Carol began her career as a play worker and artist in residence for Milton Keynes Play Association, whilst still a student. This formative experience has informed her understanding of how learning in art and design happens ever since. 

Carol trained as an Art & Design teacher at Homerton College, Cambridge before spending 12 years as a teacher of Art & Design and Design Technology in Oxfordshire. During this time she began mentoring trainee teachers of Art & Design and studied for an MA in Art & Education at Birmingham School of Art. Her MA dissertation research, prompted by her mentoring experience, was instrumental in developing her ideas about Pirate Pedagogy. On taking up the position of Course Director of the MA Arts Practice and Education and the Artist Teacher Scheme at BCU she was able to pursue further research into Pirate Pedagogy through collaborative arts practice with primary school pupils in her home town of Banbury. At BCU Carol taught modules in the Histories and Narratives of Art & Design Education, Global Issues in Art & Design Education, Photography as Research, Advanced Practice, and Research in Practice as well as teaching and supervising dissertation and practice-led students.  She also took the MA arts Practice and Education through revalidation and developed new modules. 

In 2017 Carol left BCU to complete her PhD and subsequently took up a new post of Postgraduate Programme Lead at the University of Warwick, responsible for the MA Professional Education. In this role she developed a new Research in Professional Practice module and launched the Ethics Portfolio module. She also pioneered the Postgraduate certificate in Professional Education, which provided a route for experienced teachers to gain academic credit for their work-based learning.

In 2022 Carol moved to UCL, IOE, to lead the PGCE Art & Design.