Category: Teacher voices

Judith: access tutor

Working in the North East, Judith has a strong awareness of the community her students come from. Her approach to teaching focuses on individuals and mediating new knowledge to make it meaningful and accessible. This builds confidence and strengthens engagement. Judith is a committed teacher who has seen a multitude of learners transform their lives…

Curtis: teacher & Illustrator

Curtis compares being an FE teacher to spinning plates.  Not only do FE teachers have to meet the needs of their students but they have to gather data about individual students and always be mindful of funding. Curtis thinks it is vital that FE teachers are active in their approaches and that they bring themselves…

Nyomi

Nyomi’s partner had a long term illness and when she had a child she became depressed and felt locked in a spiral of despair. Encouraged by her health visitor, she attended a course at college. She felt accepted for who she was and a year later has begun studying a Podiatry degree. Now her partner…

Jez

Jez is passionate about teaching Business to Level 1 and Level 2 students. Over fourteen years, Jez has watched countless young people progress from Level 1 through to Level 3 and eventually go on to university to undertake degree level study. He believes in building his students’ academic confidence and having high expectations. He fosters autonomy…

Pippa

Pippa’s journey is an inspiration. Overcoming personal difficulties, Pippa studied to become a teacher. Now she works to create a learning environment for her students in which she can offer the kind of opportunities for transformation that she herself has experienced.

Claire

Claire has rediscovered the drive, enthusiasm and confidence she had when she was 18. She particularly values the equality she found in the way her course was run at college. There, she was listened to and found her own voice. FE has changed the way she sees herself and the way she views the world.…

Saira

Saira is a newly qualified teacher. As a parent herself and a carer, studying at college took her outside her family and boosted her confidence and paved the way to her gaining her Cert Ed. The course challenged her but she came out a different person, a person with hope and enhanced opportunities. Saira: ‘I’ve…

Jimmy

Jimmy works with 14-16 year olds in college – some of whom have been excluded from school and feel school is not for them. He brings a lot of life experience to his teaching job… He doesn’t give up on his students. He refuses to write them off.

Alan: Construction teacher

Alan is a bricklayer and builder with decades of industry experience. He sees his work in college as providing more than just skills and knowledge about the construction industry.

I didn’t know that I was meant to be a teacher.

Julie Hughes, teacher educator & head of Post Compulsory Education Department at the University of Wolverhampton: I didn’t know that I was meant to be a teacher. But the wonderful FE teacher who interviewed me for a place on a childcare course saw something in me that I couldn’t see myself. I was a mature…