Biography
Mike qualified as a professional Youth Worker when studying Informal Education at the YMCA George Williams College, London in 1995.
Whilst engaged in a career in local authority youth work as a manager, training co-ordinator and quality lead, Mike Graduated with an MA in Community Education from De Montfort University in 2005. Interest in an academic career was sparked when Mike took on the role as a panel member for the National Youth Agency’s Education and Training Standards committee for the validation of the Youth and Community Work Diploma at Havering College in the early 2000’s.
Whilst being employed in Staffordshire County Council, Mike was part of a working party that developed the Foundation Degree in Youth and Community Work at Staffordshire University where he went on to become the Award Leader for the programme. Since moving to Newman University in 2010, Mike has achieved a PGCert in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education and has gained Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy.
Currently working towards Senior Fellowship Status, Mike has successfully completed an M.Ed with Liverpool Hope University. Mike is Currently an external examiner on the Youth Worker Level 6 Integrated Degree Apprenticeship -BA (Hons) at Nottingham Trent University
Profile
Teaching
Mike is a Senior Lecturer on The Foundation Year, BA hons Youth and Community Work and the MA Education.
Other Activities
Conferences and Other Research Activity
2013: What can Society learn from Intentional Communities? International Communal Studies Association (ICSA) International Conference ‘Communal Pathways to Sustainable Living’
2016: Collaborative Critical Pedagogical Relations (CCPR), or Teacher-less Learning: Horizontal Environments for Learning and Action. Liverpool Hope University Doctoral Research Conference.
2017: Interrogating Power Relationships and problematising Assessment. British Educational Studies Annual Conference – Liverpool Hope University
2017: Unplanned, Incidental and Spontaneous Learning: A Critical Exploration in a Climate of Measurement. Birmingham Newman University Doctoral Research Conference.
2018: Interrogating Power Relationships and problematising Assessment. Annual Learning and Teaching Conference – Birmingham Newman University.
2019: Preparing for an Unexpected Journey: Preliminary Findings of an action research project on teaching Critical Pedagogy. The professional Association of Lecturers in Youth and Community Work Annual Conference 2019.
Publications
Chapters in Books
Rannala. I., Gilsenan. M., Martinson. M., & Roslof.u. ‘Key Concepts of Youth Work in Youth Work Curricula’ in Seal. M. (2019) Teaching Youth Work in Higher Education: Tensions, Connections, Continuities and Contradictions. University of Tartu: Tartu, Estonia.
Gilsenan, M., Seal, M., Bardy, H., & Grace, P. ‘How we Teach’ in Seal. M. (2019) Teaching Youth Work in Higher Education: Tensions, Connections, Continuities and Contradictions. University of Tartu: Tartu, Estonia.
Mathias. L. & Gilsenan. M. ‘Critiques of Critical Pedagogy: The Post-Critical’ in Seal. M. (2021) Hopeful Pedagogies in Higher Education. London: Bloomsbury
Bardy. H., & Gilsenan. M. ‘Preparing for an Unexpected Journey: Exploring the Experience of Teaching Critical Pedagogy through Critical Pedagogy’ in Seal. M. (2021) Hopeful Pedagogies in Higher Education. London: Bloomsbury
Seal. M., Gilsenan. M., & Haque. S. ‘Re-defining University’s Civic Responsibility through Community Organizing’. In Gormally. S., Maguire. A., & Seal. M. (2025) Higher Education, Community Connections and Collaborations. London: Bloomsbury