INSPIRATION: Gail Harrison (left) with colleague, tutor and board member Dr Deb Hill.
PICTURE / SUPPLIED
INSPIRATION: Gail Harrison (left) with colleague, tutor and board member Dr Deb Hill.
PICTURE / SUPPLIED
Gail Harrison, Manager and Lead Educator at Whanganui Learning Centre, has picked up another award. This time, a Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award (TTEA), an award for Sustained Excellence in Tertiary Teaching - General Category, was presented last Tuesday at a celebration dinner at Parliament.
The awards are administered by Ako Aotearoa,the National Centre for Tertiary Teaching Excellence, and celebrate the country's best tertiary teachers. "This is unusual for someone from our sector," says Gail. "Usually they go to polytechs and universities." Gail is a reluctant winner of the award but she accepted it because her education sector, which includes the Whanganui Learning Centre, needs recognition and a platform to inform others about what they do.
It was only last year that Gail picked up ACE Educator of the Year Award, and this latest accolade endorses the faith the community has in her teaching and administrative skills. "Education is a tool for social, cultural change," Gail said in an interview for Ako Aotearoa. "And it is so needed in our communities. Education is really important for them to be a part of a change-making process, to be able to lead healthy and full lives."
Gail and members of her team often grace the pages of Midweek, showing how education can improve whole communities, the instrument of generational change. Furthermore, Gail is an advocate of educational equality, wanting to give everyone the advantages a good education can bestow, allowing even late starters a path to further tertiary learning and beyond.
Under her management and leadership, the Whanganui Learning Centre has become an educational force to be reckoned with.
This is the 16th year of TTEA. They are considered the pinnacle in recognition of tertiary teaching and learning. They provide opportunities for the winners to share their good teaching practice across Aotearoa New Zealand and around the world while contributing significantly to their professional development and career opportunities.
