Pam is a chartered psychologist (British Psychological Society) and qualified teacher with
additional academic qualifications in history and education. She is also a Fellow of the Higher
Education Academy. She joined Leeds Trinity University in 2013 as a senior lecturer, and was
promoted to Reader in Childhood, Youth and Education in 2016. She has a keen interest in a
multi-disciplinary research perspective, considering psychological, biological, social and
historical perspectives. Her PhD research focused upon play-based learning in 4-6 year olds.
She is an extensively published academic author whose edited book ‘Perspectives on Play’
has been published in three successive English editions, and additionally in Greek and
Portuguese (Brazil) where it was adopted as a set text by the national teacher training
programme.
She is also an active blogger and conference/training presenter, seeking to create accessible
dissemination formats to bring insights from psychological and educational research to the
attention of non-psychologist professional audiences, education professionals in particular;
and to the general public. Her key focus is the well-being of children, young people and their
families, and the development of social policy to support this. She completed her first
degree in Psychology with The Open University while caring for her three young children,
becoming a graduate psychologist in 1995, and between 1995 and 2019 taught psychology,
sociology, social policy and child development in Higher Education, School, Further
Education and Community Education. This includes over 20 years as an Open University
tutor and resource writer.
Since retiring from LTU at the end of 2019 to focus on consulting and writing projects, she
has added to her academic publications and writes regularly in Bylines Network publications
as a citizen journalist. She has also published 2 novels  ‘On Time’ (2021) and ‘On Time for
Eco’, (2025), and is currently working on the third book in the series: ‘On Time for Love.’  
Pam talks to Dr Mealey about citizen journalism and academia, her passion for ethics and
values in social work and suggests an all-inclusive interpretation of psychology to shape a
better context for relationships to flourish in today’s complex society.