Tuesday 12 January 2016
We were delighted to see that FE and Skills were well represented in the 2016 New Year’s Honours, with a number of individuals in the sector recognised.
We’d particularly like to congratulate David Cowell, one of our NCFE Moderators who has been appointed a Member of the British Empire (MBE) for services to vocational education. For the past 10 years, David has provided support and qualifications to young people who struggle with mainstream education.
Until very recently David was the managing director of Melton Learning Hub and, while he still has a key strategic role within the Hub, he has moved to Alternative Learning Project (ALP) Schools, where he will deliver vocational education to young people with autism and Asperger’s Syndrome.
He will officially receive his MBE from a member of the royal family in the first half of this year. This is a fantastic achievement, which is testament to David’s hard work and dedication to helping young people gain vital vocational skills.
In addition to David, more than 20 figures in the sector were included in this year’s list. Awards included a knighthood for Further Education Commissioner Dr David Collins, a damehood for chief regulator and chief executive of Ofqual Glenys Stacey, and CBEs for AoC chief executive Martin Doel and former AoC president Richard Atkins.
It’s great that key figures from across the sector are being acknowledged with these awards – they all play important roles in supporting or delivering high quality vocational education and training. Hopefully this will continue and we’ll see even more FE and skills champions featured in the New Year’s Honours list in the years to come.