Month: December 2016

Abi: Access student

Abi moved to Manchester as a single mum and was living in a women’s refuge. Prior to her Access course, she felt she had lost her way and, having just escaped from an abusive relationship, wanted to start a new life with a her child. Today, she is a student studying a Social Science degree at Manchester…

Happy New Year 2019

To everyone who we have talked to who has shared their fantastic stories and those who have supported transforming lives & communities in so many ways Wishing you a happy New Year 2019! Vicky & Rob    

Simon: Employer

Simon, the CEO of Makers – a construction firm in the West Midlands, is an employer who takes his responsibility for the training of his employees very seriously. Together with a local college, he devised a apprenticeship that would ensure a course that would meet the needs of his company. For the staff involved this…

Guy: Access and ESOL student

Guy, originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, started college with no clear idea of what path he wanted to take. With guidance from a tutor, he started a course that he found challenging as his first language is French.  With lots of hard work, Guy’s English improved. He chose to pursue a pathway leading…

If we want to continue to Transform lives we need the transform ourselves?

I am proud to have been involved in Further and Adult Education for over 40 years. Firstly, as teacher, learner, lecturer, manager, Vice Principal and Principal and now privileged to be chair of governors at Northern College in Barnsley an Ofsted double rated ‘outstanding’ provider of Adult residential education. In all those years I have…

The Importance of being a teacher-practitioner

The smell of the grease paint, the heat of the lights, the sound of laughter, the thrill of the applause….a life in the theatre. When I decided to be a Performing Arts teacher I thought I had to leave all of this in the past. That was, however, until I discovered other ways to fulfil…

The Naked Vocational Trainer

My professional career began after completing secondary education in 1965 and gaining employment with British Telecom in central London. There I learned the concepts of life-long learning and continuing personal development and it was a natural progression to become professionally involved in the vocational training of electricians and apprentices in 1989. While studying for an…

Resilience: Stories of Adult Learning

Learner stories were collected from across Australia and the United Kingdom, and include voices spanning much of the earth. The anthology originated in two national adult literacies organisations whose members wanted told the stories of the resilience of learners and the value of developing literacies through lifelong and lifewide learning. This is the latest collection…