Lecturer wins prestigious national teaching award
New College Lanarkshire marked National Thank a Teacher Day in style, celebrating two outstanding members of the college community.
Kim Beveridge of New College Lanarkshire has been named a Silver award winner of the FE Lecturer of the Year category in the prestigious Pearson National Teaching Awards.
Kim is among 99 outstanding teachers, lecturers, leaders, support staff, and education settings honoured as Silver Winners in this year's awards on National Thank a Teacher Day, in recognition of their dedication and impact.
Kim will now be in with the chance of winning the prestigious Gold award, which will be announced at a ceremony in London and on BBC One's The One Show later this year. She is only the second lecturer from a Scottish college to receive this accolade, the first being Neil McMullen, also of New College Lanarkshire.
The Bellshill native is a lecturer in Film & TV at New College Lanarkshire the judges recognised Kim’s distinctive, approach to focused on helping creativity and talent flourish in her native Lanarkshire.
Kim said: "This recognition means a great deal but I've never really seen my job as being about what happens in a classroom. It's about what happens when students realise they have something to say, and that people want to hear it. The students I work with have extraordinary stories to tell and when young people start to see themselves as the ones who can tell those stories, something amazing happens.”
Kim joins a list of Silver Winners drawn from across the UK, with all recipients recognised for going above and beyond to inspire and transform the lives of the young people they teach.
National Thank a Teacher Day, and the Pearson National Teaching Awards are run by the Teaching Awards Trust, an independent charity established over 25 years ago to celebrate the transformative impact of education, shining a spotlight on the pivotal role teachers, support staff, colleges, schools and early years educators play in inspiring young people, every single day.
The announcement came as NCL also celebrated Brooke MacFadyen, 26, from Coatbridge, who was named Outstanding College Student at the Herald Education Awards 2026.
Brooke, who enrolled on an Access to Teaching course at NCL after undergoing pioneering brain surgery for a grade II brain tumour, has since become a prominent advocate for The Brain Tumour Charity and played a key role in the campaign to secure Scottish approval of vorasidenib, a drug shown to slow tumour growth. In March 2026, the Scottish Medicines Consortium approved the drug, making Scotland the first part of the UK to do so.
Sir Michael Morpurgo, author, former Children’s Laureate, and President of the Teaching Awards Trust, says: “The dedication and impact of those involved in educating young people is truly remarkable. Their influence extends well beyond the classroom. Long before children find their voice, their confidence, or their calling, there is usually a teacher who helped them get there, working patiently and persistently, and often without any recognition at all. That is what makes National Thank a Teacher Day so important. It is a rare and well-deserved moment to celebrate our teachers and say we are grateful.
"I am especially proud to congratulate this year's Silver award winners. In a world that moves quickly and demands so much, you have chosen to invest your time, energy and passion into future generations, and that is something truly worth celebrating. Thank you for the dedication you show every single day"
Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, says: “On Thank a Teacher Day we stop to appreciate the extraordinary lengths teachers go to, every single day, to inspire the young people in their classrooms.
“I know more than most how great teachers shape young lives. So, I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your dedication, your commitment and your hunger to help your pupils go on to live better, more fulfilling lives."