Cathy Clarkson started teaching English as a Foreign Language in China before returning to England, where she has worked in Further Education, initially teaching ESOL and later moving into initial teacher education. She completed her doctorate at the University of Huddersfield in 2025, undertaking a part-time EdD focused on action research exploring the use of synchronous text-chat during teaching practice on the Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CELTA), examining how we learn to teach through observation.