MAGGIE Young, who been described as a inspiration, has been nominated for the teacher of the year category in the Pride in Mann awards.
Mum of three Maggie, who previously taught in Canada and Dubai, has worked at the Isle of Man College for 18 years in total.
Currently her main role is coordinating the primary school teaching programme, despite the time and diligence Maggie devotes to the programme, her other major achievement was in liaising with the Department of Education and Children to create a distinct Manx Qualified Teacher Status (MQTS). At the time the island could not offer a teaching training course with English Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), because the UK Government said that students had to teach in English schools.
She was instrumental in the creation of the island’s own version of the qualification, which has now also extended to complete the training of secondary school teachers here in the island.
The lecturer in teaching training in the Isle of Man College was shocked to be nominated for the award.
She said: ‘It is very flattering that I have been acknowledged when there could be a number of similar deserving teachers right across the education sector in the Isle of Man. I feel particularly embarrassed about being singled out when there are good teachers.’
Maggie got into teaching after being inspired whilst working in a senior secretarial role, when a work colleague told her he thought she should think about going into teaching.
She took on his advice and has since gone on to inspire other people through her teaching.
Working with students and helping them find out what they are good at, identifying their strengths and seeing the person they go from, and their achievements and success, is what Maggie enjoys the most in her role.
Maggie will be coming up to her retirement in the next couple of years and this is one of the reasons her proud daughter Chloe Munden, nominated her mum for the award, she said: ‘She really deserves recognition and praise, not only for being a great teacher and colleague, but for being the most caring and helpful person you could meet, even to people she does not know.
‘She really is an inspiration. Anyone who has come across Maggie in her professional life would, I am sure, support this application.’
Chloe also stated that ‘Maggie does not only give up her time for her students but also her colleagues’, she said: ‘She gives up huge amounts of her own time to help students, who are struggling with assessments or other aspects of their course, as well as trainees who have difficult personal problems. There have been several students who would not have been successful, had it not been for Maggie sitting patiently with them for hours, counselling them through a difficult time in their lives or explaining writing styles, argument or referencing systems.’
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Pride in Mann is an awards scheme from Isle of Man Newspapers and Flybe which aims to recognise unsung heroes in the Manx community.
The competition sees the public invited to nominate people they feel are worthy recipients of an award across 10 categories. Each person nominated will be recognised in one of our newspapers and later there will be a public vote to find the categories’ winners.
The categories for this year’s Pride in Mann awards are: Promotion of Manx Culture, Performer of the Year, Teacher of the Year, Sporting Acheivement, Young Person of the Year, Volunteer of the Year, Linking with Schools, Customer Service and Family Business.
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Who will you nominate?
You can find a downloadable nomination form by clicking {http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/isle-of-man-news/pride_in_mann_1_4040786|this link.}