSID), London, UK
• Leech, S. (2005, December). Three in the bed and the little one said “please don’t roll over”: Sleep position and synchrony in triadic infant bed sharing

Journal Article

• Mathias, J., Saville, C., & Leech, S. (2024). Engaging non-mathematics students in mathematics learning through collaborative teaching. Teaching Mathematics and its Applications: An International Journal of the IMA, 43(1), 67–80. https://doi.org/10.1093/teamat/hrad003
• Mathias, J., Walczak, I., & Leech, S. (2023). Widening participation students’ experience and perception of flipped learning statistics compared with traditional teaching in higher education. MSOR Connections, 21(2), 4-14. https://doi.org/10.21100/msor.v21i2.1390
• Ball, H., Ward-Platt, M., Heslop, E., Leech, S., & Brown, K. (2006). Randomised trial of infant sleep location on the postnatal ward. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 91(12), 1005-1010. https://doi.org/10.1136/adc.2006.099416