Coleg Sir Gâr lecturer Charlie Hammond has been nominated for a Gold Plato Pearson’s Teaching Award following his silver award presented earlier this year for exceptional contribution to the teaching profession.
On Sunday, October 22, Charlie will attend a glittering awards ceremony at East Wintergarden, London, where he will find out if he has won a prestigious Gold Plato Award. Charlie was nominated for the accolade by pupils, parents and colleagues.
The ceremony, hosted by BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty with Countryfile's Sean Fletcher, will be broadcast on BBC TWO at 6pm on October 29, as “Britain’s Classroom Heroes”, and is an annual event that celebrates the very best of the UK’s teaching profession.
Eleven Gold Plato awards will be presented across categories such as Headteacher of the Year in a Secondary School, Excellence in Special Needs Education and Lifetime Achievement.
In June this year, Charlie was recognised for his exceptional contribution to the teaching profession as one of just 56 Silver Teaching Award winners in the UK, winning his award in the category The Award for the Outstanding Use of Technology in Education, Supported by Google.
In 2011 Charlie began using emerging learning platforms to improve communication between himself and his students. He developed this with the aim of reducing paper by combining different types of VLE’s. By the time Google Classroom was launched he saw that many of the tools he needed could be combined in one place. He grew his strategy and influenced his colleagues to try new techniques and maximise their digital skills for the benefit of the students, the course and the college. Recent results have shown some of the highest attendance levels in the college.
Charlie Hammond said: “Working from a Cloud based platform using the Google Gsuite in my everyday teaching practice has been transformational for both myself and for the students.
“Access to work is available 24/7 and the communication link is much more effective as it can be relayed in real time, even when they are not in college.
“The value of working remotely and collaboratively is ultimately preparing students for a workplace that is ever increasing in its needs for employees to possess high levels of digital skills.”
Louis Dare, e-learning development manager at Coleg Sir Gâr said: “Charlie has effectively adopted the use of ILT in the classroom using Google Classroom as a platform for assignments, learner files and course management.
The Pearson Teaching Awards is an annual celebration of exceptional teachers and teaching. Founded in 1998 by Lord Puttnam, they recognise the life-changing impact of an inspirational teacher on the lives of the young people they teach.
Rod Bristow, President of Pearson UK, said: "Great teaching improves the life chances of our children. It's an incredibly tough, pressured and wearing job.
“Teachers deserve all the support we can give them, now more than ever. That's why these Pearson teaching awards are important, and that's why I'm delighted once again to lend our support to giving teaching the recognition it deserves."