My approach to teaching centres on my enthusiasm for other people’s photographs. It is a great pleasure to spend time looking at, thinking about and talking about other people’s photographs – whether this be in a lecture discussing the history of photography and what is happening in photography now, or in a tutorial discussing and debating students’ own photographs and their ideas.

I teach the theory and practice of photography and, although these sessions often come under separate headings, there are a lot of photographs in my theory sessions and a lot of theories in my practice sessions. This makes the links between photographs and the ideas that relate to them clear.

Teaching is about the students, so my approach is centred around the students’ photographs and their ideas. The idea is not to produce students whose work follows the ideas or practice of the lecturers, but to provide an environment in which, informed by an understanding of photography, students can make work that is their own.