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School volunteer's success story |
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 37-year old mum of two, Tracey Martin from Pontefract, is in the news because of the success she's achieved since joining a course called Helping in Schools run by the Workers' Educational Association (WEA).
She is pictured here at a WEA event in Leeds on a panel of speakers alongside Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (centre) and Martin Wainwright, journalist and broadcaster (left). She spoke very eloquently about how her experience has affected her and her family.
Tracey initially volunteered to help out at her daughters' primary school because she wanted to know more about how they were being taught. She explains, "I went on a course for volunteer parents called Helping in Schools which involved four or five hours over 10 weeks, complemented by a minimum of 20 hours volunteering in a classroom, but I ended up doing a lot more than that."
Tracey did so well that she is now studying for an Open University degree and also training to become a teacher, having found a new career by assisting in school. She is now employed by the WEA as a tutor on the Helping in Schools course and has talked at national conferences about her experiences.
Tracey says that a wide variety of people take part in the course and volunteer to help out in schools. Some have children of their own at the school, while others are grandparents and some just have an interest in working with children. Some want to go on to become teachers, while others just want to help out.
"All the volunteers are Criminal Record Bureau checked," says Tracey. "For some people it is the first studying they have done since they left school, and this is a great way to get back into learning."
Contact details for the WEA are available at http://www.wea.org.uk/
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 09 January 2008 )
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