Teaching Assistant is nominated for Adult Learners’ Week Award
23 May 2013
Pat Watkinson from the School of Psychological Sciences is a great example of an adult learner at Manchester who has really made the most of all the opportunities available to her at the University.
In recognition of Pat's achievements, Julian Skyrme, then Head of Student Recruitment and Widening Participation and now Director of Social Responsibility, nominated her for an Adult Learners’ Week Award as “an inspiration to current and prospective university students of all ages.”
The Awards recognise the achievements of outstanding individuals and innovative learning projects across England.
A UMIST graduate in Computation, Pat returned to education in 2006 after being made redundant from the computer industry, this time studying psychology. In 2007 she began a degree in Psychology and graduated in 2010 with first class honours.
Since then she has been studying for a PhD, while simultaneously working as a Student Ambassador for the Student Recruitment and Widening Participation team and tutoring Year 12 students on the Manchester Access Programme.
However, it is her work with adult returners to education which Pat finds most inspirational. She is able to help them to identify life experiences which they may take for granted but which can provide valuable information for use in their applications.
She says: “It gives me so much pleasure to see a smiling, confident person leave the room, after arriving with little belief in themselves and their ability to return to education.”
On top of this workload, Pat spends several hours a week teaching Psychology undergraduates and marking essays. Already a co-author, she has recently published a paper on which she is first author.
Although Pat was not ultimately selected for an Adult Learners’ Week Award, for which the standard of nominations received this year was exceptional, being shortlisted was a massive achievement in itself and her hard work will be acknowledged with a Certificate of Achievement.
This year’s Adult Learners' Week takes place this week (18-24 May) and is an opportunity for individuals and organisations to celebrate the benefits of lifelong learning.
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