About

My commitment to the principles of Lifelong Learning and Social Justice have remained the central influences of a broad, and varied 25 year career, which started as a secondary school teacher of French/German with Drama/Games. Influenced by my time in a 'Modellversuch', at a school in Germany piloting embedded informal learning opportunities for students, and motivated by the potential to make a difference, roles in a non - linear career trajectory range from Developmental Youth Work, teaching in diverse formal and non - formal contexts, Adult & Community Learning, and Community Development. I have designed and delivered training in Initial Qualifications and in - service development for Youth Work, Mentoring as part of county - wide partnership development of Connexions, Detached Youth Work, Outdoor Education, adult teaching qualifications, anddevelopmental group work. A range of leadership and management roles have included operational & project management, and more strategic roles in District Management of Youth & Community development services, and a senior role as Strategic Director of Hull City Learning Partnership hosted by the University of Hull. This role included change leadership, partnership development and commissioning of joined – up services in response to clearly identified need across the City of Hull. Innovative successes included embedding young people's voice in the development of services and as a distinct partnership strand; development of adult literacy and numeracy programmes both for employees of the Humber Port Authority; and linked to regeneration projects celebrating the city’s heritage such as the Deep, and Museums Quarter; rationalisation of technology – based learning across the city; and co-ordination of the learning elements of the BBC investment in the city focussed on early applications of Broadband; coordination of employer links to Community Learning Programmes, and early iterations of the City region concept fostered by the then regional development agency Yorkshire Forward. In the period 2000-2005, I represented the University on a number of boards such as Humberside University for Industry/Learndirect Board and the Humberside Higher Education Advisory Council, as well as representing the City in the national Learning Communities Network, Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Learning and Skills Network and National Learning Partnerships Network, elected as Chair in its inaugural year.

It was always a long term aim to apply this experience to training future professionals, and I was delighted to accept a teaching focussed role after a period in a research centre at Sheffield Hallam University.

Teaching

Department of Social Work and Social Care and Community Studies

College of Health, Wellbeing and Life Sciences

Subject area or group:

• Social Work, Social Care & Community Studies
• Public Health (Cover)

Courses taught:

• BA Youth & Community Work
• BA Social Work/MSW
• BA (Top Up) Health & Social Care
• FDA Working with Children , Young People and Families.
• MSC Public Health

Research

In Progress: 'Young People are not the Problem' & "'The sum is not always greater than the parts': an assessment of the fragmented reinvention of community development."

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Gornall, L. (2018). See Me! Biographies of the Hidden CityProposing Research as Advocacy (abstract only). The Qualitative Report, 235-236. https://www.proceedings.wcqr.info/index.php/wcqr2019/article/view/185

Gornall, L. (2018). Co-production : a defence of young people. Journal of Radical Community Work, 3 (1). https://rcwjournal.org/ojs/index.php/radcw/article/view/30

CONFERENCE PAPERS

Gornall, L. (2017). Disconnected Biographies: : An exploration of the challenges inherent in balancing paradoxical discourses borne of both growing individualisation and dominant global constructs. ESREA: Life History and Biographical Research Network, Conference Proceedings March 2017. https://conferences.au.dk/esrealhbn2017/

Gornall, L. The unexpected 'Aha' moment: reviewing personal discourses in a troubled world. In Wright, H., & Hoyen, M. (Eds.) Discourses We Live By. Copenhagen: Aarhus University Press

BOOK CHAPTERS

Gornall, L. (2016). Choosing the ending, evaluating the process: biographical approaches to evaluating interventions with young adults at risk of substance abuse. In Evans, R. (Ed.) Before, beside and after (beyond) the biographical narrative. (pp. 559-577). 39179 Barleben, Germany: nisaba Verlag

Gornall, L. (2005). Research in a stakeholder society : demonstrating impact across sectors. In Building Sustainable Communities through Partnerships in: Place Management, Social Capital and Lifelong Learning - Making Knowledge Work: Proceedings of the PASCAL International Conference. (pp. 109-119). Leicester: NIACE: https://pascalobservatory.org/projects/introduction

EVALUATION REPORTS

Gornall, L., (Lead Investigator) Foggin, J., Ismail, M., & Owen, G. (2013). An evaluation of The Home Office funded CHOICES Programme delivered by COMPASS. Sheffield Hallam University.

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Coldwell, M.R., Gornall, L., Holland, M.R., Trickey, D.S., Willis, B., & Wolstenholme, C.E. (2006). Developing enterprise culture in a northern educational authority in the UK: involving trainee teachers in learning-orientated evaluation. https://www.eera-ecer.eu/ecer/ecer2006/

Publications

Other activities

Representative: Regional Youth Work Unit - 2013-18, Reprised 2022.

Invited Speaker: June 2022, Government Events: The Youth Services Conference 2022: Delivering High-Quality Support to Young People: Presentation: Young people's 'Lived Experience' & Participation - The core foundation for rebuilding holistic developmental services for young people.