Melissa is Head of School for Essential Skills at Morley. She taught GCSE and Functional Skills English at the North Kensington and Chelsea centres and English Literature on the Access Diploma in Humanities, before becoming Head of Curriculum for Essential Skills at Chelsea. She is particularly interested in exploring ways in which creativity can be embedded into the Essential Skills curriculum offer, including ESOL art workshops, students participating in wider college exhibitions, and choirs for ESOL students.
Melissa previously worked as a reporter, editor and news editor at Dow Jones Newswires before leaving to study for a PhD in nineteenth-century campaigning journalism at Birkbeck College. She has published essays on women and printing, business journalism in the nineteenth century and Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper, related to her research.
