Further education commissioner Richard Atkins has received a knighthood in this year’s New Year’s honour. Mr Atkins, who is due to step down early in the new year, said he was honoured to receive the award.
He said it recognised the “importance and success of all further education and sixth form colleges across our country, as well as my own contributions”. “I have worked in the colleges sector for 40 years now and have hugely enjoyed working with staff, students and governors. Colleges can, and do, transform the life chances and career opportunities for their learners; both young people and adults.
“They are anchor, civic institutions, which enable social and economic mobility for many. Today I am thinking of all of the staff and governors with whom I have worked, and who have helped my professional development as well as about the huge challenges which colleges will face this coming term. I am confident that they will respond as magnificently as they have done since last March.”
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Meanwhile, former Association of Colleges and WorldSkills UK chair Carole Stott, already an MBE, has been made an OBE for her services to education, while Ann Mroz, the outgoing editor and digital publishing director at Tes, has been honoured with an MBE for services to education.
Ms Stott said: “I do feel really honoured to receive this award. I honestly love and admire FE (which I’ve worked in since the 1980s). The sector just gets on with quietly doing what’s right for its communities and students, many of whom like the sector itself are too often overlooked and undervalued by the wider system - but not by FE. I really hope that 2021 sees FE getting the recognition and support it deserves.”
Dr Neil Bentley-Gockmann, chief executive, WorldSkills UK said that Stott’s commitment and support transformed WorldSkills from a legacy project of WorldSkills London 2011 to the skills charity it is today.
He said: “Carole has worked tirelessly to raise the profile of further education. Her championing of high-quality apprenticeships and technical education remains a critical endeavour in the current climate.”
A number of college principals will also receive OBEs for their contribution to further education, according to today’s list - including principal and head of service at Sutton Adult Education College, Dipa Ganguli, Oldham College principal Alun Francis, Ellen Thinnesen, chief executive of Sunderland College, and Simon Pirotte, principal of Bridgend College.
Mr Francis said: “These awards go to individuals, but they are really about our people and our oranisations - FE colleges in places like Oldham - and the work they do. I am really pleased we are getting this acknowledgement and encouragement and I am looking forward to 2021 being a great year for the sector and for towns like ours.”
Ms Thinnesen added: “Throughout my career I have been blessed to work with many great leaders and personal mentors. And along with the inspirational people that I have the privilege of working with every day, I would like to pass on my heartfelt thanks. This OBE would not have been possible without their support and amazing dedication to the mission of further education”.
Chair of HOLEX, Pat Carrington said: “We are delighted that three of our members have received New Year Honours - including one of our board members Dipa Ganguli. All three are fantastic advocates for adult education and demonstrate the true values of adult education. This year, because of Covid-19, all have had to work even harder to ensure our learners keep learning and, going forward, we need to ensure that we do all we can to prepare people for the post Covid-19 world and work with those learners most impacted by the pandemic, help them back into work and support their individual wellbeing Congratulation to Ros, Dawn and Dipa.”
Carolyn Savage, head of NEET and youth engagement at the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), received an OBE for services to apprenticeships and skills. She said she was “thrilled, amazed and humbled”. She added: “I keep having to pinch myself to make sure that it is really happening. Apprenticeships and particularly supporting apprentices and improving their experience has always been very dear to my heart and I have really enjoyed my varied work in this sector and being able to make a difference.”
Those recognised in the wider FE and skills sector include Nicki Hay, vice chair of the board at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers and chief operating officer at Estio Training Ltd, Sharron Robbie, managing director of Devon and Cornwall Training Providers Network, and Sue Tipton, owner and managing director of Protocol Consultancy Services, Birmingham - all three receiving MBEs.
Ms Hay said: “I am so thrilled and proud to have been included in Her Majesty’s New Year’s Honours list. I feel very humbled, particularly at this time during a pandemic when so many other people deserve such a prestigious award.
“I could not however receive such an honour without all the help and support of my colleagues, past, and present and partner organisations who help improve the lives and career prospects of young people to build better futures. There is still so much more we need to do and I am proud to be part of that driving force.”
FE representatives on the New Year’s Honours list:
Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE)
- Irene Lucas-Hays CBE (For services to training, to education and to young people)
Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire
- Richard James Atkins CBE (Lately further education commissioner, Department for Education. For services to further education)
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)
- John Laramy (Principal, Exeter College. For services to education)
Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)
- Dawn Michelle Hall (Adult, family and community learning manager, Doncaster. For services to further education in South Yorkshire)
- Simon Keith Pirotte (Principal, Bridgend College. For services to further and higher education in Wales)
- Carole Mary Stott MBE (Lately chair, Association of Colleges and Find a Future. For services to education)
- Ellen Thinnesen (Chief executive, Sunderland College. For services to education)
- David Alan John Walrond (Principal and chair, Truro and Penwith College and Callywith College. For services to further education in Cornwall)
- Rosalyn Julia Parker (Principal, Southend Adult Community College. For services to adult education and to the community in Southend, Essex)
- Susan Jane Husband. (Director, business in the Ccmmunity, Cymru and lately director, employer and employee engagement, Education and Skills Funding Agency. For services to education)
- Susan Jessica McVeigh MBE (Head, tax apprenticeship employer-provider, H.M. Revenue and Customs. For services to tax and compliance apprenticeships)
- Hunada Nouss (Chair, audit and risk committee, Education and Skills Funding Agency. For public service)
- Carolyn Savage (Head, apprentice engagement, Education and Skills Funding Agency. For services to apprenticeships and skills)
- Dr Rowena Marie Shaw (For services to education and to young people)
- Alun Francis (Principal and chief executive, Oldham College. For services to education)
- Dipanwita Ganguli (Principal, Sutton College. For services to adult education in London)
- Robert William Lawson (Chair, Education Partnership North East. For services to education in Sunderland)
Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)
- Sally Clare Challis-Manning (Principal, Brinsbury College, Pulborough. For services to further education in West Sussex)
- Lynne Patricia Christopher (Deputy principal, Isle of Wight College. For services to further education)
- Emma Cobley (Principal, Foxes Academy Residential SEN College. For services to young people with special educational needs and disabilities)
- Shirley Jane Collier (Lately chair of York College. For services to further education)
- David William Courtie Crosby (Chair of the corporation, Hugh Baird College, Bootle. For services to further education in Merseyside)
- Gerard Francis Hilton Donnelly (Team leader, People and Capability group, apprenticeship team for services to social mobility)
- Karen Flood (Co-chair, Cross-Government National Learning Disability Board. For services to people with learning disabilities)
- Claire Henderson (Head of department, quality, careers and international development, South Eastern Regional College. For services to further education in Northern Ireland)
- Dr Katherine Hewlett (Glass tutor, Working Men’s College. For services to further education and to charity in London)
- Ian Fryer Peake (Principal and chief executive, Herefordshire, Ludlow and North Shropshire College. For services to education)
- Sarah Elizabeth Marilyn Warren (Lecturer, Southern Regional College. For services to education and children in Northern Ireland)
