UK’s first Community Learning Champion awarded Thursday, June 24, 2010 - 14:04

Groundwork West Midlands is today launching Coventry's first Community Learning Champions hub - POD - thanks to its Learn and Share, Coventry project funded by the Community Learning Champions Support Development Fund. POD will develop a sustainable Community Learning Champions initiative in Coventry, forming one of 50 across the UK.

Stephanie Pickett, aged 19, is the UK's first registered Community Learning Champion and will be awarded a badge giving her national recognition, alongside 26 other Community Learning Champions.

Stephanie's early learning experiences were negative, with bullying being a regular occurrence throughout her school years.

It was Stephanie's recent participation in a number of informal learning workshops - arranged by Groundwork West Midlands - that helped to transform her life and inspired her to help others into learning.

Stephanie said:

"I am extremely grateful for the opportunities I have been presented with from Groundwork ... I think I would still find learning negative if I had not been encouraged to participate by their staff...I began to enjoy learning again as the sessions were creative and staff were patient."

The WEA-accredited training that Stephanie undertook as part of the Community Learning Champions project has already given her new-found confidence. She now finds it easier to interact with people within formal learning environments and plans to return to university to study fine art.

As a result of the Community Learning Champions project, Stephanie is now working as a Project Assistant at Groundwork West Midlands.

Sarah Laughton, Essential Skills Officer from Groundwork West Midlands said:

"Community Learning Champions will be an extremely valuable resource for Coventry. They are there to support people and give them the encouragement to learn something new from using a library, cooking a new recipe to finding that perfect college course. The most important thing is that Learning Champions understand, often from their own experience, that the first step in to learning can be daunting, but the rewards of success are well worth it."

"Community Learning Champions have an ideal meeting place at The POD and will, over the next 6 months, be devising ways of establishing themselves and working across the city."

Mark Ravenhall, Director of Operations at NIACE, said:

"NIACE is delighted to work with Groundwork West Midlands to support their work developing learning communities. We would also like to congratulate Stephanie on her success in helping others get into learning. Stephanie has had to overcome her own negative associations with learning and she fully deserves the recognition she is receiving today."