Deborah began her career as a social researcher and statistician working in the Scottish Office and the NHS but later qualified as a primary teacher and taught in both the UK and Middle East. Deborah is a specialist in primary science teaching and she has written numerous books, articles and six schemes of work for science. She is published worldwide with her work being translated into several languages and used in schools across five continents. Currently she leads science education across the Initial Teacher Education programmes at Northumbria University.

Deborah regularly contributes on science in the teaching press and has just published schemes of work in Primary Science for Pearson Global and Hachette Global. Her work is also the recommended text for science in the Cambridge International Primary Curriculum.

Previously she was the CPD leader at Science Learning Centre North East where she featured in the Teachers TV series 'Inspirational CPD'. A Chartered Science Teacher and longstanding Member of the Royal Institution and the Association for Science Education, Deborah remains fascinated by how the world works and is driven to encourage the non-expert science teacher to find exciting and accessible ways for children to learn about it.

Deborah’s current research interest focusses on the idea of ‘fun’ in science and its relationship to children’s learning.