Wearside tutors pick up their latest awards

As one of their last duties in office, the current Mayor and Mayoress of Sunderland, Councillor Barry Curran and his wife, Carol, presented sixteen people with their teaching certificates.

The group all graduated with their Certificate in Education and Training (Level Four) after completing the course at Bunny Hill Customer Service Centre.

Sunderland City Council’s Family Adult and Learning Community Learning Team, FACL, provides a range of adult education and training at community venues and workplace settings across the city.

This includes helping existing tutors to develop their classroom skills and gain new qualifications, which allow them to teach and provide specialist vocational training for adults learning in the community.

The council provided half the funding for the course, which was delivered by Training in Care on FACL’s behalf with individual training programmes designed to fit around each learner’s domestic and employment circumstances.

The course was delivered over six months and included observations of teaching practice, written assignments and gathering a portfolio of classroom/vocational training and experience to help demonstrate personal and professional development throughout the course.

Coun Curran said: “The council is proud to invest in the continuous professional development of people in our own and our partner’s workforce, and we are delighted at this latest successful investment in their skills.

“These tutors are an asset to FACL and we hope they will continue to deliver for us in years to come.”

Adult learning provider, Mark Burns-Cassell of MBC Ceramics said: “I found the level four training to be an invaluable experience in enabling me to get the very most from my teaching practice. The course was informative, useful and relevant - tailored to our specific needs as adult and family education tutors.

“I feel much more confident in my abilities to teach and to inspire as a result of this training - and the financial support of the city council made this possible.”

LIFE co-ordinator and Training Manager at Washington MIND, Katy McKenna added: “Meeting with other like-minded tutors was both supportive and encouraging, as we all aimed to achieve this qualification in such a short time.

“ This qualification has proved to be beneficial, not only for myself but also for the organisation in which I work.”