Resetting the Skills Agenda

Sue has been the Department for Education’s Director of Professional and Technical Education since November 2019. She was previously Deputy Director for T Levels Delivery, with responsibility for development and delivery of T Levels.

Her team is responsible for working with colleges to ensure they’re ready to deliver T Levels from 2020 onwards, leading on industry placements support and policy, communications and stakeholder engagement. T-Levels Delivery works closely with Technical Qualifications Development & Regulation Division, which has responsibility for T Levels policy and the commercial and procurement of single licensing. Sue joined the Civil Service as a fast streamer in DfT in 2003. She worked in DCLG for over 10 years in a range of roles with responsibility for homelessness, preventing repossessions, housing strategy, and planning. She joined DfE in June 2017 to lead the delivery of T Levels.

Angela Fairchild, and her job-share partner, Lucy Andrew, are the Deputy Directors for Technical Education and Qualifications Reform. They are the lead officials on post-16 vocational and technical qualifications at level 3 and below and oversee the qualifications review and VTQ awarding.

Before moving to this role in 2018, Angela and Lucy spent four years reforming the school funding system by developing the National Funding Formula for schools. Angela has over 15 years’ experience working in education policy, including previous experience of qualification reform, working on both the development of the 14-19 Diplomas and the reform of the GCSE.  

Teresa Frith joined AoC in 2008. Her role encompasses all aspects of employer related provision, including apprenticeships, commercial activity and working with the unemployed.

Teresa has an active role in influencing the development of policy and funding relating to apprenticeships, traineeships and other post 16, employer-focused activity. Teresa spent nearly 20 years working in the FE sector as a Lecturer, Head of Department, Director and Vice Principal. Most of this time was spent in employer related activity at local and regional levels, particularly around Apprenticeships, ESF projects, full cost recovery work and commercial bidding both in partnership and alone. Teresa sits on a number of key national groups where she represents the views of colleges to Government and engages regularly with key stakeholders such as DfE, BEIS, ESFA, IfATE, DWP, AELP and UVAC.

She has recently taken up a co-convening role for the Construction Leadership Council’s ‘Transition FE to Work’ Group and is working closely with the Clean Heat and Energy Directorates of BEIS on projects to bring industry and FE into closer alignment to meet the skills needs that accompany the shift to Zero Carbon by 2050.

Carmel Grant is the Deputy Director for development of technical qualifications in the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education.

She joined the Institute in 2018 and leads the development programmes for T Levels, the first of which were launched in 2020, and Higher Technical Qualifications, which will be available from 2022.

Following an initial career in banking, Carmel joined the Civil Service and worked in various policy, accountancy, programme management and project roles across the Ministry of Defence.  

Prior to the Institute she worked at the British Army Headquarters with responsibility for delivering transformation programmes.
 

Sian is a specialist in transnational education and has a wide-ranging background in senior leadership in international vocational and HE pathway education, schools, awarding bodies and charitable organisations.

She holds an MA in Development Education from UCL and has specialisms in sustainable education partnerships and a background in teaching, capacity building and leadership. In addition to her background in development education, she has a successful track record of commercial leadership in international education and the awarding body sector where she has led on revenue generation, programme development, department turnaround, quality improvement and governance and high-level stakeholder relationship building.

Steve is responsible for CITB’s work on policy and its relations with the national government. In his strategy role he ensures that CITB is targeting the right outcomes, has the right strategy for achieving them and is regularly reviewing the impact of what it does.

He is also responsible for ensuring that our research gives us the evidence to support our policy and strategy work, as well as providing thought leadership on key issues and insight and information for employers and other organisations we work with. Steve joined CITB from his role as Director of Policy and External Affairs at the Manufacturers Organisation, EEF (Now Make UK).

Previously he was Chief Economist at the Henley Centre and the Policy Adviser – Education and Training at the Confederation of British Industry. 

Kerry is the Lead for the Lancashire Digital Skills Partnership, a trailblazer created in collaboration with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. The Partnership is part of the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership's Skills and Employment Hub. Prior to this role, she has worked within education for over 20 years, starting as a PE teacher in a Lancashire high school before moving to be an Assistant Headteacher in St Helens.

She has also spent time as part of St Helen's Council School Improvement Team focused on curriculum development and innovation. Most recently, she was a Curriculum Manager across a range of A Level, FE and HE provision, as well as a Learning Technologist and staff development trainer, at a successful Lancashire FE College. In her spare time, she is Assistant County Commissioner – Explorer Scouts in West Lancashire Scout County and likes to keep active and tap dance.

Jane is approaching her fifth anniversary with AELP. She joined the organisation in 2016 as Chief Operating Officer with a wealth of experience gained in the not-for-profit sector with an emphasis on creating opportunities for those from deprived or disadvantaged communities, was appointed as Managing Director in July 2020 and in January 2021 was appointed as Chief Executive of AELP.

Jane is also a member of the AELP Board. Jane’s vision is to make AELP the UK’s leading membership service organisation for the employment and learning sector, an ambition that is coming to fruition as AELP is now recognised as the “go to” organisation for providers in this sector. Membership is growing steadily, and the organisation is regularly attracting and recruiting new patrons. Prior to joining AELP, Jane’s career centred around key areas of employment, work-based learning and social mobility. For nine years she was Operations & Corporate Partnerships Director for Groundwork, the national environmental charity. From this background, she offers members extensive experience in directing operations, developing strategy and building relationships with government stakeholders and major employers.

At Genesis Housing Group as Head of Regeneration Jane pioneered large scale collaborations to win major projects in London and the southeast. She spent 7 years at West London Leadership, recruiting major corporates into a network that provided pro-bono support to the most hard-pressed communities. Jane graduated from University College Cork, Ireland, with a BAHons in Psychology and moved to London where she began her career in the employment and skills sector.

Mark was appointed last year as the Chief Executive of The Skills Network after 4.5 years as CEO of AELP. He is on the Board of WorldSkills UK and AELP as well as a range of government advisory boards. Previously, Mark Dawe was the Chief Executive of OCR, the exam board, for 5 years.

He has been a governor of primary schools, secondary and a further education college. Mark has a wealth of experience across a broad spectrum in the education field. Prior to his role at OCR, Mark was Principal of Oaklands FE College having been Deputy Director, FE Strategy at the Department of Education and Skills and before that as Deputy Director, Adult Basic Skills Strategy Unit after joining the department in 2003. Having read Economics at Cambridge University before qualifying as a chartered accountant at KPMG, Mark joined Canterbury College, becoming Head of Corporate Services in 1994.

In 2000, he helped set up eGS, an e-procurement provider to the public sector. He gets his grit and resilience from supporting Plymouth Argyle and Boreham Wood, cycling and four school and university-aged children.