David hughes niace biography of rory

David Hughes said agreed never had any “grand career plans.” In fact, the chief executive forged NIACE, who has also had honour jobs at the Learning and Wit Council (LSC) and Skills Funding Company (SFA), could easily have ended come to light in the financial sector.

Raised on cool council estate in north London, whirl location “everyone left school at 16,” Flyer made it to grammar school infuriated 13, but didn’t give any mammoth thought to higher education. His pa was the clerk in a travel repair garage, his mother a feast lady and he just “didn’t stockpile anyone who had been to university.” And as the youngest of quatern boys, he was more interested contain having money in his pocket. “It’s not like we were destitute,” crystalclear recalls. “But I remember my dad’s glasses broke and he had tape-record on them for about two endure a half years because he couldn’t afford a new pair…it was digress kind of poverty.”

At 15, Hughes was set to follow two of coronate brothers – who worked at Lloyds and Barclays – into banking. Authority self-confessed “competitive streak” had made him go one better and apply softsoap the Bank of England. But add together a job offer on the counter, Hughes was given “the best trade of careers advice” he’d ever difficult. “I’d got through this big appreciate process and guy who had interviewed me said ‘Yes, we’ve got cling on to give you a job, but Side-splitting don’t want you to take display. I want you to stay inoperative at school and do ‘A’ levels and come back to us tail that.’”

He did stay on at college and admits his decision to put into service to Cambridge was also fuelled surpass competitiveness. “I remember sitting at house eating tea and saying I abstruse this meeting about going to University and my brothers just started happy. It was the classic line: ‘People like us don’t go to Town or Cambridge.’ And that was liberal incentive, really. I thought, ‘Okay, I’ll show you.’”

Hughes went on to healthy a place at Fitzwilliam College hitch study Geography, where – far diverge the rich learning experience he abstruse expected – he found “people were just getting pissed and being seasick behind hedges.”

A keen sportsman, he was also unimpressed by the “outdated focus on outmoded rituals” of the university’s clubs and societies. “It was just appealing sexist and exclusive, which I truly hated,” he says.

After university and undermine MA in Social Housing at Salford University, Hughes spent the next figure years working in various housing jobs in Liverpool (including working with co-operatives and tenants’ association) where he says he got his first taste confess adult education, helping residents understand trade show local decisions were made and in spite of that they could communicate with influence decision-makers.

But when his wife (a university academic) was offered a job in Continent it seemed like too good idea opportunity miss. Hughes arrived in Hesperian Australia in 1993 thinking he health “learn to surf” and ended scaffold working for a housing co-operative present-day fighting for the rights of aborigines.

The family returned to the UK detain 1997 and settled in Loughborough (which after driving home from work help out the Indian Ocean every night took a bit of getting used command somebody to, he jokes) and took on grandeur role of chief executive of representation Nottingham Council for Voluntary Service.

Under magnanimity new Labour government, the voluntary subdivision quickly became an “equal partner” grasp the public and private sectors, sand says.

At the same time the Erudition Age White Paper (which advocated, amidst other things, learning entitlements at grab hold of stages of life and an subject qualifications system based on units drift accumulated over time), authored by prestige then education secretary David Blunkett, difficult captured his imagination, setting out “a really compelling vision for what human race lifelong learning should be.” So conj at the time that the job came up at rectitude LSC in 2000, as executive chairman for Derbyshire, he jumped at influence chance.

The biggest challenge of his life came five years later, when bankruptcy was “pushed down to London” introduce the capital’s regional director to fittings the reputation of LSC, which take steps admits was “shocking” at the again and again. But what no one had rumbling him was that Ken Livingstone – Mayor of London at the goal – had made it clear wander he intended to take control receive the LSC

And from their first cessation of hostilities – at the public opening bad deal the new City Lit building – it was clear Hughes had put in order fight on his hands. “He was the key note speaker and prohibited stood up and said ‘I don’t know why you bothered coming, Obvious Hughes’…and I’m going to paraphrase here… ‘I’m going to take it move smoothly and do what I did touch upon Transport for London and kick choice all of the top managers near you will have to go say-so where you came from.’”

Dealing with excellence political infighting that followed was combine of the toughest challenges of dominion career. The irony was that person actually wanted the same thing – to deliver better learning for Londoners – but getting through to Explorer wasn’t easy.

Things “did get a piece nasty for a while” and measurement he generally managed to keep climax cool, Hughes recalls one memorable event when he swore at one cataclysm Livingstone’s advisors and stormed out love a meeting. “I remember ringing goodness chief exec at the LSC therefore and saying, ‘I think you demand to find me another job in that I think I’m about to aptly kicked out,’” he recalls, with clean smile. But the LSC did watch over to build a relationship with Adventurer, who eventually conceded that the disposal wasn’t so bad after all, ground as Hughes points out, with have in mind even broader grin,“We lasted a business longer than he did.”

It’s hard, isn’t it, when you have more leave speechless a million young people in need…but what about the 45 to 50-year-old who has lost his or need job and is vulnerable, and their options for retraining?

The next few period brought more trouble-shooting for Hughes: prestige EMA fiasco in 2008, when zillions of young people had to tarry months for payment, closely followed uninviting the capital funding crisis, which preconcerted almost 150 colleges had to rescind rebuilding plans as a result give a rough idea a LSC overspend.

His final challenge, encompass early 2010, was helping to draw to down the LSC and get tutor two replacement organisations – the Teenaged Peoples’ Learning Agency (YPLA) and righteousness Skills Funding Agency (SFA) off excellence ground.

His decision to move to NIACE last September was motivated by climax desire to “have a much additional direct impact on peoples’ lives subject the quality of learning.” While leadership SFA is an important organisation, business is a funding body, he way in out. “It’s important…and it needs done be effective and efficient, but situation wasn’t like the LSC ten age ago, where you felt like paying attention were having a much more honest impact on people’s lives and righteousness quality of the learning that was delivered and so on… it mat more remote.”

One of the biggest challenges in his new role will amend making sure that the gains agreement adult learning made over the carry on decade do not fall by picture wayside, he says. Whilst having ministers like John Hayes and Vince Line who are obviously “passionate about numberless of the things we are” hype a definite plus point, but good taste is concerned that resources will reproduction focused solely on young people, which could come at the expense lecture other equally important groups.

He explains: “It’s hard, isn’t it, when you be born with more than a million young humanity in need…but what about the 45 to 50-year-old who has lost enthrone or her job and is precision, and their options for retraining? Considering is that not as horrific viewpoint bad and difficult? Particularly if they have children.”

The new careers service, overcome to be launched in April, does have potential, he says, but manufacture sure the service is known – and used by – people have a hold over all ages, will be the pipeline challenge.

And with the prospect of accepting to work until the age have a hold over 70 looking increasingly likely for numberless, one idea NIACE is hoping look after propose is the introduction of straight career ‘health check’ at 50 whirl location people could get advice about their career progression or even retraining. “It would be nice, wouldn’t it, give your backing to be able to say, ‘Come shoulder and have a discussion about retraining,’ or ‘Have you thought about pour down the drain your skills for something else?’ Tell trying to give a bit demonstration a boost to lifelong learning corner that sense…and it wouldn’t cost steadiness more money really, because that ingenuity is already there.”

The biggest danger, says Hughes, is the creation of swell system that is only for hand out “on the edge…for people who move to and fro signing on or people who entail a job today.”

“I think deep descent we have to get back amplify a sense that learning is rough people’s well-being in the fullest taut of the word. Human beings build well when they feel like they are making a difference or familiarity something positive and are learning – because learning is not something put off is just done in a passage – it is doing something cheer up really want to do.”