A TEAM of dedicated dyslexia teach-ers from Belfast Metropolitan College have been put forward for a presti-gious award for their work.
Nominated for a Pearson Teaching Award for Further Education Teacher/Team of the Year, the Met’s in-clusive learning team is four highly-skilled and experienced professionals in the field of dyslexia. They are; Carmel McKinney, Louise Jardine, Grainne Doherty and Paul McDon-nell.
The awards champion exceptional teaching professionals from across the UK and this year received more than 24,000 nominations.
Commending the group, the judges said: “The field of dyslexia and specif-ic learning difficulties is an area which needs so much development, training and expertise. This team has made an outstanding contribution and I com-mend them to you as an outstanding example of how commitment, deter-mination and a clear vision can make such a huge difference to learners.”
The team from Belfast Met will travel to London this week to attend a star-studded ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall on October 20, coverage of which will be broadcast on BBC2.
Emphasising the importance of the profession,president of the Teaching Awards Trust and Oscar-winning ac-tress Emma Thompson said: “I am genuinely proud and honoured to be the president of the Teaching Awards.
“I owe so much of what I’ve done to my fantastic teachers at school and university and it is exciting to join in celebrating what is probably the most important profession of them all.”
Belfast Met principal and chief ex-ecutive Marie Therese McGivern con-gratulated the nominees ahead of the awards saying: “This team is making such a difference to the lives of indi-vidual learners, they show how the in-fluence of a great teacher can last a lifetime.”
Meanwhile, Minister for Employ-ment and Learning, Stephen Farry, has assured investors that Northern Ire-land has the skills to deliver.
Giving the opening address at the Business, Professional and Financial Services session of the Northern Ire-land Investment Conference, the min-ister detailed the work being done to support these sectors of the economy, particularly in relation to ICT skills.
He said: “In order to support these sectors effectively, we recognise that it is of critical importance to ensure that we have a workforce that is suit-ably skilled in ICT. I established, and chair, an ICT working group com-prised of representatives from gov-ernment, education and business.
“Working together, we have put in place an ICT action plan which ad-dresses the specific skills needs of the local ICT sector through a number of interventions. This collaborative ap-proach, working together with all of the key stakeholders, is producing important results.
“My focus, as the minister with re-sponsibility for skills, is to continue to work collaboratively with industry and academia to ensure both inward investing companies, and indigenous companies, are provided with the skilled workforce they need to grow.”