Nominations are now invited for the 2010 Awards (closing date is 26 March). Volunteers are also needed for the judging panel for these Awards.

For full details, and the nomination form, please click here.

The Trustees, together with the judges for 2009, have conducted a thorough evaluation of the 2009 awards prior to deciding on the 2010 awards. Our theme will be 'Inspirational Educators' on the grounds that inspirational educators make for motivated learners. We had a preponderance of nominations from Higher Education in 2009, so for 2010 we are applying the theme separately to four categories; primary, secondary, further and higher, lifelong learning (to include adult education and learning in the workplace).

We will be providing guidelines to assist your selection for nominations. Following difficulties which some colleagues had in 2009 with a purely electronic nomination system, we will be accepting paper-based nominations as well. You can nominate more than one person, if you wish. We would encourage you to use your educational contacts and networks to seek out nominations rather than having to rely on those you know personally.

The 2010 awards will be presented at the Annual Assembly dinner in June, not at a luncheon as for 2009.

We still have some way to go before we reach the target of £300,000 required for application to become a Worshipful Company. With this in mind, the Trustees have approved the establishment of a fund-raising sub-committee, chaired by Freeman Bryan Baughan. If you have any ideas on raising funds, you may be sure that Bryan will be only too pleased to hear them!

The Fund has received a very generous bequest from our late Freeman, Mary Lou Carrington. In honour of Mary Lou, the Trustees have decided to create an annual award in her name. This will be presented for the first time at the 2010 Annual Assembly.

Susan Fey O.B.E. J.P.
Chairman of Trustees

In accordance with the philanthropic tradition of the City of London Livery Companies, the Company of Educators operates a separate charitable fund (Charity Reg. No. 110435). It does so to support the development of those who are engaged in the profession of education, development and training.

The objects of the charitable Trust are:

At present, the Company is able to reflect those objectives by way of three annual awards:

In addition the Company, through in-kind contributions o f time and effort by individual Freemen, both administers the City Livery-wide, Livery Schools Link (see www.liveryschoolslink.co.uk ) and itself offers help to schools through voluntary service, e.g on one-day courses on Enterprise, Job applications and interview skills, and Financial Literacy

The Trustees of the fund in 2009 are:

Mrs Susan Fey (Chairman)
Mr David Taylor (Master)
Professor Raoul Franklin
Dr Peter Briggs
Dr Nicholas Carey
Mr Bryan Baughan

Two challenges face the Trustees. The first and, ultimately, the most important is that the Company creates a collective legacy, from educators and those concerned for the quality of education and training, and to determine the best use, at any given time, of the income from that endowment by way of charitable giving in support of educators.

The second challenge is a critical one. It is to fulfil the aspiration to become a Livery Company to provide the Company with peer status alongside the established Livery Companies of the City so that we can better proclaim the importance of educators; after all, if, as is widely accepted, education is important to our society, then so, equally, must be educators. It is the building of the Charitable Fund to a level that will enable the Company to move forward to Livery status. There are two stages to this process. The first is to apply to become a 'Company without Livery'. This requires a Charitable Fund of £150,000. As you will see below, this amount has been raised with the result that in 2009, the Company will begin the application process. The next step will be to raise a fund of £3000,000 which will enable the Company to apply for full Livery status and a Royal Charter.

The Company is very fortunate in having, as its Sponsoring Alderman, Sir John Stuttard who was Lord Mayor from November 2006 to 2007. Sir John named the Company as one of the beneficiaries of his Appeal. The Company supported the Appeal and Freemen were involved in the various fund-raising events. It was through the generosity of the Lord Mayor that our fund took a huge leap forward in 2006-7. To say that we are grateful will never be enough.

The sources of our charitable fund are 3-fold:

At the end of March 2009 the Fund stood at £257,750. The current economic climate means that our investment income is reduced and that it is more difficult to raise funds. We will be doing our utmost to raise the remaining £50000 required to enable the Company to apply for Livery Company status. We welcome donations.

GUILD OF EDUCATORS’ AWARDS 2009

A Luncheon was held at the Bakers' Hall on Monday 22 June to celebrate the achievements of educators and, in particular each of those who received a Guild of Educators' Award.

In 2008, the Trustees made a decision, supported by the Court, that, although we have not yet reached the £300,000 preliminary target for the Trust Fund, it was time to embark on activity in line with the first of our Charitable Objects:

We decided, for these, our first Trust Fund Awards, to ask our fellow Guild members to make nominations accompanied by a short citation describing the achievements of those nominated. Three categories were chosen - as set out below - which could be applied across the whole spectrum of education. The selection criteria were wide, deliberately, in order to encourage a varied range of entries. Twenty-three nominations were received, fairly evenly spread across the three categories.

On behalf of the Trustees, I should like to thank Freemen who volunteered to be judges and those who made nominations. Thanks are also due to the sub-committee that had the task of planning the Awards - Dr Peter Briggs, David Moore, Professor Ray Clark, and to Ray, in particular, for organising and setting up the technology for the process. The Panel, consisting of Freemen Michael Allmond, John Leighfield, Dr Yvonne Burne and myself, did not have an easy task in making the final selection, each was worthy of recognition in its own way. It only goes to reflect what we all know - that there are a lot of educators who are doing exciting and innovative work without expectation of external appreciation; they do it purely out of commitment and dedication. In a small way, the Guild has managed to address that omission. The delight of the winners when hearing of their awards was a most heart- warming experience for me.

A sub-committee of the Trustees will be carrying out an evaluation of the process, the conclusions of which will be presented to the Court. If any of our fellow Freemen would like to make observations, I shall be very pleased to receive them.

There were for this year, two additional awards.

For King Edward's School, Witley, a fellow beneficiary, with the Guild, of the Lord Mayor's Appeal, and a school with which our sponsoring Alderman, benefactor and former Lord Mayor, Sir John Stuttard, has close connections. The school chose Reverend Robert Millington, its chaplain, for his achievements in the school.

The Master's Award. This was another first for the Guild and was in the gift of Immediate Past Master, David Taylor. David chose Elizabeth-Jane Formby for her work with Go4it. See below for information about Go4it.

Award for Achievement in Vocational Education and Training.
Awarded to Karen Hughes
Nominated by Freeman William Simmonds.

Karen is the Professional Development Executive at the National Association of School Business Management, based in Rugby. She is a graduate of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CPID) and has an MSc in Training and Performance Management. Her achievement is focussed on her work in professional development for support staff, who are more often than not, the 'Cinderellas' of education when it comes to training, development and qualifications, yet who are key to the smooth running and effectiveness of any educational establishment. Karen worked with Leicester University to develop an MSc in School Leadership for School Business Managers; the Association is now on the fourth cohort for this programme with a fifth to follow. She has also worked with the National College for School Leadership on a joint programme with the Association to revise the National Standards and Competencies for the Administrators, School Business Managers and future role of School Business Director. In addition, Karen has developed Health and Safety training specifically for school support staff.
The Association continually receives praise for Karen's skills from those who undertake the training and professional development, not only for the quality of the training but for Karen's commitment and care in supporting schools.

Award for Achievement in Education for Sustainable Development.
Awarded to Rosalind Wade
Nominated by Freeman Professor Deian Hopkin.

Ros Wade is Reader in Educational Development and Co'Director of the Education for Sustainability (EfS) programme at London South Bank University. She is a recognised as a leader in the field of sustainability. The EfS programme was developed 12 years ago in collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and was the first Master's course of its kind. It draws on the expertise of NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations), academic and educational communities to explore the way in which EFS can support educational, social, political and economic change. The programme, together with its associated conferences and publications, has built up an international reputation, with 30 Commonwealth Scholarships over the past two years alone. Ros is also Assistant Director of the Centre for Cross-Curricular Initiatives, a research and development centre concerned with promoting personal and social development with a sustainable future. She is involved with the WWF-funded 'Partners for Change', as well as programmes funded by the Department for International Development to coordinate the development of ESF and global citizenship. An author of many publications, her latest is 'Journeys around Education for Sustainability'. Ros is regarded as a pioneer in her field; students from across the world can testify to the impact of her guidance and mentoring.

Award for Achievement in the Use of Technology in Teaching and Learning.
Awarded to Professor Tom Boyle
Nominated by Freeman Professor Ian Haines.

Professor Boyle is the Director of the Learning Technology Research Institute (LTRI) at London Metropolitan University. He has been involved in the development of technology-based learning methods from a time before such ideas were accepted or, the technology truly existed to put some of his ideas into practice. He has been involved in several major national and international collaborative projects that use ICT, where his interest goes beyond the teaching process. This is because, for him, the process must clearly add value for the student as a learner. Through his work he has been able significantly improve the quality of the learning experience for students, as measured both by student evaluation and improved pass rates. From 2000-2005, Professor Boyle was Assistant Director (with responsibility for pedagogy) of the Higher Education Academy National Subject Centre for Information and Computing Sciences. From 2005, he has been the Director of the UK Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) in Reusable Learning Objects. This is a collaborative university programme to develop and evaluate high quality learning resources across a range of subject areas, The CETL web-site now provides some 200 free-to-use multimedia learning objects. He has published extensively, too much to itemise here - his publications are widely read across the world. One of his most recent projects with the Institute of Education is to create a suite of tools for teachers to design and implement technology-enhanced learning.

Master's Award.
Past Master David Taylor
Awarded to Elizabeth Jane Formby - Go4it.

Go4it was established by Headteachers in Industry (HTI). HTI works in partnership with education, business and government to enhance leadership for the benefit and employability of young people. Go4it derived from a HTI issues paper, 'Cotton Wool Kids'. The paper urged schools to counter risk aversion by extending opportunities for children to explore, judge and manage risk through both curricular and extra-curricular activities. HTI's response was, in 2007, to launch Go4it; its aim is to free up teaching in schools in order to encourage an innovative approach to embracing challenges and opportunities in a world full of uncertainties. Since 2007, the national Go4it campaign continues to develop a culture of creativity, innovation and adventure for learning, underpinned by a positive attitude towards risk. As anticipated, schools have found Go4it to be a unifying process for people and systems, reinforcing a climate of enterprise and providing new opportunities for innovation.

Susan Fey O.B.E. J.P.
Chairman of Trustees