Profiles

Emily Chapman, vice president for FE, NUS

Emily Chapman has overcome depression and anxiety to be elected as the National Union of Students’ new FE champion, a poignant reminder that challenges like these don’t define...

Emily Hicks, Festival of Learning 2016 Patron’s Award winner

As entries open for this year’s Festival of Learning awards, we hear from the winner of the 2016 Patron’s Award, Emily Hicks, on how she came to be...

Bill Watkin, CEO, Sixth Form Colleges’ Association

Sitting before me in smart suit and tie, Bill Watkin, the chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges’ Association chief executive looks the epitome of respectability. But that...

Liz Rees, director, Unionlearn

Liz Rees knows all about grammar schools — she attended three — but, unlike some prominent politicians, the experience has not made the Unionlearn director a fan of...

Peter Kyle, chair, All-Party Parliamentary Group for FE and lifelong learning

Struggling young people often need a mentor to inspire and guide them to better things — and Peter Kyle struck gold when Body Shop founder and tireless environmental...

Caroline Allen, CEO, Orchard Hill College Academy Trust

Despite being principal of Orchard Hill College for 21 years, Dr Caroline Allen does not have an office of her own — she is out and about too...

Kelvin Hopkins, chair, All-Party Parliamentary Group for Sixth Form Colleges

With his softly-spoken and self-effacing manner, Kelvin Hopkins MP might seem an unlikely candidate for prompting one of the biggest ever upsets in British politics — but appearances...

Jean Corston, chair, House of Lords Social Mobility Committee

Jean Corston’s journey from council estate to the first female chair of the parliamentary Labour Party and a life peer is living proof that social mobility in the...

Nadhim Zahawi, Prime Minister’s apprenticeship advisor

The Prime Minister’s apprenticeship advisor Nadhim Zahawi can hardly believe how far he has come, from fleeing Iraq as a child and being so quiet at his first...

Nichola Hay, board director, AELP

Doctors told county-level hockey fanatic Nichola Hay’s parents that she would probably never play sport again after removing a tumour from her knee — but she refused to...

Sal Cooke, education technology expert

Sal Cooke’s experience of using technology in the sector certainly proves that — at least amongst her peers — millennials aren’t the owners of internet. In fact one...