This is the fourth year that First Story will be collaborating with the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education to help educators share the power of creative writing.
Open to those working in state-funded or non-profit organisations such as state schools, public libraries, local authorities, health or prison services, up to five places are available on the Institute’s Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching Creative Writing course. Each bursary is worth £2,100 toward the cost of the part-time, one year course.
The qualification, which covers the philosophy, history and methodology of teaching creative writing, will equip you to design a creative-writing course suitable for your teaching context. You’ll also explore techniques for providing constructive feedback.
Find out more about the course and how to apply for the bursary at the Institute’s website.
Since starting the Cambridge ICE Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching Creative Writing, my practice as a writer and teacher has grown in confidence and range. I’ve learned about different approaches to teaching & learning. The programme will be indispensable in supporting me to create a creative writing curriculum, and has given me the tools I need to create and pitch for new writing residencies. Having worked with First Story as a Writer-in-Residence in Leeds and Bradford, I was so overjoyed to discover I had received a bursary. I could not have attended this life-changing course without it, and I looked forward to putting everything I’ve learned into practise.
SJ Bradley, bursary recipient and First Story Writer-in-Residence
Joint Course Director and Academic Director at ICE, Dr Midge Gillies said:
“The First Story bursaries are for anyone working for the benefit of disadvantaged communities by teaching creative writing. If you work in schools, mental health services, unemployment or the voluntary sector, for example, this course gives you the tools and confidence to enhance your work, even if you don’t see yourself primarily as a creative writing tutor.
We met First Story and realised we had a very similar ethos. We’re both trying to encourage those who might not see themselves as writers or readers to develop their skills and creative spirit. We both want to foster inclusivity and broaden opportunities for a more diverse range of people, so the partnership makes good sense.”
As a lifelong learner, ICE has a magnetic pull and offers the chance to study in a way that opens up portals and avenues within your career that you may not have envisioned before arrival. I came to ICE as a secondary teacher and since then I have become a winner in the Hippocrates Poetry Prize 2020, a Programme Director for the Human Health Project, a Regional Lead for the NHS at 70/Voices of Covid oral history project at Manchester University and a Regional Director of an organisation that puts service user story at the centre of their design work.
Patrick Toland, bursary recipient
First Story was founded in 2008 by writer William Fiennes and teacher Katie Waldegrave. First Story
is working towards a society that encourages and supports young people from all backgrounds to
write creatively, for pleasure and agency. Our flagship programme places professional writers into
schools, where they work intensively with students and teachers to develop confidence and ability.
Through our core programme and extended activities, including competitions and events, we expand
young people’s horizons and encourage aspirations. Participants gain skills that underpin academic
attainment and support achieving potential.
The Institute of Continuing Education (ICE) was founded in 1873 and is part of the University of Cambridge. Our purpose is to provide accessible, flexible and high-quality education to adults throughout their lives. We offer a constantly evolving programme of over 250 courses covering a variety of academic disciplines and subject areas in a wide range of formats. Irrespective of whether you’re taking your first steps in higher education or progressing to mid-career postgraduate studies, ICE’s aim is to form supportive communities of learning where expert teachers and adult students work together as peers to achieve personal and collective educational goals.
Young Writers Festival 2021 Highlights
