DfE names FE teacher training taskforce members

The Department for Education has created a 13-strong expert advisory group to help reform FE teacher training and development.

Anna Dawe (pictured), principal of Wigan and Leigh College, will lead the taskforce as chair.

She is joined by individuals who have “expertise and experience in the delivery of high-quality FE initial teacher education programmes, or with relevant academic research interests”.

It follows the recent launch of a call for evidence for “relevant, high-quality theory and knowledge” to underpin early career training for FE teachers, which will be considered by the group of experts who will then go on to recommend new statutory guidance for FE teaching programmes.

The consultation said the taskforce will aim to eradicate “contested or outdated theories” being taught to trainee FE lecturers, but stopped short of providing examples of such theories.

Government officials have taken steps to address “unacceptably poor quality” training in FE initial teacher education (ITE) in recent years, including by restricting access to the student finance system for private providers.

The DfE said it expects to publish new FE teacher training guidance ahead of the start of the 2026-27 academic year.

The 12 other members of the taskforce are:

Name	Institution/Organisation
Dr Sarah Boodt	Sheffield Hallam University
Jenifer Burden MBE	Gatsby Charitable Foundation
Pauline Hagen OBE	Adviser to the FE Commissioner, DfE
Dr Katy Hensby	South Devon College; Chair of the Learning and Skills Teacher Trailblazer Group
Katie Luxton	Education Endowment Foundation (EEF)
Olly Newton	Edge Foundation
James Noble-Rogers	Universities’ Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET)
Professor Kevin Orr	Visiting Professor, Huddersfield University
Tamara Pierce	Middlesbrough College
Parisa Shirazi	World Skills UK
Professor Samantha Twiselton OBE	Emeritus Professor, Sheffield Hallam University
Dr Dan Williams	University of Derby