Swindon College has celebrated a double victory at the prestigious 2013 Learner Voice Awards with executive director Amanda Burnside scooping the award for Senior Leader of the Year and the college itself gaining the Most Improved Further Education College title. The victory follows the college’s recent ‘outstanding’ grading by Ofsted.
The awards, now in their fifth year, celebrate the significant contributions learners make to the further education (FE) and skills sector, and recognise the staff who support them in doing this. They are hosted by the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) and the National Union of Students (NUS).
The awards, which are also an opportunity to ensure that good practice is shared and available for others to learn from, are open to learners, staff and providers in the FE and skills sector. This includes sixth form and independent specialist colleges for learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, work-based learning, adult community learning and offender learning.
Amanda Burnside, pictured collecting the Senior Leader Award, said: “It was a great day for the college to receive two awards which celebrate our real focus on the student voice.”
Vice principal John Evans, pictured below collecting the Most Improved Provider award, added: “Swindon College has been on an amazing journey to outstanding and this has been achieved by truly putting the learner at the heart of everything we do.”
LSIS head of learning and learner support Ann Ruthven said: “The award categories highlight the changing and evolving priorities facing the FE and skills sector. They illustrate a continued commitment to deliver outstanding teaching and learning in the sector.”
Since they were launched in 2008, the Leading Learner Voice Awards have provided a strong national focus for the work of thousands of learners and staff across the sector who are actively engaged in leadership for learner representation and participation. The occasion provides an opportunity to celebrate the outstanding achievements of learners, individually or collectively, and of practitioners, managers and organisations’ who have shown leadership and commitment to learner voice whether for organisational change and development, or in a wider community, social or political context.
