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Tutors

Ann Crocker-Smith is the Head of Programme for Deaf and Disabled Support (DDS) at City Lit. She previously worked as a Support Tutor for Deaf Students and as a Communicator. She has worked for City Lit for 15 years, 8 years managing DDS.

Her qualifications include two postgraduates qualification: PG Dip. in Deaf Studies and Sign Communication for Higher Education and a PG Cert. in Education of Hearing Impaired Children. She holds NVQ Level 4 in BSL. Ann has C&G 7307/1 teaching certificate and D32 and D33 Assessor Awards. She also has a Professional Diploma in Management. Ann is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management, Institute member for NADP (National Association for Disability Practitioners) and a member of CHESS (Consortium for Higher Education Support Services with Deaf Students).

James Fitzgerald is the co-ordinator of our Business Training Unit, and is responsible for arranging interpreting and bespoke training for employers in Deaf Awareness, Sign-Language and other specialist deaf-related areas. James delivers training himself, both to external businesses, and in-house at City Lit. Coming from a teaching background, James moved into the field of deaf education (post-16) in 1998, and worked first as a note-taker, then took qualifications to become a sign language communicator and a lipspeaker, supporting deaf students in Further and Higher Education in London. James continued working within the Deaf Support Service for several years as a support tutor, before establishing the Business Training Unit within Deaf Education. James is a fully qualified BSL interpreter.


Student Services:
Lucy Franklin has worked in the D/deaf community since 1995 when she joined the British Deaf Association as administrator for the London Deaf Access Project. The team produced information videos in British Sign Language on important topics, such as education and health, making sure they were freely available to D/deaf people. Out of the project grew the Deaf Film and Television Festival which she then worked on for a further seven years.
Lucy joined City Lit in 2005, firstly as a Communication Support Worker and now as part-time Student Services Officer, offering advice and guidance to deaf and hard of hearing students on a range of issues, such as employment, Benefits and immigration.

BA Deaf Studies:
Catriona (Kate) Kernoff is one of three coordinators of the BA(Hons) Deaf Studies Communication Support and Education. This degree is based at City Lit and validated by Middlesex University. She is responsible for coordinating the CSW modules in the first year of the degree and the Access Strand modules of the second and third year. Kate’s background is in teaching Deaf adults and children. She qualified as a Teacher of Deaf People at the University of Manchester and came to City Lit having worked as a teacher and Senior Teacher in Charge for eighteen and a half years in Queensland, Australia. She started work at City Lit teaching English, then became the coordinator of the CSW course which led naturally into her current position.

Pauline Edie joined City Lit in 1993. . In 2006 she began coordinating the Interpreting pathway of the BA Deaf Studies programme after working as a peripatetic support tutor in colleges across London for eleven years including a spell of managing the Support Service, as maternity cover. This role gave her an excellent grounding in the various requirements of different support workers and from this she established an interest to work on the degree course. She finds the training of Interpreters challenging and inspiring. She is currently working towards MRSLI status.


The British Sign Language Teaching Team:

Peter Brown is the Teacher Co-ordinator of British Sign Language Courses at level 1 and Level 2. He also has input into the Level 3 and Level 4 courses and in to some of the modules for the Deaf Studies degree course which is run at City Lit. Peter is a well known Deaf History expert and has featured on See Hear. He also teaches on our CACDP accredited course The Living History of BSL.

Mark Hopkinson is the co-ordinator for the Level 3 and Level 4 NVQ BSL courses at City Lit. He has been a fully qualified teacher since 2003 but has been teaching BSL since 1992. Mark joined City Lit in 1998 and worked in the dual role of student services officer and Level 1 & 2 BSL Teacher Co-ordinator until 2006 when he took over the management of level 3 & 4/ NVQ BSL courses. He is a qualified A1 assessor and V1 Internal verifier.

John Archbold has worked as a sign language tutor for thirteen years and is responsible for teaching at Level 1 and 2 in BSL. He is part of the team teaching and assessing on Level 3 and 4 NVQ in BSL, working with the NVQ3 & 4 Co-ordinator. He sometimes teaches Level 1 or 2 in BSL at other venues for City Lit.

The Lipreading Teaching Team:

Sue Gaston has a brother and other relatives who were born deaf and has been a lipreading teacher for the past 22 years, working with people with acquired hearing loss. She has also been involved in the training of lipreading teachers at City Lit for the last 10 years and currently co-ordinates this course, one of only two in the country.
Qualifications: BA (Hons), AKC

Lorraine Braggins trained as a lipreading teacher at the City Lit in 1987 and taught lipreading at adult education classes in Enfield. She subsequently trained as a Hearing Therapist and worked in the Audiology Department at Chase Farm Hospital, Enfield, where she ran the hearing therapy service for seven years. After gaining her BSL level 2 qualification, she supported severely and profoundly deaf students in education. Lorraine has completed the 7302 Certificate in Delivering Learning: Teaching Literacy to Deaf Learners and has a BA Hons. degree in French and Russian.


The English Teaching Team:

Siân Reeves Sian currently co-ordinate the English Department within the Continuing Education Services in Deaf Education. Sian is a fully qualified teacher and holds subject specialist qualifications in both Literacy and ESOL . Sian joined City Lit in 2005 and has taken a lead role in developing the offer and has worked closely with the Head of Programme to develop new systems of assessing and monitoring students learning.



Triona Horrocks is a part-time English tutor teaching Entry level English courses and the English for Work Level 1 course. She has worked for City Lit for a number of years, first as a Communication Support Worker, and then as a Support Tutor, supporting deaf students in Further and Higher Education in London. She is also currently participating in the European New Start Project, focusing on the needs of Deaf refugees and asylum seekers and the people who work with them. Triona aims to promote confidence and self-esteem among the students she works with, encouraging them to identify their goals and fulfil their potential.


Numeracy and IT:
John Siddall is the coordinator responsible for Numeracy and IT in the Continuing Education Service (CES) at the City Lit. John is a qualified teacher for both the deaf and hearing. He taught at Burwood Park College for the Deaf and a City Technology College before joining the CES department at the City Lit in 1999.He has also taught special interest courses and Book Keeping and has supported deaf students as a communicator on mainstream courses.

The Teacher Training Team:

Olga Braund moved into teacher training field after having taught BSL levels 1&2 to Deaf and Hearing people for 7 years. Olga is responsible for designing, planning, developing and delivering teacher training courses to BSL users. All the courses are in accordance with the City & Guilds and STTC curriculum and its requirements.
Olga’ main responsibilities include giving candidates the opportunities to acquire teaching theoretic and practical skills, to assist, advise and guide candidates throughout the whole teaching period, to assist the candidates in achieving the up-to-date information and qualifications that would enable candidates to build up a successful career in a professional world.


The Deaf and Disabled Support Service:

Support Tutors

Alice Lally started work at City Lit in 1998 for the FHE Support Service. She initially worked as a Communication Support Worker (CSW) before becoming a Tutor Co-ordinator in 2000. She supports D/deaf students in one-to-one tutorials, provides Deaf Awareness training to colleges and universities, and has developed new initiatives in language assessment and in mentoring staff. She also co-ordinates a small team of support staff. Alice’s qualifications include an MA Deaf Education with TOD status (2004), BA (hons) Deaf Studies & Linguistic, University Of Central Lancashire (1997). She has gained NVQ Level 3 British Sign Language.

Alison Gifford has worked at City Lit for 12 years, first as a communicator, then moving on as a Support Tutor for Deaf students. She works on a one-to-one basis and inclass with Deaf students, specialising in working with students with minimal language. Alison gained her NVQ level 3 BSL in 2004 and is currently on NVQ level 4 BSL course.

Eleni Xenophontos originally started working with deaf learners as a notetaker. She found that she loved the work and went on to acquire all the necessary qualifications to work as a communicator and then into her present role of tutor co-ordinator. She has been involved in various projects; including co writing the Note taking for Disabled Students course which is taught at the City Lit. In her current role Eleni co ordinates the support for a large FE college. The bulk of her work is one to one tutorials which give her the opportunity to focus on and address student’s individual needs, as well as encouraging students to build on other skills such as confidence and self esteem. Eleni is also a qualified Life Coach and is currently training to become a Neuro Linguistic Practitioner, and a service she hopes to be able to offer the deaf community in the future.

Pam Clark is a qualified CSW and notetaker, with level 3 BSL. She is currently studying the final year of PGCE with Literacy Specialisms at the Institute of Education. After several years of freelance communicator work, she began working full-time for City Lit in 2000. Pam has since continued training and now works as an DDS Support Tutor and part-time literacy tutor to both deaf and hearing classes. In addition, she is responsible for co-ordinating a range of training days for CSWs and notetakers.

Key Support Service Staff

Charmaine Andrews has worked at City Lit since 2004 after graduating from Reading University with a BA(Hons) in Theatre Arts Education and Deaf Studies. Charmaine works as a Quality Standards Communicator, a job role unique to City Lit, in which she offers training and support to other less experienced communicators as well as supporting students. Charmaine has completed the 7302 Certificate in Delivering Learning: Teaching Literacy to Deaf Adults, she has achieved her NVQ Level 4 in British Sign Language and has just started to do a MA in Interpreting British Sign Language – English at Leeds University.

Jean Morgan has an Open University Degree in Social Science; a BA (Hons) in Photography, Film and Television and an MA in Independent Film and Television. She worked as a freelance television researcher before deciding on a career change. Jean gained her “Communication Support Work” Qualification at the City Lit and has worked as a CSW at the City Lit since 1998. She is qualified to Level 3 in British Sigh Language and currently working towards Level 4. Jean has also gained a qualification in Teaching Literacy to Deaf Adults. Jean brings her academic and professional experience to the various aspects of her role as a Quality Standards Communicator.

Michael Peart worked as a visiting lecturer in business psychology, before becoming a qualified note taker for D/d and disabled students. Drawing on a psychological background proved valuable when applied to the cognitive processes of note taking particularly in listening, recalling and writing. In 2006, Michael was promoted to the Note taker Quality Standards Team. Along with colleague, Paul Clark, the role includes coordination of note taker training. Together they recently successfully validated the Electronic Note taking course. His academic qualifications include an MA Mental Health; BSc (Hons) Psychology and Professional Development Qualifications; City & Guilds Teacher Training, Note taker Tutor Training, OCNLR Note taking, CACDP Deaf Awareness, CACDP British Sign Language Levels 1 & 2. He is currently working towards his Level 3 in BSL.


Paul Clark is a professional note taker with 16 years’ experience. He has been with City Lit since 1992, supporting a wide range of students through their studies in further and higher education. In addition to note taking for students he is one half of the ‘Note taker Quality Standards’ team and a tutor-coordinator for City Lit Note taker training. His academic qualifications include BA (Hons) Fine Art, MA (RCA) Painting and Professional Development qualifications include; CACDP Deaf Awareness, CACDP British Sign Language level 1, City & Guilds Teacher Training 7307, Note taker Tutor training. He is currently working towards OCNLR note taking qualification