John Fewings is an innovative educator with over 40 years experience in a variety of roles across the teaching and training landscape. He has a keen interest in creating personalised approaches to learning and teaching, which is apparent in his training sessions - which are warmly received and welcomed for their down-to-earth practicality.
John commenced his teaching career in some of the more challenging secondary schools in Hull, where his enthusiasm to tackle the difficulties posed by inner-city schools soon saw him rewarded with his own department. After ten years as a very successful Head of RE Department in one of the largest comprehensive schools in the country, John took up a post in Hull’s Adult Education Department. Having helped to set up a new Adult Education Centre in Bransholme (the largest housing estate in Europe) and after fronting a pioneering Community Education project in the Preston Road area of East Hull, John took up a post with the Humberside Curriculum and Staff Development Centre. Besides facilitating the development of college lecturers and post-16 trainers from backgrounds as diverse as the NHS and the Police Authority, John also designed and delivered management development training sessions, with a particular focus on team development.
John was then invited to take on the role of Manager of the Centre for Learning, an innovative project funded by the Humberside Training & Enterprise Council. The remit was exciting – to discover what was happening in the field of innovative learning and to disseminate that information to relevant people and organisations throughout Humberside by whatever means were appropriate. As well as organising conferences, events and seminars, John also edited (and wrote much of) the acclaimed “Brainwaves” journal, copies of which can still be found in staffrooms and on bookshelves across Yorkshire and North Lincs..
After working with the Humberside TEC as a Learning Innovations Adviser, John joined The Zone (a government-funded Education Action Zone based in East Hull) as an aptly-named Innovator – initially with responsibility for Gifted & Talented pupils, and then latterly with the broader remit of Teaching & Learning. In both of those roles, John worked extensively with primary and secondary school staff and pupils and earned a reputation as a lively and engaging teacher and trainer.
John recently taught part time at Bishop Burton College on their BA, PGCE and Certificate in Education programmes (accredited by The University of Huddersfield).
After much consideration, early in 2015 John decided to retire from training delivery and consultancy in order to devote more time to writing and to poetry-performance - details of which can be found on his new website www.johnfewings.zone Consequently, although most of Brainboxx will continue, John is dismantling those parts that pertain to Brainboxx Training (with apologies for any unintended loss of functionality)
