Stewart Graves started his teaching career as a secondary Religious and Moral Education teacher but struggled to secure a job after his NQT year.
It was this struggle that led him to take a step in to Support for Learning and from there he never looked back. Stewart maximised this experience to become a Principal Teacher of an Enhanced Provision within the second largest secondary school in Dundee, where he has put his experience and Post Graduate studies in Inclusion in to practise with young people with significant and profound needs.
Stewart comes with an extensive knowledge and understanding of additional support needs and has used Cooperative Learning successfully to energise and revolutionise the environment for learning for young people and the way learning and teaching is delivered.
His passion for using Cooperative Learning and the results he saw with his pupils were so inspiring that he resigned from his permanent post so that he could help inspire other teachers to be open to change and introduce Cooperative Learning in to their practice.
Karen Dammer started her career in education as a secondary trained Music teacher in Dundee before becoming a Principal Teacher of Guidance.
She has 15 years of experience in the classroom and was introduced to Cooperative Learning in 2012, where she revolutionised her learning and teaching as a result of this training.
Her last post was Education Support Officer for Health and Wellbeing for Dundee City Council where she had the opportunity to work across the different sectors (Nursery, Primary, Secondary and Further Education) and use Cooperative strategies to engage with young people and professionals alike.
Karen is a strong believer in Cooperative Learning and takes great pride in sharing strategies and ideas with teachers all over the country.