Belfast Met honoured in prestigious national celebration of teaching 2018 Pearson Teaching Award Win

The Essential Skills Team of Belfast Metropolitan College has won a Silver Teaching Award in the Further Education Team of the Year category. Selected from thousands of nominations, the Essential Skills Team is one of just 65 winners who celebrated on 22nd June - ‘Thank A Teacher Day’, as the national Teaching Awards marked its 20th year of celebrating excellence in education.

Friday 29 June 2018

Belfast Met honoured in prestigious national celebration of teaching 2018 Pearson Teaching Award Win

The Essential Skills Team of Belfast Metropolitan College has won a Silver Teaching Award in the Further Education Team of the Year category.

Selected from thousands of nominations, the Essential Skills Team is one of just 65 winners who celebrated on 22nd June - ‘Thank A Teacher Day’, as the national Teaching Awards marked its 20th year of celebrating excellence in education.

Celebrations took place in schools and colleges across England, Wales and Northern Ireland as the prestigious Silver Pearson Teaching Awards trophies were presented to outstanding teachers, teaching assistants, headteachers and lecturers.

Nicola Bell who manages the Essential Skills team at Belfast Met said: “We are delighted to have won this prestigious award and to have put our team on the map. I’d like to say a massive congratulations and thank you to my team who are 100 per cent dedicated to continuous improvement and giving our students the best experience possible.”

The Pearson Teaching Awards are an annual celebration of exceptional teachers, founded in 1998 by Lord Puttnam to recognise the life-changing impact an inspirational teacher can have on the lives of the young people they teach.

The Essential Skills Team will now join fellow Silver Award winners, along with 3 Scottish Education Award winners and 3 winners of the Professional Teaching Awards Cymru, at the 20th UK Ceremony of the Pearson Teaching Awards, a glittering ceremony held in central London on 21st October. There they will find out which of them has won one of just 12 Gold Plato Awards, the UK’s “Oscars for Teachers”.

The October ceremony, titled “Britain’s Classroom Heroes”, will be filmed and broadcast by the BBC as a showcase of excellence in education. Previous award presenters have included former prime ministers David Cameron and Tony Blair, acting legends Jenny Agutter, Alison Steadman and Sheila Hancock and sports and TV personalities including Shirley Ballas, Helen Glover, Brendan Cole and Nadiya Hussain.

Rod Bristow, President of Pearson UK, said: "A huge congratulations to all those receiving a silver trophy today. They should feel extremely proud of their achievements and join an inspirational group of Teaching Award winners from the past two decades. It’s an honour for Pearson to support these Awards each year - it’s so vital to recognise and celebrate those in the teaching profession, for their commitment to education and for the impact they have on young people's lives.“

Friday 29 June 2018