The Federation of Awarding Bodies (FAB) has announced Charlotte Bosworth as its new chair.
Bosworth, who is managing director of Innovate Awarding, will take over from current chairs Kirstie Donnelly and Alan Woods who will both be standing down from the FAB board in the Spring.
John McNamara, FAB’s interim CEO and chair of Innovate Awarding, said: “I know that the Federation will be in very capable hands when they hand over the reins to Charlotte in spring, and that Charlotte will work with Kion [Ahadi] as the next CEO, and the board of directors to continue to build on the success achieved by Kirstie and Alan.”
Bosworth is now in her seventh year as a member of the FAB board and is also vice chair of Walsall College and the chair of compliance for the accountancy professional body AAT.
“There will be challenges ahead as we face a general election, further education reform and developing and new technologies, however I am resolute that as an industry we will work together to ensure that the importance and value of qualifications and assessment in changing the lives of learners is heard at every opportunity,” Bosworth said.
This comes as the federation announced it was investigating the “human and emotional cost” of government regulation, including the approach and conduct of regulators.
Following reports of how Ofqual was accused of driving an end-point assessment organisation out of the apprenticeship market with an “excruciating” and “unfair” investigation that led to one senior manager feeling suicidal and another taking medication for stress.
The body plans to survey its members after the issue was raised by delegates at the FAB annual conference late last year.
The FAB board unanimously elected Bosworth as their next chair at a meeting last week.
Outgoing co-chairs Donnelly and Woods have led the federation since December 2020. In that time, they led the search for the appointment of the new chief executive, Kion Ahadi, who starts on February 5.
In a statement, Donnelly, chief executive of City and Guilds, and Woods, chief executive at VTCT, said: “Since our election by the membership to the Board in 2019, and our election as co-chairs the following year, we have focussed on raising the profile and value of qualifications at the highest levels within government, regulators and the full variety of stakeholders that we work with. Meanwhile, we have sought to position the federation as the strong collective voice of the industry that it is today.
“We believe that now is the right time for us to stand down from the board so that Charlotte and Kion can take FAB forward in the years ahead.”
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