Ryan Parry
"Unlike those on many journalism courses, the teachers come straight from the newsroom."
Ryan Parry is now a Senior Reporter with the Daily Mirror.
The Tutors
Tony Johnston | Head of Press Association Training
Before joining PA Training Tony spent five years as head of editorial staff development for Trinity Mirror where he led the development of their Newcastle based Editorial Training Centre. Prior to that he performed a similar role for Trinity plc and Thomson Regional Newspapers. He trained as a journalist and was deputy editor of the Reading Evening Post and Assistant Editor of the Evening Gazette, Teesside. His background is in news journalism and he was a successful news editor, chief reporter and reporter before moving into journalism training. He is a member of the Society of Editor’s Training Committee and sits on the Newspaper Qualifications Council.
Paul Jones | Head of Foundation Course Training
Paul has been Head of Foundation Course Training since 1995; he was the former deputy news editor, industrial editor, district chief reporter and general news reporter at the Evening Chronicle, Newcastle. Education reporter/general news reporter, Evening Post and Chronicle Wigan, general news reporter/sub-editor, Burnley Express.
Pat Hagan | Deputy Head of Foundation Course
Pat Hagan is Deputy Head of Foundation Course at Newcastle and delivers the law element of the course. Previously she has worked at the Telegraph & Argus in Bradford and The Journal in Newcastle as a general reporter, municipal correspondent, feature writer, columnist and proof reader. She was a senior sub-editor/designer with The Journal, where she also mentored trainee reporters and trained sub-editors. She has also managed programmes in production training. Pat has a post-graduate Diploma in Journalism Studies from University College, Cardiff.
Sylvia Bennett | Shorthand tutor
Sylvia Bennett has been teaching shorthand and keyboarding to journalists at Hastings since 1980 with first-class results. She now runs beginners and speed courses at our Howden and London offices via video conferencing. She trained at Pitman’s College in London and is expert in three systems of shorthand Teeline, Pitman New Era and Pitman 2000 and is a qualified teacher, teacher trainer, NVQ assessor and internal verifier.
Susan Nixon | Shorthand tutor
Susan started working for Thomson Regional Newspapers training centre in 1984 and was a Pitman writer at 120wpm. She took over shorthand tution in 1987. She has gained the City & Guilds Certificate in Teaching in further education and a Teeline Proficiency Certificate.