Grimsby Institute wins National Education Award

Institute praised for embedding technologically enhancing teaching and learning

Grimsby Institute has won an AoC Beacon Award for an initiative which helped to make a difference to the daily working lives of its staff.

The Institute picked up the City & Guilds Award for Staff Development for its ‘Level Up! Level Up Your Teaching, Today!’ initiative. The main aim of the Level Up initiative was to promote innovative and embedded technologically enhanced teaching and learning.  All staff – regardless of ability or position in the organisation – had the opportunity to explore and utilise innovative technologies and training methodologies that encourage them to modernise their working practices and to promote outstanding teaching and learning.  One of the objectives was to use the staff social media platform Yammer to actively promote the success of staff members and encourage them to nominate their colleagues. This would ensure every staff member felt part of the success.

The Level Up initiative is the most successful staff CPD and ILT training programme in the history of the college, achieving widespread positive praise and attention regionally and nationally. In particular, Ofsted specifically identified the training scheme and its innovative approach as outstanding practice in the recent inspection. Further to this, Level Up as a methodology was presented at a digital teaching and learning event receiving enormous support as an adaptable and credible solution to the wider engagement of staff in ILT and CPD. 

Toni Rhodes, Executive Director of Quality Improvement and Innovation, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have won the AoC Beacon Award for Staff Development sponsored by City & Guilds. As a global leader in skills development City & Guilds are well placed to recognise high quality staff development which echoes our investment in staff.”

Carole Stott MBE, Chair of the AoC Charitable Trust, said: “Every year the Beacon Awards receive many excellent submissions and the high standard made it hard for assessors to determine the winning application in each category.

“All the entries demonstrated the commitment of colleges to create the best possible experience for their students. Grimsby Institute can be rightly proud to be named as the winners of their category.”

The AoC Beacon Awards celebrate the best and most innovative practice among UK further education colleges. They reward colleges that go above and beyond in providing high-quality technical and professional education. Award winners must also offer something exceptional to students and the wider community.

Background information

The AoC Beacon Awards capture and celebrate the best and most innovative practice among UK further education colleges. They are designed to “promote the interdependence of further education colleges, business, professional and voluntary organisations to their mutual advantage, through highlighting excellence and sharing best practice”.

There are 11 Awards on offer in 2017-18. In total there were 119 entries from 68 colleges.

The awards are judged by independent assessors, with an independent Chief Assessor ensuring consistency across the categories.  All initial applications are anonymous to ensure impartiality.  Shortlisted colleges are then subjected to a visit, which allows the assessors to match the ‘evidence on the ground’ of the initiatives.