DrAlexa Hayley

Dr Hayley has expertise in scalable online learning design and delivery, with a focus on transformative learning and authentic assessment. She leads the large undergraduate unit HPS105 Foundations of Psychological Practice as Unit Chair, which has a regular cohort of 1000 students and team of 30 staff. Since 2012, she has taught into 20 different psychology units and led four units. 

Dr Hayley’s pedagogical approach is grounded in transformative learning, reflexive engagement with lived experience, and the deliberate scaffolding of critical thinking skills. She designs learning experiences that encourage students to question assumptions, connect psychological theory to personal, professional, and social contexts, and develop the confidence to engage with complexity. Her teaching emphasises example, demonstration, guided practice, and constructive challenge, helping students move from understanding concepts to applying them thoughtfully and ethically.

Her communication style is personable, pragmatic, and student-centred. She aims to make complex ideas accessible without oversimplifying them, creating learning environments in which students feel supported to reflect, think critically, and develop as emerging psychological practitioners.

Dr Hayley has a specific interest in understanding and supporting neurodiverse students in Psychology, in the transformative impact of engagement with Psychology higher education on students with lived experience. She is a passionate supporter of higher education for first-in-family students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and for students from cultural backgrounds where higher education is gendered or undervalued. She is invested in supporting Academic Integrity and Progress norms and processes at all levels of higher education.