Marjon Trainee Teachers Honoured at National Book Awards
Released: 02.08.18
Two student teachers from Plymouth Marjon University received a prestigious invitation to present awards at the UK Literacy Book Awards this July. The UKLA Book Awards are in their 10th Anniversary year, and are the only awards judged by teachers, celebrating books that “enhance all aspects of literacy learning”.
As part of the awards, a shadowing team of trainee teachers nominates their own set of winners. Students from 19 universities took part this year, including students at Plymouth Marjon University. They read all the shortlisted books and use them in teaching practice in schools before selecting their own winners. At the end of this, six outstanding trainees, including Georgie Hendy and Scarlett Pannell from Marjon, were chosen to attend the awards ceremony. Georgie and Scarlett are both studying BEd Primary Education, and attended the awards ceremony in July to formally present the authors with their student vote certificates.
Anne Bradley, lecturer in Primary Initial Teacher Education at Plymouth Marjon University, nominated the students. She said, “It is so important that our teachers of the future love reading and are knowledgeable about how to engage children in literacy. This is a fantastic accolade for Georgie and Scarlett, who are already inspirational trainee teachers, and a wonderful experience for them to be recognised and sponsored by the National Education Union to attend these awards before their teaching career fully begins.”
For the UK Literacy Association, giving classroom practitioners the opportunity to read a number of new quality children’s books is as important as finding an overall winner. Research clearly demonstrates the links between teachers’ knowledge of children’s books and the likelihood of pupils becoming successful readers.
Anne continues, “The focus not simply on the mechanics of reading but on the joy of reading is incredibly important to us at Marjon. Our new postgraduate course, the MA in Literature for Children and Young Adults embraces this philosophy, and enables anyone involved in children’s literacy to broaden their reading horizons and discover the hidden riches in books for children.”
Tracey Parvin, President of UKLA said ‘We know that literature broadens the reader’s experience of the world and sense of the possible and thus should have a central place in classrooms and educational contexts. Children need access to a rich range of high quality literature and our awards over the past ten years have highlighted some of the very best literature available to children and young people in the UK. We are proud to be celebrating all these truly outstanding winners at our International Conference’.
For more information about the MA in Literature for Children and Young Adults visit www.marjon.ac.uk/pglit
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