Dr Katie Howard

My research interests meet at the intersection between multilingualism, neurodiversity, and children and young people’s mental health. First, my primary research focuses on school-based mental health provision for children and young people from multilingual and migrant backgrounds (such as this recent scoping review). A second strand of my research investigates multilingualism in the context of children with additional learning needs or differences (for example, this work on bilingualism in autism). Third, more recently, I have developed a keen interest in educational policy, particularly in relation to the areas of ‘English as an additional language’ (EAL) and school mental health.

My teaching at the School of Education centres around the MSc Psychology (Conversion) programme alongside PhD and DEdPsych supervision. Prior to joining the School, I worked as Academic Lead in the Department of Psychology at Exeter, focusing my teaching on mental health in educational settings and the trailblazer Education Mental Health Practitioners (EMHP) training programme. I also bring professional experience outside academia as a secondary school teacher in Modern Foreign Languages, a mentor for students with disabilities and mental health difficulties, and a translation trainee at the European Parliament. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you would like to find out more about my work or collaborate.