Awards Success for Adult Learners

Two York St John University students won accolades in the annual Adult Learners’ Week Awards 2013.

Cheryl Craven and Nicola Regan are both studying a Foundation Degree in Working with Children and Young People.

Third year student Cheryl Craven won a Higher York Award for adult learners. She juggles her academic work with a part-time job working as a Youth Offending Team Officer and looking after her two children. She also obtained the professional certificate in Youth Justice through the Open University. She has taken the knowledge she has gained through her studies to critically analyse the youth justice system, and to improve and develop her work with young people and their families. She has been asked to contribute to a module on Crime and Deviance once she graduates.

Cheryl said: “I come from a background in which there were no expectations for me to do well academically, and I left school at 16 with minimal qualifications. Going on to do the Children and Young People foundation degree and then progress onto the BA was something I found incredibly daunting but also incredibly rewarding.

Grandmother of four and mother to three children, Nicola Regan, 42, was awarded the Adult Learner of the Year Yorkshire and the Humber Regional Award. She is in the second year of a Foundation Degree in Working with Children and Young People.

Her learning journey has been shaped by tragedy. Her husband was murdered in Liverpool and this was soon followed by her son seeking revenge for the murder and being sentenced to a long term in prison.  Nicola was not fully aware of the extent that her late husband was involved in the Liverpool underworld and after all of the trauma she had endured she ended up spending three years in prison herself. 

While in prison, Nicola made the decision to change and began by becoming a mentor and listener. She wanted to use her experiences to help ex-offenders back into education and work. During the first year of her studies her drive and determination was recognised when she was awarded a three-year SPARK Scholarship for Overcoming Barriers to Learning. She has also launched her own business – 2nd Chance, a government supported community interest company which aims to get young offenders out of crime and in to education or employment. 

She said: “I will never give up; I am driven by the thought of wearing that cap and gown for me and my family.   I want them and others that have had difficulties to know that no matter what your barriers are anything is possible.  I want to show others too, if you want to learn bad enough - you can do it.

“I look back and I don’t recognise who I am today, my journey is hard and tiring but I am who I am today because of my children and York St John University.  I chose to study Children & Young People because I want to realise how and why my family broke down, develop my company and help as many people as possible – sharing my life experiences and what I continue to learn.”

Martell Baines, Widening Participation Co-ordinator at York St John University said: “Cheryl and Nicola are inspirational and demonstrate the powerful benefits of adult learning. I’m sure their well-deserved successes will encourage others to return to education and learning in the future.”

The York Adult Learners Awards have been jointly organised by a number of adult learning organisations in York who wish to celebrate the amazing achievements of adult learners over 18 years old.  York St John University, City of York Council, York College, the University of York, Higher York, the Workers Educational Association, Vital Rail and Aviva are amongst those who are supporting this award scheme.

York St John University also sponsored the Community Learner Group Award for the first time. Mrs Baines presented the award to the Copmanthorpe Library Craft Group. The runners up were 'in a Vision' York Mind Photography Group and the Dringhouses Library Knit and Natter group.

Alistair Gourlay, Head of Adult Learners Education at City of York Council led the evening and David Smith of York Mind presented the Awards.