Celebrating achievement

Celebrating achievement is the culmination of all the learner's hard work.

Why do it?

  • It's rewarding and self-affirming for learners.
  • It can motivate them to think about next steps.
  • It can inspire other people.
  • It's part of building the fabric of our society.

The examples below show how tutors and learners celebrated their achievements. What could your group(s) do?

Example 1: The book deal

At the end of the course, I got a three book deal with a publisher of historical romance. When the jacket for the first book arrived I was so excited. The tutor got it laminated and stuck it on the classroom wall with a picture of me. It'll be there next term for new students [learners] to see.

Helena

Example 2: Quilting group

We did a quilt. All of us knew how to sew, but some of us hadn't done it for a long time and had to practise. The difference was: we all worked on the same theme. It was about living on this estate. But there was another group, up on the moors doing one about living in their village. After six months, we swapped quilts. I feel as though I know a bit about them personally now. We're considering how we can meet up, and how we could work on a rug together. Now we have our own quilt back again. It's hanging by the entrance. Every time I come in, I think: I had a hand in that!

Bernadette

There are further examples available in the RTF file: Celebrating achievement - examples (16KB). Subject Learning Coaches can adapt these to create a handout and exercise to use with colleagues.