Buckfast Abbey education manager up for Lifetime Achievement Award

Alison Gagg, Education Department Manager at Buckfast Abbey, is celebrating the news that she has been shortlisted for a Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Contribution to Learning Outside the Classroom (LOtC). Initially appointed as part of a one-year project to set up an education service for the Benedictine monks who reside at Buckfast Abbey, 30 years on and Alison is still there, heading up a renowned learning centre that offers an extensive range of programmes and events for children and young people.

The awards are decided by online public vote through the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom website: www.lotc.org.uk. Voting closes on Friday 13th November, with the winners due to be announced at an exclusive LOtC Awards dinner at Gilwell Park, Epping Forest on 26th November, and so Alison is hoping to garner support from the hundreds and thousands of past pupils and teachers who have been inspired by a visit to Buckfast Abbey.

Alison has developed an enormous variety of workshops and resources over the years for a wide range of ages and abilities. All are rooted in a desire to make learning an active experience. The centrepiece of the Abbey’s educational offer is the hands-on Education Centre, which explores a myriad of different ideas and themes from building to bees. This was initially created at a time when interactive exhibitions were fairly new in the UK and the bulk that did exist were mostly science-based. It has been estimated that well over a quarter of a million school children have passed through the gates since the Education Department was first set up, and indeed, many return as teachers with their cohort of pupils or parents with their children.

When asked for a memorable moment over the last 30 years, Alison recalls: “I remember when a small boy was so overwhelmed by our huge stained-glass window that he fell over backwards. What a wonderful thing that beauty can make a child forget to stand up! My favourite phrase in any curriculum document is ‘awe and wonder’.”

The philosophy of education provision at Buckfast has largely been driven by Alison’s belief that children should always be given the chance to encounter the ‘real’ wherever possible. So, on a visit, pupils meet and question real monks, handle genuine archaeological artefacts and encounter live honeybees. There are some exceptions to this quest for the genuine however, such as when they meet Alison in the role of a strict ‘spymaster’ (with more than a little touch of Judy Dench as ‘M’!) in a code-breaking history skills project, catch the plague in a Black Death workshop or when early years pupils explore the site through the eyes of their very own monk teddy bear.

Alison is a passionate believer in out of classroom learning and has lectured and run sessions with students, NQTs and established teachers to promote the importance of school visits and to clarify the whole visit planning process and bust some of the myths about the difficulties of bringing pupils out of school. She has set up a system of 6-month paid internships so that new or recent graduates with an interest in education outside the classroom can share in the Department’s wealth of experience and develop the skills necessary for a career in the sector. Alison has described this chance to pass on knowledge as one of the most refreshing aspects of her job.

When asked what piece of advice she would pass on to future educators, she says: “The benefits of out of classroom education have been well researched and expounded on. As practitioners, our job is throwing pebbles in the pool – we never see how far the ripples go or where they end up, but we should always know we have started something.”

As part of the Buckfast Abbey Education Department’s 30th anniversary Alison decided that a spectacular event was needed and organised an extremely successful Storytelling Festival in July this year, with two days for schools and one for families. With its Christian theme this was believed to be the first of its kind in UK. It was supposed to be a one off event but was so well received that the Abbot has asked for another in 2017.

Alison, who has been recognised by the award organisers for her long-term commitment to LOtC, and in particular her role as supporter and mentor of her colleagues in the sector, is shortlisted alongside three other candidates for the award.

Alison is delighted to have been recognised for her work within Buckfast Abbey’s Education Department, and extends her appreciation to the Benedictine community of monks at the Abbey who enable it to continue. She says, “I am very grateful to the community for wanting to set up the Education Department in the first place and for their continuing support of the work we do for local schools. The Abbey places great importance on education – always an important aspect of the Benedictine ideal – and provides essential funding to carry on inspiring the hundreds of school children who visit each year.”