2007 Elections

The results of the 2007 elections saw twelve member representatives elected to Council, click the relevant links to read their election statements:

3 year term

2 year term

Paul BRINKLOW

Introduction: From September 2007 Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS) status, conferred by the Institute for Learning, will reinforce the professional identity of teachers in Post Compulsory Education and Training (PCET). Like many IfL members, I operate within PCET and in the context of dual-professionalism. Throughout my dual career, the majority of my learning and education has been in the PCET sector where I am presently a lecturer.

Chartered Engineer: Starting at Technical College, a three year apprenticeship, postal correspondence graduate level courses, part time university postgraduate diploma and MSc (Systems Engineering). Working as a Chartered Engineer meant continual learning, working on contracts over 300 mil, managing highly qualified staff, chairing meetings, controlling budgets, conducting design reviews, auditing quality, reliability and software testing programmes. Each task required the reading of new standards, technical articles and reports. Being a member of a number of technical committees ensured that I stayed in touch and up to date. All this showed me the need and importance of following my own programme of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) tailored to my needs at the time new skills were needed.

Lecturer: For over 18 years now I have been a lecturer in PCET colleges, teaching electronics, control, computing, testing and faultfinding, engineering management and quality to City & Guilds, NC, HND and BSc syllabuses. I have a Certificate in Education (Further Education), (CEFE) and a three-year MA in Education and Training from the Open University. The future will bring ICT, distance, e, virtual and blended learning environments but, having lived most of my life with this technology, I would caution that it is too easy to be influenced by all the hype and to forget the value of reading a good book.

IfL: I should wish to help the Institute raise the standards and status of our profession. By participating in conferences, events and at other institutes of which I am a member, I will be promoting the work and policies of the IfL. I believe that the main focus for the IfL must be on creating a learning environment for all its members and to provide support for CPD. Also, I believe that the IfL should ensure that there is a structure of qualified status for all staff at all levels within the PCET sector not just for those at the chalk face. It is important that the Institute does not become just another arm of government and that it is run for us, by us, its members, providing support in an open and democratic way.

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John CLOSSICK

The IfL as the new professional body for the post-16 Learning and Skills Sector, can and should play a powerful role in defining and supporting professionalism during the coming period. In a rapidly developing professional landscape there are many top-down demands and pressures on teachers, tutors and trainers. The IfL, as an independent professionalism membership body, can work to focus, mediate and respond to these demands. In a world of initiative a bottom-up professional focus is pre-condition for balanced sector development.

The challenge is great. The first priority is to develop a sector-wide membership base so that our influence can grow and we can build regional groups and national conferences that carry real weight and play a key role with the DFES and other national agencies. The transformation of learning cultures is a simple demand but an extremely complex process.

I work on standards and qualifications development at the Lifelong Learning Sector Skills Council and am also an experienced member of the University and College Union (UCU). I can therefore bring both staff development and organisational knowledge and skills to the Council. I am a member of the Transitional Council.

As teachers and trainers we might adhere to the old Chartist statement that knowledge is power. However, at this time, building a professional post-16 body is our first and immediate concern.

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Sue CROWLEY

From its first conception and even before, when the Institute for Learning was still just a twinkle in some of our eyes, I have been part of the group developing the Institutes form, structures and values. I have maintained this role because I feel so strongly that staff within the learning and skills sector need to have their knowledge, skills and experience recognised extended and valued. Teaching and learning in such a complex, diverse and ever changing sector as learning and skills is challenging, demanding and highly sophisticated; staff involved in that teaching and learning need to earn and have recognised the difficult but rewarding role they play in the lives of individuals and society as a whole. I believe that the Institute can support staff in earning that recognition and am delighted that the hard work and determination shown by the Transitional Council has financially paid off.

My commitment to the development of this professional body for the sector comes from my experiences working within it. I worked in inner London further education colleges for 17 years as a teacher, manager leader and staff developer. I moved into teacher education in 1988 working on BA and Masters programmes in education as well as certificate in education programmes.

Since 1999 I have worked at the national level initially for the Learning and Skills Development Agency where I was manager of the Centre for Professional Development and subsequently for the Centre for Excellence in Leadership as the Director, Quality Improvement. I have led teams in the development of many initial and continuing professional development programmes for the sector at local, regional and national levels. Programmes have focused on both teaching and learning and management and leadership and have been designed for staff at all levels throughout the learning and skills sector. I am continually involved in action research related to learning and teaching and how best to promote continuous professional improvement within an educational context and have published a range of articles based on that action research. I have been a fellow of the Institute since 2003. My experiences throughout the last 36 years have shown that staff in our sector almost without exception are committed to peoples learners, less common however is a commitment to other peoples learners or to professional colleagues at local, regional and especially national level. This is not due to a lack of will but is partly due to a lack of precedent and a lack of enabling infrastructure characteristic of a truly professional body. The government decision to create a continuing professional development framework is especially timely. The Institute and its members, with government endorsement now have the ability to create that infrastructure and create the precedent for mutual professional support and challenge with the associated sharing of effective practices. This creation must be carried out with rigour and integrity and I very much wish to remain part of that creative process.

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Paula JONES

What I think and feel about the Institute for Learning

Long have I waited for a strong professional body for postcompulsory education and training. Our profession deserves an organisation that will recognise and celebrate the professional job practitioners in the learning and skills sector undertake. This in spite of the challenges that can impede and because of a love of learning and recognition of the opportunities this brings to people. I want the Institute to become a potent force to raise the status of our profession. I want the Institute to capture and mark the development journeys we each take as Learning and Skills Practitioners.

I believe I have the vision, commitment and understanding of out profession to make a difference in shaping the Institute for the next significant stage of its role. I feel we must have high ambition in creating an Institute which we will feel proud to belong to and want to sustain.

A little about me and my work

I am known for my enthusiasm and ability to motivate and inspire a range of people in a variety of context. I want to make a difference in my work and am not content unless this happens. I have a successful track record of getting things moving by working to find creative ways forward with others.

Like many colleagues I have taught a range of subjects in a range of contexts including Further Education, Adult & Community and work based learning since 1993. I have been a staff and teacher education manager working in close partnership with three south west universities. My current role is Deputy Chief Executive and Regional Professional Development Manager for Learning South West a cross sector membership Association and education charity. The membership included FE Colleges, Universities, Children and Young peoples services, Voluntary and Community groups and private training organisations.

My work entails designing and delivering projects which support the professional development needs of the agencies and organisations that manage and deliver learning and skills across the South West. I am manager of a 2.5 million ESF/LSC Skills for Life workforce development project named The Crystal Chandelier.

My reputation has led to membership of a national advisory group to develop the new QCA Credit and Achievement Framework. I have also been involved in RARPA development and its impact on practitioners and learners. I am an executive member of the National Association for Staff Development in the post 16 sector (soon to merge with FERL).

Why vote for me?

  • Based on my beliefs and track record I will ensure that colleagues perspectives are embedded in the future work of the Institute for Learning.
  • I understand our major challenge is to connect with and for one another in a diverse, dynamic and complex sector.
  • I believe the Institute can play a leading role in inspiring people to join our profession and support continuous development for the benefit of learning and learners.
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Mick SMITH

I have more than 25 years teaching experience in a range of levels and situations: schools (seven years in disadvantaged schools) and over twenty years in PCET (FE colleges and University). The PCET experience has been at all levels and ages: delivering Basic Skills, GCSE, A Levels, Teacher Education to MA (Education) programmes, working with 16+ excluded pupils to 60+ Return to Learners.

More recently (in the last twelve years) I have had CPD responsibility in one of the largest FE colleges in the country (1000 FT/Pt staff, six main, plus innumerable outreach centres). Through the Teacher Education team, supported by Advanced Lecturers we work to support staff to be qualified, more competent and confident in their teaching and more able to cope with the huge range of expectations that constant change brings.

In my other life I have had, and continue to have, involvement in a variety of community education and cultural bodies (locally, nationally and in other countries) to support initiatives that, in particular, widen access to education.

I am experienced, energetic and enthusiastic about leaning and teaching and fully recognise the importance and responsibility of those who work to support teachers in PCET in the difficult and crucial work they do.

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Saire JONES

Hello everybody, I am an Associate Member of IfL and I very much hope you will decide to elect me onto the Council.

I am a graduate of the University of Strathclyde, specifically The Scottish Hotel School. When I accepted a place at Strathclyde in the early 1980s it was one of only two universities to offer vocational degree courses in hotel business related management. I believe the huge choice of vocational education and training now available at all levels in the UK is evidence of the huge progress that has been made in the development of vocational skills and knowledge. I would like to take an active part in the IfLs role in continuing to raise the standards of professional practice in vocational education and training.

When I graduated I completed a brief stint in the catering industry and then taught full-time in the post-compulsory education and training sector for thirteen years, in higher education for two years and returned to further education as a Head of Department at a South London college in 2003.

Currently I am responsible for curriculum provision in catering, tourism, sports, public services, hair and beauty. I oversee the management of the college training restaurant kitchens and hair and beauty salons. Within the department there are forty staff and I directly line manage four of them. AS you might imagine, I have to be up-to-date with dozens of college policies and procedures, government policies, procedures and new initiatives and am constantly searching for new courses to offer, new employers to engage and new ways to keep the department budget in the black! Im certain that this knowledge and experience will prove useful in helping to develop policy and procedures for the IfL, promoting the IfL and helping to ensure the IfL continues to run its business effectively.

Throughout my career I have paid due attention to my own CPD and strive to continuously improve my knowledge and experience. For example, I have a post Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management which gained me Graduate Membership of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) in 1993. Since 2001 I have been a member of the Higher Education Academy. This year I am completing the final module of a Masters Degree in Educational Leadership and Management. Next year I aim to raise my teaching qualification from its current level 3 status.

One of the most important roles in my current job is to continue to raise the standards of teaching and learning amongst the staff in my department. After all, teachers and trainers are the single most expensive resource in any educational organisation and they are paid from money that is dedicated to the education and training of UK learners. The IfLs role is crucial to ensuring that all UK postcompulsory learners have the opportunity to successfully achieve an excellent standard of education and training and I would welcome the opportunity to play an active part in this role.

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Douglas DUMMETT

I am currently a Training Manager in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) based at Cosford in the West Midlands. I am professionally responsible for the standards and development of 27 Specialist Instructional Officers (SpIOs) delivering training in the ICT/CIS vocational sector to RAF Trade Group 4 Operator Maintainer trainees.

I joined the IfL in Dec 02 seeking professional status to support the qualifications I had gained in teaching and in the Learning and Skills Sector. I fully support the Institutes ethos in raising the status of post-16 education and training and believe that this can be achieved through the DfES reform proposals leading to the licence to practise and QTLS.

I encourage all practitioners within my own sector to join the IfL to gain a professional voice at national level and become involved in influencing key sector developments. Their involvement has already contributed towards the construct of the CPD process being used to maintain licenceship within the profession./p>

I believe that each sector area should have a voice within the IfL and it is my intention to represent and support the Ministry of Defence Instructional Officers during, pre and post, the reform within the profession.

I would ask all members to support me in seeking election so that I may take forward their thoughts and ideas which will follow the Institute's tenet to encourage coherence in development across the teaching profession as whole and develop mutual recognition protocols. It is with this development and the recognition protocols that the status of post-16 education and training can be raised.

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Rania HAFEZ

My career bears witness to my passion for education and Lifelong Learning sector. I am totally committed to supporting and developing teachers and teaching and learning in further education and to raising the national profile of the sector and its practitioners. The Institute for Learning has a vital role to play in this respect. I believe that the role of the council is to ensure its success.

Professionals in further education have long been the poor relations of school and university teachers. The IfL will ensure that teachers and trainers in the post compulsory sector take their rightful place as education professionals and receive the acknowledgement and respect due to them for being in the forefront of developing the national skills base.

My experience in education spans eighteen years of teaching, governance, management and research. It has equipped me with a deep understanding of the sector from multiple perspectives. As a practitioner, manager, academic, parent and most recently teacher educator, I have gained an insight into the practical needs of teachers and trainers both in terms of their own learning and development and in the conditions and support systems needed to promote and facilitate professional learning. Professionalism has to be underpinned by a strong commitment from government and society at all levels. The IfL must seek to ensure that commitment..

I am firmly committed to the principles and practice of equality and diversity. This means working towards identifying and removing barriers to entry, achievement and progression within the sector. The IfL should be committed to addressing the under representation of teachers and managers from minority communities in the learning and skills sector.

My professional experience, academic expertise, and more importantly, my enduring commitment to excellence and professionalism in education has led me to stand for election. The Institute for Learning is an exciting and innovative leader in the sector. I welcome the opportunity to contribute constructively to its future and the future of teachers and trainers in Further Education.

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Deborah HUNN

I have been working in Adult and Community Learning since 1993, delivering Skills for Life Literacy, ESOL and ALDD classes in community and work-based settings. I have been delivering accredited and non-accredited teacher education since 1998 and am currently Acting Programme Manager for CPD for a successful ACL provider in London, where the continuous professional development of all staff has been integral to developing the Service.

I have a great belief in the expertise, commitment and professionalism demonstrated by teachers in the sector. I feel strongly that practitioner voices should influence the design of initial and continuing professional development requirements and would relish the opportunity to provide one of these voices by contributing to the work of the Institute for Learning Council.

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Nick NAPPER

I have been helping others to learn for almost thirty years. My teaching has ranged from outdoor pursuits for school children and advanced driving for emergency services to resuscitation for nurses and communication skills for managers. My special interest is supporting others in developing their teaching and presenting skills.

I am currently a trainer with the National Health Service based at a District General Hospital. I am also a part time member of the Initial Teacher Training team at my local college. I am currently studying for a Masters degree in education.

I have no political allegiance and I stand for election as an open minded professional with the best interests of teachers and learners at heart. I fully support the aims of the Institute for Learning and if elected, I believe my experience in adult education and work based learning would be of benefit to the council.

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Conchita VARICAK

If it had not been for West Kent College of Further Education, I would not have been awarded a University Degree which eventually led to a fulfilling career in Further Education.

If NATFHE, the TUC Learning Fund and John Smith at the University of London, Institute of Education, had not encouraged me, I would not have obtained a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PCET).

Since 1991, I have experienced all the hills and valleys of Post-Compulsory Education I am proud of all my dedicated colleagues who have struggled and have survived the post-incorporation era and are still holistically well. Throughout all these years we really needed our own professional voice to be heard a little louder perhaps.

Although the current landscape of post-compulsory education is, for so many of us, like an emotional roller coaster of ups and downs our very important business of teaching and training remains constant.

The quality of our Continued Professional Development matters to us. The opportunity to become recognised and licensed matters to us. The prospect of being heard also matters to us. CPD leading to QTLS can help to halt the casualisation of our profession, and this to me an immensely important thing to halt.

At the dawn of the era of Lifelong Learning, let's reflect more often about the Reflective Practitioner and their needs for support and security within their Professional Practice I am so very tired of managing and being managed by emails that I only get time and resources to read at two in the morning! That is why I seek to promote and play an active role within the Institute for Learning because it is our voice.

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Lilia KNIGHT

After a career in architecture, in three continents, I met my husband, got married, had two children and when they began primary school, I decided to start a second career in education and become a Lecturer in Spanish for Newbury College where I have been teaching for the past eighteen years. Since starting, I have taught at all levels, from beginners to A level and presently I am teaching in other secondary schools and I am involved in A level examinations at a Senior level, for one of the main examining brands. I have, thus, acquire experience in several aspects of education and observed with administration and great satisfaction, hour Post 16 and Adult education can change and enhance peoples lives.

Still, much needs to be done in the fields of teachers training and teachers qualifications in order to give the educators the opportunity to become recognised professionals.

I think that the Council of the IFL needs the input of people like me, passionate about post 16 learning and directly involved in the everyday provision and delivery of education.

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