A pioneering partnership between Welcome House and the University of Hull.

In 2023, Welcome House held our first Festival of Education. This came about as a result of a partnership with Hull University. Dr Martin Nickson is a Lecturer of Education at the university.

Speaking at the second annual festival in 2024, he explained that, “One of the things we do is bring master’s students; this year fifty-three, but in 2023 one hundred and twenty, to teach [service users] at Welcome House. The feedback of those students coming to Welcome House to do some real teaching – their regular university module feedback – is unprecedented.” 

He says they have named their teaching experience at Welcome House as the highlight of their whole university career. What he finds interesting is that those students themselves are mostly international students who come to the UK to teach, from Ghana, India, Nigeria, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cuba, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Spain, Turkey, and other countries. They report that their time spent teaching at Welcome House is the most impactful experience of their university education. The students’ teaching practice forms part of their masters degree assessment, the first time this has happened in the UK outside of the university setting.

“Not only is this feedback beautiful and reflects what Welcome House is like,” says Martin, “but what’s important is the students take their experience, the real lessons they’ve learnt from teaching at Welcome House, across the planet. The things they learn about how to teach are spreading across the world, all the way from Welcome House.”