Essien Rita

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Senior Lecturer
Faculty:
Faculty of Business and Law
School:
Economics, Finance and Law
Location:
Chelmsford
Research Supervision:
Yes

After more than 22 years of experience in teaching and leadership roles within the compulsory and further education sectors in both the UK and abroad, Rita recently joined ARU as a Senior Lecturer. In her role, she oversees outreach activities for Accounting and Finance and is a member of the team leading on Athena Swan. Rita volunteers as an academic mentor for SHoKE projects.

Background

Prior to joining ARU, Rita mentored PGCE students, NQTs and Early Careers Teachers. Her dedication to coaching and mentoring the next generation of teaching professionals, earned her a nomination for a Best Mentor award at the University of Greenwich.

With a background in quality assurance, Rita brings extensive experience in qualification accreditations and has managed compliance and annual quality review processes in schools for leading UK awarding bodies regulated by OFQUAL. Moreover, she has contributed as a Qualification Developer for Business and Management programmes with ATHE and worked as an Examiner and Assessor with Pearson.

Rita partnered with the Association of Colleges (AoC) and Education Trust Foundation (ETF) to design and coordinate the T Level portfolio which was successfully implemented within one of the largest Multi Academy Trusts in the UK. She facilitated the submission of funding bid to the Department for Education (DfE) for T Level Capital Fund (TLCF) in 2021.

Rita is a Fellow of the HEA and recently attended the Mental health first aider training at ARU.

Research interests
  • Lifelong learning and inclusive practices in the learning environment
  • Assessment for Learning and Assessment of Learning
  • Post 16 progression pathways
  • UK Transnational Education
  • Employability capital in HE curriculum
Areas of research supervision
  • Accounting and Finance (UG & PG)
Teaching

Modules taught at ARU:

  • Introduction to financial accounting and management (Level 4)
  • Applied Corporate finance and financial strategy (Level 7)
  • International financial market and Investment (Level 7)

Other modules taught:

  • Leadership and Enterprise (Level 4)
  • International business (Level 4)
  • Business strategy (Level 5)
  • Working with and Leading People (Level 5)
  • Business Decision Making (Level 5)
Qualifications
  • PhD in Education Economics, Anglia Ruskin. University (in progress)
  • MA Educational research (MReS), University of Greenwich
  • National Professional qualification for School Leaders (NPQL), University College London
  • Qualified Teacher Status (QTLS), Institute for Learning
  • Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE, DTLLS), University of Greenwich
  • MBA Entrepreneurial management, Australia Institute of Business
  • BSc (Hons) Marketing, University of Uyo
Memberships, editorial boards

Memberships, editorial boards:

  • Member, Chartered institute of teaching
  • Member, Board of Trustee, First Rung
  • Member, Society for Education and Training
  • Member, Management Board MaterChristi High School.
Recent presentations and conferences

Anglia Ruskin University Doctoral symposium, April 2024. Presentation entitled “Scale and Scope of UK Transnational Education: A Scoping review.”

University of Greenwich Doctoral Seminar, June 2022. Presentation entitled “Evaluating the subject knowledge training provided by Educational Training Foundation (ETF) for teachers delivering the Occupational Specialist content of the Finance T level”.

University of Greenwich Doctoral Seminar, November 2021. Presentation entitled “Accessing flexibilities for learners: The legacy Vs new Post16 model”.

University of Greenwich Doctoral Seminar, March 2021. Presentation entitled “Exiting a Purblind Era T Levels, the next level.”