ANDREAS

When did you join Weston College? 

I joined Weston College in Jan 2018 as an Engineering Lecturer, having previously worked for the Railway in collaboration with Network Rail, Balfour Beaty, Carillion, Babcock, etc, as a control manager for Health & Safety, Near misses and accidents. 

Why did you join Weston College? 

As a mature learner I was advised I could develop a career in this industry. Weston College is renowned for its excellent academic status, so I decided to get in contact and was offered shadow sessions with a member of staff. After a short-term contract delivery with a different institution, an excellent opportunity came up at Weston College that involved teaching my area of studies.  

How do you spend your day? 

Currently, I am partly managing Degree Apprentice courses while also teaching. I am also looking after a small team to ensure teaching, learning, and assessing is of the highest standard. Day to day activities vary as my role involves teaching and assessing learners, coaching, and observing a small team of experienced and new members of staff, leading, and organising meetings for standardisation, progress tracking and quality assurance. Currently I am involved in a partnership with major employers and Weston College’s University Centre Weston, in writing new degree programmes that suits our employer clients most. 

How has the College supported your career development? 

My manager has offered a range of professional development opportunities to help me improve my skills and progress in my career. These opportunities included teaching qualifications, CPD in developing academic, soft, and wider skills. Workshops training with experts, mentoring, and coaching. The College has also funded a Top-up Degree in Aerospace and in my five years here I have achieved two promotions on the back of these training opportunities and supportive management.  

What have you been involved in while working at Weston College? 

At Weston College, I have the opportunity to network with high profile companies in the Engineering Manufacturing and Aerospace & Defence sector within the South-West. I have built a positive relationship with our partner University, UWE Bristol, to which I am supporting their assessment documents to see if they are fit for purpose.  

I have been widely recognised within the college and was 1 of 5 nominees to undergo a 1-year CPD from WorldSkillsUK in how to change a culture from competence to excellence, which was cascaded to the rest of the team through internal CPD training. I was also put forward to deliver a podcast on behalf of Airbus for Springpod discussing wing ethos which is linked to work experience in aerospace for secondary school pupils. 

What’s the best thing about working at Weston College? 

I love the fast pace and the dynamics within Weston College and in particular within Engineering. The college has a positive culture and a “can do” attitude and welcomes everyone that is keen and wants to develop the next generations. Staff are constantly reflecting success and that rubs off to others, giving an atmosphere of positive competition to continue to improve and be at the top of your game. It has a welcoming and supportive culture, and staff members are encouraged to collaborate and share ideas. The best thing about working at Weston College is that equality, diversity, and inclusivity is recognised as being important.