22nd November 2022

Gary Peynado has won the FETN Award for Innovative and Engaging Group Tutorial

The Further Education Tutorial Network (FETN) is the leading professional body for Tutorial Managers and Practitioners working across the Further Education and Training Sector in the UK. The FETN Award is designed to give acknowledgement to tutors that offer an exceptional teaching to their students and their learning community.

Gary Peynado was nominated for the Outstanding Personal Tutor Award by another member of staff and didn’t quite get it, however they were inspired by his efforts with the work he is doing to support and develop his students through innovative and exciting tutorial. Due to this, they created an additional Award called the FETN Award for Innovative and Engaging Group Tutorial to recognise his efforts and Gary will be the first recipient of the award.

When Gary found out he had been nominated for the award, he was extremely surprised and this is what he has said about winning the award:

“I never thought that I seriously had any chance of winning a national award. However, on reflection, we have had lots of successes along the way and seeing our students become interested in the outdoors, sustainability and watching them develop from young people that originally had no practical skills, into confident people that actually built a 12 metre wall and put wooden cladding on the exterior of a barn.”

“The biggest factor for me, was that someone had observed what I had done and thought it worthy for recognition. I would have been more than happy to have been acknowledged internally, but to be nominated and win on the national stage is just unthinkable. “

The reason that Gary was nominated for the award is because of the work he has been doing with his construction students. He has been taking students to Pipers Farm which is a sustainable farm in Cullompton. They had been given tasks of updating and renovating parts of the farm sustainably trying to use locally sources products. The students fixed fences, built and repaired the fabric of the farm, stripped walls of tiles and plaster, and built internal stud walls. The experiences helped the group to gain confidence and contextualise the requirements of the different tasks in real life situations. Take a look at the video below which shows what the students did and what they learned about sustainability.

If this has inspired you to look into construction courses at South Devon College and want to find out more, please click here.