The Liverpool chief education officer who quit after inspectors criticised the education authority is to become director of the city’s Catholic schools.
Frank Cogley took early retirement in June 1999, then aged 55, after the Office for Standards in Education found that the LEA was failing its schools. He had been at the authority for 10 years. Five of his six senior managers also left.
Liverpool’s education services had looked set to be privatised but ministers held back after temporary replacement Bob Clark and permanent successor Colin Hilton, previously director at nearby St Helen’s, transformed the authority.
Since leaving Liverpool, Mr Cogley has been chief executive to the Northern Examinations and Assessment Board, where he helped to arrange a merger with the Associated Examinations Board to create the Assessment and Qualfications Alliance. He said: “I am delighted that I will be working again with so many good colleagues and I am looking forward to developing similar strong relationships with governors, staff and parents in the Archdiocese of Liverpool.” The Archdiocese extends into Merseyside and Cheshire.
A spokesman for Archbishop Patrick Kelly said Mr Cogley “was the best candidate for the job”. He will take over from current Catholic education director Bob Newman on September 1, when he retires after 14 years in the city.
Sister Brigid Halligan, head of Bellerive school, one of 11 Catholic secondaries in the city, welcomed Mr Cogley’s appointment.
“The period he was director was a difficult one for authorities. The roles and responsibilities of local government have been better clarified and he wasn’t able to benefit,” she said.
