Forth Valley College’s new STEM Outreach Officer Paul Beaumont has become the first person to receive a Honorary Fellowship award from the Scottish Schools Education Research Centre (SSERC).
Paul (67) from Linlithgow retired in 2019 from his role as Director of Professional Learning at SSERC - a national body which helps to raise national education and teaching standards in education and which all schools and many further education colleges in Scotland are members - before re-entering the workplace with FVC in February.
He has taken on a part-time role as one of two new Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) Outreach officers who go into local primary schools and provide engaging workshops for P5, 6 and 7 pupils.
He said: “I was involved in supporting the professional development of teachers and technicians in Scotland as well as providing Health and Safety advice. It is great to be recognised for making a contribution to STEM education by SSERC. However, I was part of a team and all the good work we managed to achieve was not about one individual - I had fabulous colleagues alongside me. But I am happy that I made a contribution to the good work that SSERC does.”
“That’s why I decided to come back to work, as I still think I can make a contribution to education at Forth Valley College and in the primary schools I visit. It really is good fun working with the primary school pupils. I also have so much admiration for primary school teachers and all the work that they do, I am visiting to teach STEM subjects, but they need to cover all subjects! I really am enjoying myself in this new role.”
Fiona Jackson, Curriculum Manager in the Department of Engineering and Science, said: “Paul is a fairly new member of the STEM outreach team, but already much valued. He has taken on the outreach work and put his own stamp in it, with the feedback from pupils and teachers showing they are loving it. We are now looking forward to the STEM Summer School too, where Paul will be running his projects.”