Teaching

Chris Nugent, teaching in Africa and the UK

My teaching career started at Moeding College , Botswana , where I taught Geography for two years from January 1978. I taught in all the year groups to Form 5, who studied towards Cambridge Overseas "O" Levels. From there I travelled north, arriving in Zimbabwe in April 1980, two weeks before the country’s Independence. After managing a branch of Kingstons Book Shop for almost a year, I was employed by University of Zimbabwe for ten years from March 1981. Working initially as a Teaching Assistant with Geology Dept., I demonstrated in practical classes and taught programming the BBC B. I moved to Geography Dept., UZ in July 1983. Here I had a tutorial group, taught programming the Apple II and met members of the Zimbabwe Hunters' Association. Anxious to improve their image, they saw education as the key and asked me to help with their new educational field camps in 1983. In 1984 they asked me to run their educational programme, hiring teachers and equipment, designing field activities and teaching on as many as possible of the camps. In September 1988 I moved back to Geology Dept. as a Junior Lecturer, with complete responsibility for designing, teaching and examining a number of courses. I returned to the UK with my wife and four children in August 1991.

Taking a PGCE with University of Bath , I qualified as a Secondary School Science teacher in June 1996. I worked as a supply teacher in Devon and Cornwall, taking a series of contracts with Okehampton College. In September 1998, I was hired as a software programmer with Hydro-Logic. Working with the Herefordshire Council’s “Learning for Work” programme, I taught a series of evening classes in computing, with modules introducing popular applications. As part of my day job, I taught the use of Hydro-Logic's software products to the Environment Agency and other customers. In November 2004 I was appointed by Hydro-Logic as their "Training Manager". I launched a series of courses based around the expertise within the company and arranged specialist training for water industry clients. The company had held the Environment Agency Hydrometry Training contract since 1996. After successfully bidding for a new six year contract, I coordinated the development of several new courses, writing much of the training material and editing material produced by others. I introduced a range of Excel-based exercises as part of the course material. I passed on the administration of these courses in July 2007 but continued to teach on several. In particular, I have taught on all the courses in Foundation Maths and Stats for Hydrologists so far held.

Chris Nugent, teaching experience from 1978 to the present
1999-Present	Teaching included evening classes in IT, teaching customers how to use our software and teaching on our Hydrometry Training programme with the Environment Agency (feedback available on request). Taught the use of HydroLog3 in all regions of the Environment Agency; Taught HydroLog4 to a series of customers from the water industry; Wrote and piloted parts of courses in Stage Discharge, Sidelooking Dopplers & Velocity Indexing and taught on a series of these courses; Taught the Environment Agency on these and other courses in aspects of Hydrometry; Coordinated courses taught by Hydro-Logic staff to customers within the water industry. Edited notes produced by other teachers, designed and wrote a series of course exercises in Excel; Wrote the statistics elements of the Environment Agency course on Foundation Maths and Stats for Hydrologists and taught most of the Stats and selected Maths topics on all courses so far.
1995-1998	Studied PGCE in Secondary Science Education, specialising in Earth Sciences with University of Bath. Taught in Secondary School and Sixth Form College (Richard Huish College, Taunton) as part of the course. Taught as a supply teacher at schools in Devon and Cornwall. Taught on series of contracts with Okehampton College, teaching low ability groups at KS4 (1996-1998).
1981-1991	Taught in Geology Dept. and Geography Dept., University of Zimbabwe, first as a Teaching Assistant and later as a Junior Lecturer (see student feedback). Demonstrated during practical classes in crystallography, mineralogy and geological mapping; Worked for one year (1982/83) as Acting Chief Technician, Geology Department; First taught programming of BBC computers in Jan 1983, taught programming the Apple II from 1985; Initiated a programme of field education in the Zambezi Valley, sponsored by the Zimbabwe Hunters' Association. Ran the educational camps between 1984 and 1989, teaching on most, during the dry season school holidays. From 1988 had complete responsibility for several geology courses with UZ, including designing the syllabus, all teaching, setting and marking exam questions. Taught classes in Geomorphology, Environmental Geology, Stratigraphy, Geological Mapping, Mineralogy for Engineers, Geological Statistics, Computer Programming and History of Geological Thought.
1978/1979	Taught Geography at Moeding College, a Government Secondary School on the Kalahari rim of Botswana. Had the highest teaching load in the school including JC and GCE "O" Level classes; Junior Librarian, introduced the Dewey Decimal syatem to school library; Ran the Table Tennis & Photographic Clubs and the school weather station; Achieved the highest pass rate of any subject in the school at JC level (1979).