Toni Bewley

Toni started her career initially in adult nursing and then specialised in children's nursing. After achieving a teaching qualification she taught in Further Education Colleges which initiated a powerful shift on her focus on social inclusion. She transitioned to work in Higher Education in 2000 and has been focused on enabling those who may not have previously considered studying for a higher-level qualification in University to participate, believe in themselves and achieve. Toni believes that an important part of students learning is facilitated by them listening to real life patient experiences. To enable this to happen she has introduced Service Users and Carers (SUC's) into the Faculty of Health and Social Care and they now contribute to all aspects of the professional programmes for students. Impact of work The impact of Toni's teaching has been demonstrated by the success of both student's achievements with a higher than average number gaining first class degrees as well as a high proportion of students going on to access postgraduate study and professional training. This is remarkable as the cohort of students were from those who are first generation university students, from low income families and in the main mature students. The robust structured planning that she introduced to enable teaching staff to include SUC's in all aspects of student's curriculum has been positively received by staff, students, SUC's and commended by professional bodies for example The Nursing and Midwifery Council and Health Care Professionals Council. Plans for the future Toni's professional development continues through working with teaching colleagues, SUC's and students. It has and does enable her to foster widening participation, social inclusion and partnership working into Higher Education. It is this and her philosophy of inclusion and commitment to development of students through challenging yet supportive teaching that she aims to continue in the future. She hopes to be increasingly active in the dissemination of work both at home and abroad.