Gloucestershire College Accountancy Lecturer Achieves Advanced Teacher Status

Gloucestershire College’s Lecturer of Accountancy (AAT), Michael Hackman (FSET C-Teach), has been awarded Advanced Teacher Status (ATS) through the demonstration of mastery in teaching and outstanding commitment to his profession. 

A deserved and highly sought-after recognition, Advanced Teacher Status is a qualification designed by The Society of Education and Training (SET) who are a Further Education professional body. They created the ATS qualification as a way of demonstrating advanced professionalism and mastery in teaching within Further Education and to help raise the standards of teaching in the sector.

Speaking to Michael we find out more about his amazing achievement and the phenomenal impact his research has had on students across the College, plus we lift the lid on how teaching has been adapted to life in lockdown.

What’s your role at Gloucestershire College?

I deliver professional courses for AAT at Level 2 & 3 for both apprentices and professionals, looking to progress in their career and I’m a guest lecturer for the Level 5 CMI Diploma in Leadership and Management at the College. I have been with Gloucestershire College for about 18 months.

I’ve previously worked as a Finance Manager, managing the accounts team of a multi-million-pound turnover business. Whilst teaching I have maintained my professional knowledge of accountancy by helping start-up businesses with their business plans and then providing ongoing advice to ensure financial success.

Can you tell us more about your amazing achievement?

Just over 100 members of The Society of Education and Training (SET) have been awarded Advanced Teacher Status since it began in 2017. I feel proud to be amongst some of the first teachers to hold this status.

The course was focused on creating a portfolio of work mapped to the SET professional teaching standards. It involved assessing my current practice, self-development, CPD, mentoring, a research project and the study of using technology in the classroom.

Over the summer I will be made a Fellow of The Society of Education and Training, and then at graduation, I will be conferred with Chartered Teacher Status.

It’s been a very busy year, and what a ride! I’m light-years away from where I was this time last year as a teacher.

You’re clearly very passionate about teaching. Is that why you chose to embark on such a challenging programme?

Absolutely! Also for my own self development. I’ve been teaching for over seven years now so when I found the programme I thought it would be a brilliant opportunity to build my network of peers and develop my teaching understanding and methods.

What impact has your achievement had on the students at the College?

The research I completed as part of the programme was focused on the needs and requirements of our learners in the AAT department at Gloucestershire College.

The written elements of the accountancy courses are the biggest struggle for learners at all levels so I focused my research on how to improve the writing standards of our students right through from Level 2 to 4.

The results were excellent, with very positive and clear signs of improvement in the writing standards of our students.

I presented my findings to The Head of the Business School, representatives from five departments and the research & development team at the College. From there, the same methods I developed and conducted have now been implemented across the College. It’s brilliant!

I’ve put so much work into this research, and there has been a lot of involvement from other lecturers at the College who have taken a genuine interest. It says a lot about the quality of lecturers in the College, as they always want to improve their teaching practice and implement new methods to provide the very best for our students.

Since the temporary closure of the College campus due to the government’s guidelines around coronavirus, how have you adapted your teaching? 

With the current circumstances I’m so happy I completed the course when I did! I had to complete a unit all about using technology in teaching. Because of this, I was already engaging my students with many different technologies to both communicate and teach.

It was working brilliantly within the classroom, so when the transition into lockdown happened, both me and my students were already prepared. We have continued lessons online with quizzes, videos, forums and using the features of Microsoft Teams. The response has been brilliant from students.

Before the Easter break I was collating all the resources I’d normally use in the classroom and adapting them for online learning. Having completed a course over Easter based on online learning, I now deliver a live online session for each class, and the vast majority of students have really engaged with this.

The number one question I had from students initially was what does this mean for progression onto the next course or level? The answer is “with as little disruption as possible.” That’s what we are aiming for.

Everyone at the College is sharing resources, asking and answering questions, helping each other and providing feedback. It’s a really supportive group.

Within the AAT department we have been delivering blended learning, teaching both online and in the classroom, for a while now which has been really successful. This has now developed into us launching the AAT Access Award in Business Skills Level 1 qualification fully online during lockdown  – perfect timing!

We have had so many applications for our Level 1 online course which is great.

What does Advanced Teacher Status mean for you and your future?

For me, it’s a sign of my own commitment to teaching and my determination to offer our students the absolute best.

On behalf of the whole college, we would like to congratulate Michael on his incredible achievement of Advanced Teacher Status and the contributions his research has made to all of our students’ education.

The commitment to excellence in teaching shown by our members of staff has been nothing short of inspirational, continuing to put the needs and success of our students at the core of everything we do at the College.

Adapting to life in lockdown, our members of staff have worked tirelessly to ensure that our learners’ education is not interrupted so they can continue to thrive.

To discover more about how we are supporting students through lockdown and continuing to deliver courses online, visit: gloscol.ac.uk/online-course-delivery