Category: Teacher voices

Eugene: from student to teacher

Eugene: further education & beyondExtracts from an interview from the “FE in England: Transforming Lives and Communities Project” – carried out by Vicky Duckworth & Rob Smith and commissioned by UCU. Eugene talks about his journey: from leaving school with no GCSEs, through further education at college and ultimately ending with a Masters qualification. He…

Senior lecturer – Samantha McMahon

Samantha McMahon I want to champion working in FE, often perceived to be the poor relation in terms of education employment. I relocated and had two small children and managed to secure a few hours part time teaching in FE. The staff were fantastic, I received excellent mentoring and it was tough teaching some disaffected…

The Value of Adult Education

Kerry Scattergood is an adult literacy tutor, delivering functional skills in the adult & community team at Solihull College and University Centre. She believes in empowering learners’ voices through literacy events and that real reading and writing experiences can be transformative for adult learners. Kerry blogs at: everydayliteracyproject.wordpress.com, sharing her ideas and practice with other…

Jacqui, Assistant Principal (video #2): Colleges and their communities

“Without colleges, where would people go to improve their lives?”In this second extract from her interview, Jacqui talks about the vital community work colleges are involved in. Jacqui’s interview positions colleges at the heart of the communities in which they are situated. She links further education colleges’ work to wider social issues such as addressing…

Jacqui: Assistant Principal

Jacqui: “Do you not want to be somebody? Because you could be anything!!”In this interview, Jacqui talks about her work as a teacher in a further education college in Birmingham.     She outlines the vital work colleges do that is often overlooked, such as: working with gang members and with young people who have…

Cauldrons of Change

Anya Cook sits on UCU’s National Executive and Further Education committee and is Branch Secretary at Newcastle College where she is employed as Higher Education Mentor.   Here she tells Transforming Lives why we should all rise up and support FE Fights Back, UCU’s national campaign on funding and pay. “Never before have I had a…

Transformative research about transforming lives through learning

I have been following for a long while the valuable project “Transformational Further Education: Empowering People & Communities”, the culmination of research based on the very many inspiring stories from learners and teachers, collated by Dr Vicky Duckworth and Dr Rob Smith. It was brought to life on the very first occasion I had the…

Access education as an empowering lever in prison education

Access education for prisoners Dr Samantha Broadhead Currently I am researching the history of access education in the united kingdom from the late 1960s to the current Access to HE Diploma (AHED) which is usually delivered in Further Education (FE) validated by Access Validating Agencies which are recognised by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher…

Teacher of Health and Social care

What makes a great Further Education teacher? This is often one of the most unanswered questions put to me. FE is a fast paced and busy sector. As a teacher in FE I am often the first point of contact for students to discuss their college work or personal issues. I am organised, passionate and…