Dr. Terri Grant

Terri Grant

Principal Lecturer in Occupational Therapy; MSc (Pre-registration) Occupational Therapy Course Lead

School of Health and Wellbeing

Department of Allied Health

Contact Details

email: t.grant@worc.ac.uk
tel: 01905 542768

Terri qualified as an Occupational Therapist from St Loye’s School of Occupational Therapy in 1996, just as the education system adjusted to degree-level education. The vast majority of her NHS career was spent as a specialist Stroke Rehabilitation Occupational Therapist, having found a love for neurology whilst working as a wheelchair therapist in Bristol.

Before leaving the NHS, Terri was one of the founder members of the now well-established and successful Community Stroke Service in Worcestershire. Alongside the clinical work, she really enjoyed working to support the development of students, support workers, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists and nurses as one of the clinical team leaders.

Terri started her academic career here at UW in 2014 and then left the NHS to become a full-time Senior Lecturer, the following year. Terri's varied roles at the university include, developing the Practice Education team for Allied Health and she is currently the course leader for the MSc (Pre-registration) Occupational Therapy course.

Terri completed her PhD studies alongside working in 2024 and finds ways to maintain her occupational balance and seek physical and mental restoration by practicing the Korean sword martial art of Haidong Gumdo. In fact, she was the first woman in the UK to achieve Black Belt status in this art in 2022.

Qualifications

  • PhD Occupational Therapy: Thesis title “A grounded theory of occupational therapy practice learning to inform simulation-based education”
  • PG Cert Learning &Teaching in Higher Education
  • PG Cert Research Methods
  • MSc Neurological Occupational Therapy
  • BSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy

Teaching & Research

Teaching Interests

Terri loves finding new and unique ways to make learning memorable and she is committed to improving inclusion in the classroom so that all students can access learning. Terri employs game-based learning and other practical methods to enable students to deepen theoretical understanding. As demonstrated by her PhD studies, Terri is keen to develop simulation within occupational therapy.

Terri likes to maintain a teaching presence across all of our Occupational Therapy courses and has taught on most of the modules at some point! She often teaches neurological content into modules that she is not otherwise working on and is currently enjoying leading modules for first year BSc students and final year MSc students.

Research Interests

Terri recently completed her PhD, used Grounded Theory Methodology to look at what students actually learn (not just what we think they learn!) during their first placement experience. From this she developed a theory of practice learning that explains how and why students learn and what can make this learning easier or more challenging for them.

Terri is a member of the Health Professions Education and Practice research group and is in the early stages of developing research to increase our understanding of disabled students placement experiences. Terri enjoys supporting student dissertations at both BSc and MSc level.

In 2022 Terri won the Royal College of Occupational Therapists Early Researcher Award, having presented results from her research at national conference, and in 2023 she flew to Australia to present her theory there. Along the way she learned to dive and is also interested in researching the physical and mental health benefits of diving. 

Professional Bodies

Terri is currently, or has been recently, a member of the following professional bodies.

  • Royal College of Occupational Therapists
  • British Association of Occupational Therapists
  • Royal College of Occupational Therapists Specialist Section – Neurological Practice
  • Fellow HEA
  • Association for Simulated Practice in Healthcare

External Roles

Royal College of Occupational Therapists Practice Placement Tutors Forum (Secretary) 2017 – 2021

External Examiner MSc (Pre-registration) Occupational Therapy UCLAN 2022 onwards

RCOT COTED member 2022 onwards

Publications

Publications

  • Thomas Y, Frank H, Grant T, Lees, R, Neil, L (2023) Health professional graduate perspectives of practice education during the COVID-19 pandemic: From uncertainty to employability Journal of Practice Teaching & Learning [in print]
  • Grant T, Gossman P, Thomas Y, Berragan, L, Frank H (2023) “I left feeling different about myself”: What students learn on their first practice placement British Journal of Occupational Therapy 86(2) pp138-148
  • Grant T, Thomas Y, Gossman P and Berragan L. (2021). The Use of Simulation in Occupational Therapy. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal
  • Grant, T. (2021) Occupational Therapy Placements. Banbury: Lantern Publishing Ltd.
  • Grant, T. (2019) ‘Using Technology Enhanced Learning to Promote the Acquisition of Practical Skills in Occupational Therapy’, Journal of Occupational Therapy Education. Eastern Kentucky University, 3(2). doi: 10.26681/jote.2019.030212.
  • Grant, T. (2017b) ‘Creating care homes that aid stroke rehabilitation’. AKW
  • Grant, T. (2017a) ‘A Leap into the Dark and the Unknown’, OT News.

Conference Presentations

  • UW Teaching & Learning Conference 2024: The EnFA Project: Enhancing Feedback and Assessment
  • UW Teaching & Learning Conference 2024: Developing the academic side of the Personal ACADEMIC Tutor role
  • ASPiH 2023: A theory of practice learning to inform simulated placements
  • NET 23: A grounded theory of learner availability in practice education
  • ANZAPHE 2023: A theory of practice learning to inform traditional and simulated placements
  • Occupational Therapy Australia 2023: What to include in placement simulation - a theory of practice learning
  • UW Student Experience Conference 2023: Towards a Grounded Theory of Practice Learning
  • NET 22: Simulating Practice Education: what should we simulate?
  • Frank, H., Grant, T., Thomas, Y., Lees, R. (2022) Student experiences of practice education during COVID 19 -Resilience and Readiness for employment. NET (Networking for Health Education) conference 2022, Lancaster University, Sept 6 & 7.
    https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/programmes-events/conferences/NET2022-Conference
  • RCOT National Conference 2022: Simulating Practice Education – what should we simulate?
  • UW Teaching & Learning Conference 2022: Simulating Practice Education –
    how do we know what to simulate?
  • TAMK (Tampere University, Finland) Practice Education during Covid 19
  • RCOT National Conference 2019: Going on a goose chase - practical equipment skills in a competitive learning environment
  • UK Stroke Forum 2018: Development of an App to support service users understanding of cognitive changes after stroke
  • UW Teaching & Learning Conference 2017: Enhancing The Student Experience Without Diminishing The Staff Experience Via Peer Assessment