Alan Smith

National Teaching Fellow 2015 Alan Smith has been involved in the professional education of youth and community workers for more than 21 years. He has been at the forefront of policy and practice developments for most of that time, helping guide the profession to its current graduate status, and working with others to champion youth and community work as a discipline which changes lives and creates fairer communities. As a teacher, Alan's work has been transformative for many of his students, and the individuals and groups they go on to work with. He engages learners in the challenges that exist within the profession encouraging them to understand and apply fresh insight and professional values to their practice. Alan's work and daily practice embeds the professional values of youth and community work, and he approaches his teaching and management role as a shared journey. He describes teaching as a privilege; as he learns more from his students than he can ever teach them. As the first in his family to enter university, he will always support those for whom it is a new and often daunting experience, helping them understand the context they are in, and the challenges they must overcome. He will frequently be seen working with an individual student who is anxious about whether they are 'good enough', as these uncertainties and anxieties, when overcome, will equip them well when they become qualified workers supporting others who face their own struggles and challenges. Within the profession, Alan is highly regarded throughout the UK, having held key roles in the Professional Association of Lecturers in Youth and Community Work. He is Vice Chair of the National Youth Agency Education and Training Standards Committee, and has been influential in developing and improving the validation requirements for professional qualifying courses. The Youth and Community Work team at Leeds Beckett University have twice been nominated for the Course Team of the Year in the Golden Robe Awards, a student-led celebration, and won this in 2014. Alan has also been nominated for Personal Tutor of the Year and Inspirational Teacher of the Year in other University award celebrations.