JACKIE SHORT 

MA, Dip ACE, Cert Ed, Cert ADS , Fellow of the Institute for Learning, Member of AMED

After working for two years in the metallurgical industry, Jackie was so concerned about the poor literacy skills of many welders she decided to train as a secondary school teacher. She taught Science, English, Drama and special needs in East London and Crawley (then a new town) and became involved in teaching adult literacy as well as English to Asian women, becoming an area organiser for the national 'On the Move' literacy project in the nineteen seventies.

When the family moved to Essex she taught Basic Skills, English O Level (later GCSE), A Level and Creative writing to adults. She was appointed as deputy principal and then principal in an adult community college. Continuing her teaching, she became increasingly interested in the needs of adults with dyslexia and trained as a dyslexia assessor. Jackie has worked with dyslexic learners in ACL, Travellers' communities, the Army and in prison settings.

She visited Spain in 2001 on a European study tour to research adult learning in Andalucia, with a particular focus on work with Roma Gypsies and Travellers. Her report was submitted to the European Parliament. Subsequently she collaborated with a college in Norway in a project for unemployed adults , hosted a placement project with teachers from Italy and organised a study tour for European teachers, looking at Family Learning in the Eastern region.

Jackie initiated a project upskilling workers in the Care sector which was so successful it was later extended to the whole of Essex, and she and Bev Morris developed a Skills for Life learner advocate project which lead to the nominations of learners for local and national awards.

After a long and successful career in ACL, Jackie has moved into consultancy to support a range of providers, particularly in the areas of strategic planning, continuing professional development and embedding Skills for Life and dyslexia awareness in a whole organisation approach.

Jackie has always written for pleasure and has had articles on a wide range of subjects, including education, and short stories published in national and professional magazines. She also supports a wide range of charities including a street animal neutering scheme in Turkey which she initiated nine years ago.