Meet electrical tutor Abigail Hetherington

Abigail Hetherington is a tutor in electrical installation at Coleg Sir Gâr who is keen to encourage more female students getting into construction trades.

She currently teaches students on level one and level two courses at Ammanford campus but has also had responsibility for final year apprentices. 

Abigail has worked as a self-employed electrician for years, running her own company alongside her husband.

She was always curious about passing on her skills to others so she dipped her toe in the education pool and worked as an additional needs teaching assistant in a Swansea secondary school. “I knew I wanted to go into teaching so I got my TA job to gain experience with the education sector and to see if it was a good fit for me,” said Abigail. “After three years, the teaching job at the college came up and now I was armed with some sector experience.”

Construction wasn’t a path that made itself clear to Abigail early on in her life, as she was successfully accepted to study A-levels, but she found it wasn’t the right fit for her so she swapped the classroom for the workplace working in retail and administration.

At 19 years-old, she decided to get a trade and retrained in electrical installation starting as a full-time student, then as an apprentice, which she said gave her valuable experience to help start her own company.

Now she’s following her ambition and is immersed in training others and getting them through their qualifications and trade specific skills. “I love talking to the students and helping them gain more confidence,” she said. “A lot of students think that they should have a lot more experience than they do, but I try to reassure them that that’s why they are in college, to learn, and it’s our job to teach them.”

At weekends, Abigail runs a children’s dance school with two friends, plays netball when she can and enjoys the outdoor life often seen at the beach, keeping fit, camping and spending time with her family. 

Abigail Hetherington added: “I’d love to see more female students having a go at a construction trade. 

“Even if it’s not something they see themselves doing as a career, whether it’s learning how to use tools properly, changing light fittings or sockets, fixing taps or putting up shelves, these are all skills that are so useful in your own home and I’d encourage anyone to just have a go.”