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The Literacy, Language and Numeracy Team
Joyce Black
Learning Support Development Officer
Joyce was initially seconded to NIACE in January 2002 as the Project Manager for the ABSSU national teacher training project Basic Skills for Inclusive Learning (BASIL) and was appointed Learning Support Development Officer in October 2002.
Other NIACE work that Joyce has managed includes, the Skills for Life Quality Initiative Professional Development Programme and the successful DfES ABSSU project, researching approaches to dyslexia, as well as leading on one of NIACE’s European Socrates Projects, Promoting Social Inclusion Through Basic Skills Learning.
More recently, Joyce was the Project Manager leading the national consortium for a major, new DfES-funded development programme, Learning for Living - Developing access to Skills for Life for adults with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, on literacy, language and numeracy for adults with learning difficulties and disabilities through six Skills for Life Pathfinder projects across England and is currently managing NIACE’s contribution to the QIA’s Skills for Life Quality Improvement Programme.
Before joining NIACE Joyce worked for over 20 years in a general FE college in Leicestershire and as the Manager for Learning Support from 1996 until 2001. As a fully qualified teacher, she has extensive experience in the teaching and management of basic skills and learning support programmes for adult learners.
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Sally Croft
Project Officer
Sally Croft is the Project Officer for the Literacy, Language and Numeracy Team at NIACE. Sally joined NIACE in 2004 as the Project officer for the Learning for Living Pathfinder project - Developing access to Skills for Life for adults with learning difficulties or disabilities. The project focused on working collaboratively with practitioners, managers and learners to identify what works best when teaching adults with learning difficulties and disabilities.
When the project ended in March 2005 Sally then worked on numerous projects including: establishing work placements for refugees; evaluating the series of regional seminars (called the Regional Achievement Dialogues) to feedback regional priorities for Skills for Life to the DfES; researching into professional development opportunities for teachers who teach adults with learning difficulties for LLUK; and co-ordinating the Youth Literacies Network established to support practitioners working with young people.
Sally has over seven years experience in education, where prior to coming to NIACE she worked in higher education developing provision for students with disabilities and specific learning difficulties. Sally’s particular area of interest is in widening access to literacy, language and numeracy for those learners who are under-represented in current provision.
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Rebecca Czechowicz
Administrative assistant, supporting Anne Hansen, Joan O’Hagan and Sue
Southwood in the LLN team.
Rebecca came to NIACE in March 2007. Before this, she worked for four years in Gdansk, teaching English and linguistics.
Currently, Rebecca is working on Fast Facts, Science for Adults and ‘Stick With It!’, the QIA persistence project.
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Rachel Davies
Development Officer.
Rachel joined NIACE in November 2004 as a development officer for the Literacy, Language and Numeracy team, focussing on dyslexia.
She has worked for 10 years as a specialist dyslexia tutor in colleges in Leicester and Buckinghamshire and trains tutors as dyslexia specialists for LLU+. Rachel has also worked with colleges in Oxford and Birmingham to develop their dyslexia support provision.
Rachel is an experienced literacy and learning support tutor who has worked for a number of colleges, ACL providers, voluntary sector organisations and a Young Offenders Institution as a tutor, manager and advanced practitioner.
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Fiona Eaton
Administrative Assistant (Workplace Learning)
Fiona joined NIACE in 2003 as administrative assistant supporting Joan O’Hagan on the NHSU project until 2005, a project to make learning opportunities available to low-paid NHS staff in England. She now works as the administrative assistant for the Successful Retirement Project within the Workplace Learning Team, supporting Lynsey Harris.
Before joining NIACE Fiona worked as a project administrator in the music industry for 20 years and for 3 years in the legal profession. She is currently nearing the completion of studying for a BA in English Literature at Loughborough University.
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Silvanna Harvey
Development Officer (Literacy, Language and numeracy).
Appointed in May 2003 to contribute to the organisation, co-ordination and delivery of NIACE’s project work. Recent work experience includes working for Northamptonshire Lifelong Learning service where I was responsible for the management of the Literacy, Language & Numeracy provision and tutor training.
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Narzny Khan
Narzny Khan joined NIACE in March 2003. Narzny has a BA honours degree in
Economics and Politics from Manchester University, a TESOL qualification from
Trinity College and a PGCCE from Nottingham University, with QTS.
Before joining NIACE she taught ESOL in the UK, Greece and most recently Brazil. In Manchester she taught ESOL to refugees and asylum seekers and in Brazil she worked on a street-children project, where she taught children and adults from the local community in Sao Paulo.
Since joining NIACE, she has been involved in the UK online centres and learndirect centres project and the Literacy, Numeracy and ESOL Teacher Training and Retraining project, the ESOL Citizenship Project and the Learning for Living pathfinders project.
Narzny has also worked in offender education teaching at HMP Leicester and currently teaches ESOL and Spanish at HMP Gartree.
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Better Together:
partnerships to prevent homelessness and improve outcomes for young people
Hazel Power
Secretarial Assistant for Jan Eldred - Senior Development Officer.
Hazel joined NIACE in February 2003. She previously worked as Secretarial Support for the Adult and Community Learning Fund (ACLF).
Prior to joining NIACE, Hazel worked for Oadby and Wigston Borough Council for nearly 4 years.
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Sue Southwood
Development Officer.
Sue is a Development Officer with particular responsibility for developing literacy, language and numeracy with employers and employees in the workplace. Sue has recently completed a research fellowship with the NRDC: Collaborative Learning in the Workplace.
Sue has written the following publications:
 | Developing Literacy, Language and Numeracy in the Workplace, NIACE |
| Skills for Working, DfES, co-written with Ruth Quilter |
| E-guide for ESOL tutors to use ICT in their teaching, NIACE, co-written with Mary Moss |
| Fast Facts series |
She has designed and delivered a variety of staff development courses and workshops for staff at Fairbridge, Leicestershire Partnership, Hertfordshire symposium, LSC, NRDC, DfES, Unionlearn and First Group.
Sue is currently writing a Framework for Literacy, Language and Numeracy: to support courses for young parents and parents-to-be.
She is also working with Unionlearn to develop a Quality Mark for union-friendly courses.
Before joining NIACE in August 2004, Sue set up and managed workplace basic skills programmes for Northern Foods, Ford Motor Company and Transport for London. At Ford and TfL, these programmes expanded to include Family Literacy and Numeracy, IT and GCSE Maths and English.
Sue started her career in basic skills as a community basic skills tutor in Norfolk and has also spent a year teaching ESOL in Spain.
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Christine Taylor
Development Officer (Literacy, Numeracy and Language ).
Chris joined NIACE as the Literacy, Language & Numeracy Development Officer in March 2001. Since then she has worked on a wide range of projects for NIACE, including the Sure Start audit, Basic Skills in local communities evaluation, the Evaluation of the Step in to Learning Training and Development programme and RETRO, the Recruitment and Training project. In partnership with LLU+, she led the ESOL citizenship project to develop the learning materials pack, Citizenship materials for ESOL learners for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
She has extensive experience in the teaching and managing basic skills and ESOL programmes for adult learners.
From 1998 to 2001 she was Head of the Training and Employment Section at the Refugee Council, During this time she was member of the REEF group at DfEE, chaired by Margaret Hodge, a member of the Basic Skills Agency Advisory Committee and a member of DfEE working group on ESOL for the response to the Moser Report.
From 1994 to 1997 Chris was Project Director of Language 2000, a large inner city basic skills programme, in Bethnal Green. The project delivered ESOL, basic skills and IT training to local adults as part of a government regeneration programme.
Prior to that she worked as Open Learning Centre Co-ordinator at Tower Hamlets College. This was an ALBSU national development project, one of 11 inner city open learning centres specialising in Information Technology to support ESOL and basic skills.
Chris has worked in West Africa, the Caribbean, USA, Malta and the Soviet Union.
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Sarah Wright
Administrative Co-ordinator.
Sarah Joined NIACE in July 2000 as Administrative Secretary working to the Director of Programmes and Policy. In February 2001 she was appointed Administrator for the Adult and Community Learning Fund. This was a £30 million fund set up by the DfES to support community based organisations in developing new learning opportunities for adults Before coming to NIACE she worked for the Leicester Royal Infirmary for 9 years as a Medical Secretary in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics. As of 1st August 2004 Sarah will join the Basic Skills Team as Administrative Co-ordinator.
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