The Team

The Skills Development Service team is currently made up of 2 full time staff and 3 Student Peer Trainers.  Please feel free to contact the SDS staff at any time via email or organise a 1-2-1 discussion through Microsoft Teams or Zoom.

We recruit for Student-peer Trainers towards the end of the Spring semester for the following academic year with training taking place shortly after the summer examination period. Look out for adverts on our website and via the Jobshop. If you would like to talk about this opportunity please feel free to contact any members of the SDS team.

John Steele

Head of Training and Development

I have been managing the Skills Development Service since 2003 and my responsibilities include curriculum management, quality assurance, delivering sessions, supervising the training team and managing the budget. I also have prime responsibility for the provision of the externally-certified courses. My background is in the Railway industry which I joined in 1975 and it is there that I developed my passion for training and developing others. After starting off as a peer trainer in 1985 I became the Regional Training Officer for South Wales  in 1990 until 1996 when the post was expunged following privatisation. I then studied at University of Wales College, Newport for 5 years while carrying out my experiential learning teaching practice working in local colleges and learning providers. I am a licensee to deliver training for The Pacific Institute® and Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH).

I believe that every person has a right to realise their own potential. What I particularly relish about my job is meeting so many diverse and interesting students and helping them gain from my many years of experience while also helping them facilitate their own way forward. I gain no greater satisfaction than seeing our students feel positive about themselves, go into good employment or onto a progression following their experiences at the Skills Development Service. I am of the firm belief that teaching/training is an earned responsibility and that one is permitted rather than obliged to teach others. Outside of work I enjoy listening to and playing music as a guitarist, spending time with my fiancée and family, rugby, football, walking, and being an integral member and volunteer through my local church.

Dr Sum Mistry

Training & Development Co-ordinator