A talented teacher from a local sixth form has been nationally recognised for his outstanding contribution to the education sector. He not only helps his own A-Level students understand the complexities of chemistry in an innovative way, but his 19,800 subscribers around the world through his YouTube channel, MaChemGuy.
James Donkin, who lives in Roker, has worked as a chemistry teacher at Hartlepool Sixth Form for 12 years. He has been shortlisted for the Teacher of the Year award at the 2020 Tes FE Awards. These prestigious awards recognise the outstanding individuals and institutions in the further education sector.
Mark Hughes, Head of Hartlepool Sixth Form, said:
“We are immensely proud of James and his inspiring teaching methods. Being shortlisted for a prestigious national award is well deserved and recognises the outstanding impact he has on his students at Hartlepool Sixth Form and chemistry students from all over the world.
“He continually pushes the boundaries to improve student outcomes and his passion not only inspires successful results, but chemistry-related career focused destinations.”
James’s passion for chemistry, and his pioneering approach to teaching and learning, led him to creating videos in 2013 as a resource for his A-Level chemistry students to support their learning.
Starting with basic screencasts stored on the sixth form’s intranet site and addressing topics that students typically found difficult and would ask for further explanation, things quickly evolved and his YouTube channel ‘MaChemGuy’ was born.
To date, he has uploaded over 600 videos and MaChemGuy is a YouTube sensation with 19.8k subscribers, over 4.3 million views in 129 countries. He has received over 43,185 likes and thousands of positive comments from all around the world.
Stephen Exley, FE editor at Tes, said:
“Excellent practice exists right across the further education sector, and those shortlisted for the Tes FE Awards are the cream of the crop. Our judges were extremely impressed with the calibre of entries. To be shortlisted is an extraordinary achievement.”
Winners will be revealed at a gala awards evening, which will take place on Friday 20 March 2020 at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London. It is expected to be a spectacular event with more than 800 guests, including government ministers and high profile figures from the education sector.
Hartlepool Sixth Form merged with Sunderland College in 2017 and is part of Education Partnership North East, one of the largest college groups nationally. The dynamic college group also includes Northumberland College, following its merger with Sunderland College last year.
For more information about Hartlepool Sixth Form, contact 01429 294444 or hsfc@hpoolsfc.ac.uk
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