The Open University

Professional biography

I am a Senior Lecturer in Work and Organisational Learning and the Qualification Lead for the Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship (CMDA) programme at The Open University. I joined the OU central academic team in 2021, having worked in Associate Lecturer and Practice Tutor roles for the University since 2009. I am an external examiner at the University of Hertfordshire as well as at Bath Spa University where I worked previously as a Senior Lecturer in Business and Management. I gained my ESRC funded PhD and MRes at the University of Bath (where I maintain a role as a Visiting Research Fellow), and I have an MBA from INSEAD in France.

Before joining academia I had an extensive career in the consumer goods industry which included developing the launch of vacuum cleaners and washing machines; project managing a sponsor's on-site presence at the winter Olympic Games in Japan; and working as the UK Marketing Director of a major beauty brand.

Research interests

I am interested in the lived experience of work, with a particular focus on learning in, for and through work, recognising that each work situation is unique. This has led to two complementary research streams: one focused on work-based learning as a pedagogical approach; and the other related to how organisational contradictions are lived, and the impact those contradictions have on leadership, behaviour and organisations.

I hold a British Academy small research grant [SRG24\240061], alongside Dr Norah Almubarak from King Faisal University in Saudi Arabia, for our research project investigating the lived experience of female angel investing in the Saudi Arabian context.

I use engaged methods of research, and have a published book chapter on employing an ethnographic methodology within organisational research.

I am a community organiser of the work-based learning community of practice at The Open University, as well as a co-convener of the UVAC CMDA knowledge network.

Teaching interests

I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and have extensive experience of teaching business and management studies across all academic levels, with a particular focus on organisational behaviour, leadership and work based learning.

Publications

Journal articles

Delivering the Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship: What are the challenges and implications for good practice? (2024-06-04)
Horáčková, Clare; Bloomfield, Sarah; Pereira, Carla Roberta and Mutwarasibo, Fidèle
Higher Education, Skills and Work-based Learning, 14(3) (pp. 625-640)

“I don’t know what’s going on”: Theorising the relationship between unknowingness and distributed leadership (2024)
Bloomfield, Sarah; Rigg, Clare and Vince, Russ
Human Relations, 77(12) (pp. 1784-1810)

Book chapters

Learning to see the wood through the trees as a PhD ethnographer (2021-01-14)
Bloomfield, Sarah
In: Kostera, Monika and Harding, Nancy eds. Organizational Ethnography (pp. 200-216)
ISBN : 9781786438096 | Publisher : Edward Elgar | Published : Cheltenham

Conference items

Maximising the opportunity provided by the ‘tripartite relationship’ in degree apprenticeships (2024-11-25)
Bloomfield, Sarah and Mooney, Evelyn
In : Pan University project dissemination event (25 Nov 2024, The Open University, Milton Keynes)

Navigating the complexities of work-based learning among learners, employers, and educators workshop: Three’s a crowd? (2024-11-13)
Salter, Abigail; Bloomfield, Sarah and Smith, Maria
In : Centre for Policing Research and Learning (CPRL) 10th Anniversary Conference (13-14 Nov 2024, Milton Keynes, UK)

Recognising prior experiential learning (in degree apprenticeships): New ways of thinking - why we should, why we aren't, and how we could be doing it (2024-11-06)
Pokorny, Helen; Bloomfield, Sarah; Booth, Joanna; Rosamond, Victoria and Brown, Trevor A.
In : UVAC National Conference (6 Nov 2024, Birmingham, UK)

Three’s a Crowd? Navigating the Complexities of Work-Based Learning Among Learners, Employers, and Educators: A Collaborative Approach in Higher Education (2024-10-29)
Salter, Abigail and Bloomfield, Sarah
In : ISSOTL (International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning) 24 (28-31 Oct 2024, Indiana, USA)

The lived experience of female angel investors in a Saudi Arabian context (2024-09-05)
Almubarak, Norah and Bloomfield, Sarah
In : British Academy of Management Conference (02-06 Sep 2024, Nottingham Trent University)

Employing a cultural toolkit to work through paradox (2024-08-01)
Bloomfield, Sarah; Pradies, Camille and Tunarosa, Andrea
In : Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings (12 Aug 2024, Chicago, USA)

Towards a ‘CMS-OP Coalition’: A critical paradox analysis of agentic and performative power in organisations (2024-07-04)
Boparai, Rosie; Ngoasong, Michael; Kourti, Isidora and Bloomfield, Sarah
In : EGOS Colloquium (4-6 Jul 2024, University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan, Italy)

The Recognition of Prior Learning (RPeL) – How do we do this? (2024-07-02)
Pokorny, Helen; Bloomfield, Sarah and Booth, Joanna
In : UALL-SCUTREA Conference 2024: Thinking globally and acting locally for lifelong learning (1-3 Jul 2024, SOAS, University of London)

Tension, emotion and altruism: line managers as unsung heroes at the workforce development coalface? (2024-07-01)
Bloomfield, Sarah; Marshall, Helen; Timmins, Susan; Reid, Kristen and Myers, Fran
In : UALL–SCUTREA Conference 2024: Thinking globally and acting locally for lifelong learning (1-3 Jul 2024, SOAS, University of London)

Apprentice Perspectives: Agency, resilience, and withdrawal in work-based learning provision (2024-06-17)
Myers, Fran; Reid, Kristen and Bloomfield, Sarah
In : The 13th Researching Work and Learning conference (17-19 Jun 2024, Linköping University, Sweden) (pp. 74-76)

Employer supported learning in Higher Education: Maximising the opportunity provided by the ‘tripartite relationship’ in degree apprenticeships (2024-06-13)
Bloomfield, Sarah; Mooney, Evelyn; Marshall, Helen; Salter, Abigail; Reid, Kristen; Smith, Maria and Abbott, Christine
In : NEON Summer Symposium (13-14 Jun 2024, University of West London, UK)

Modelling work-based learning on degree apprenticeships as an integrated learning experience (2024)
Bloomfield, Sarah; Nottingham, Paula; Sutton, Louise; Timmins, Susan and Mao, Yan
In : 12th Chartered Association of Business Schools Conference on Learning, Teaching and Student Experience (14-15 May 2024, Birmingham, UK)

The straw that broke the camel's back?: a tensions based perspective on the role of Portfolios in aiding and restricting learning on the CMDA (2023-11-29)
Reid, Kristen; Bloomfield, Sarah and Myers, Fran
In : UVAC Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship Knowledge Network (29 Nov 2023, Birmingham City University, Birmingham, UK)

Delivering the Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship: what are the challenges and implications for good practice? (2023-11)
Bloomfield, Sarah; Horáčková, Clare; Pereira, Carla Roberta and Mutwarasibo, Fidèle
In : UVAC Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship Knowledge Network (29 Nov 2023, Birmingham City University, Birmingham, UK)

Alone in the woods with a gun: On the frontline as a Wildlife Ranger (2023-07)
Bloomfield, Sarah
In : EGOS Colloquium (6-8 Jul 2023, Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy)

Maximising the work-based learning opportunity provided by the Chartered Management Degree Apprenticeship (CMDA) (2023-06-28)
Bloomfield, Sarah; Pereira, Carla Roberta; Horáčková, Clare and Mutwarasibo, Fidèle
In : Global Citizenship and Lifelong Learning (26-28 Jun 2023, Madingley, Cambridge)

“Unknowingness” as a Route to Distributed Leadership (2022-08-01)
Rigg, Clare; Bloomfield, Sarah and Vince, Russ
In : Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings (6 Jul 2022, Seattle, USA)

Sustaining organizational paradox through collective paradox work within Forestry England (2022-07-07)
Bloomfield, Sarah
In : EGOS Colloquium (7-9 Jul 2022, WU (Vienna University of Economics and Business) Vienna, Austria)

When expertise is lacking - Finding value in unknowingness (2022-07-07)
Rigg, Clare; Bloomfield, Sarah and Vince, Russ
In : EGOS Colloquium (7-9 Jul 2022, WU (Vienna University of Economics and Business) Vienna, Austria)

Retention issues on CMDA apprenticeship programs: who is withdrawing, when, and why? (2022-06-07)
Bloomfield, Sarah; Pereira, Carla; Mutwarasibo, Fidèle; Horáčková, Clare; McArthur, Marni and Phillips, Mike
In : SCiLAB Festival of Scholarship 2022 (Tuesday 7 Jun, The Open University)

Researcher vulnerability when organisational anonymity is impossible (2022-02-01)
Bloomfield, Sarah
In : Qualitative Research Symposium (1-2 Feb 2022, University of Bath [Online])

Exploring unknowingness as a route to distributed leadership (2021-12-12)
Bloomfield, Sarah and Rigg, Clare
In : 19th International Studying Leadership Conference (12-14 Dec 2021, The Open University)

Learning to see the wood through the trees as a PhD ethnographer (2020)
Bloomfield, Sarah
In : Festival of Ethnography (2020, Online)

Leadership of tensions & tensions of leadership: The importance of not knowing in distributed leadership (2019-12-16)
Bloomfield, Sarah; Vince, Russ and Harding, Nancy
In : 18th International Studying Leadership Conference: Putting leadership in its place (16-17 Dec 2019, University of West of England)

Loyal traitors and successful failures: Values, emotions and paradox within Forestry England (2019-07-04)
Bloomfield, Sarah and VInce, Russ
In : EGOS Colloquium (4 Jul - 6 Jul 2019, University of Edinburgh)

Seeing the forest without the trees: The paradox of the clearcutting custodians of England’s forests (2018-07-05)
Bloomfield, Sarah and Vince, Russ
In : EGOS Colloquium (5 Jul - 7 Jul 2018, Tallinn University, Estonia)

Love, like, loathe: The emotional experience of hybridity (2017-08-29)
Bloomfield, Sarah
In : The 12th Annual International Ethnography Symposium (29 Aug - 1 Sep 2017, Manchester University)

What can pizza tell us about hybridity? (2017-05-09)
Bloomfield, Sarah
In : Beyond Text arts-based research project (9 May - 19 May 2017, University of Vic, Spain)

Is pizza good for researchers? (2017)
Bloomfield, Sarah
In : ESRC SWDTC Student Conference (2017, University of Bath)

The brave new world of teaching and learning with digital devices in HE classrooms (2015)
Bloomfield, Sarah
In : ABS annual conference (2015, University of York)

The brave new world of teaching and learning with digital devices in HE classrooms (2014)
Bloomfield, Sarah
In : Workshop in Business, Economics and e-Learning (2014, BFeL, Spain)

Thesis

Seeing both the wood and the trees: An ethnographic hike through paradox (2021-02-17)
Bloomfield, Sarah
PhD thesis University of Bath

Other

Why not knowing what to do isn’t always a bad thing for leaders (2024-08-15)
Bloomfield, Sarah and Rigg, Clare
The Conversation

Learning to work whilst working to learn: Is the degree apprenticeship a route for me? (2024-06-06)
Bloomfield, Sarah; Buray, Kulvinder; Myers, Fran and Shek, Mary
SCiLAB, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK.

“Unknowingness” as a Route to Distributed Leadership [Video] (2024-01-31)
Rigg, Clare and Bloomfield, Sarah
Sage Publications, Ltd

What happens when apprentices are made redundant (2023-11-22)
Myers, Fran; Bloomfield, Sarah and Reid, Kristen
Wonkhe

Business and Management Degree Apprenticeships – a quiet revolution, a work-in-progress, or business-as-usual? (2023-06-01)
Myers, Fran; Reid, Kristen and Bloomfield, Sarah
The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK.