Hannah Smith (from January 2011 married name: Dr Hannah Anglin-Jaffe), CIRCL MA graduate 2001-2002, CIRCL PhD graduate 2005
‘My undergraduate degree was English Literature with Education Studies at the University of Cambridge and as part of that course I took a module in Children’s Literature and absolutely loved it. I therefore decided to research MA courses so that I could further develop my interest. I was advised by my tutors at Cambridge that the most rigorous course was the one offered by the University of Reading and I was thrilled to be offered a place. During the MA the tutors were friendly and supportive and I made lots of new friends. The course was as rigorous as promised with an emphasis on developing critical thinking and analytical skills. During the course I felt like my academic reasoning skills developed in leaps and bounds. I found it to be such a stimulating experience that I applied to extend my studies into a PhD. I was awarded a full studentship and with Karin’s support I gained my PhD after just over 3 years. I am now a lecturer in Education Studies at the University of Plymouth and I find that I still constantly draw on the analytical skills I learnt during my time at Reading.’