Current chief inspector of the Training Standards Council (TSC) David Sherlock is to become the chief inspector of the new Adult Learning Inspectorate (ALI).
As TrainingZONE reported earlier this month, the ALI will replace the Training Standards Council and part of the existing inspectorate of the Further Education Funding Council with effect from April 2001, bringing together the inspection of adult education and work-based training into a single unit. The ALI will also inspect the new learndirect centres.
Mr Sherlock has been the Chief Inspector of the Training Standards Council since it came into being in 1997. Prior to this, he had a number of roles within education, including the deputy director of the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, principal at London’s Central St Martin’s College of Art & Design, as well as development director of the Royal College of Art, London.
Speaking about his new role, for which he will be paid £80,000 to £95,000 a year, Sherlock said that the Learning and Skills Act signalled a change of direction: "What is best for each individual learner may be a course in a public sector college, a training programme with a private sector employer, or basic skills and e-learning in the community. Adult learners should be able to make reliable comparisons between these different kinds of provision, so that they can find the best possible deal."
Sherlock will have some familiar and supportive faces around him - Nick Reilly, the current chair of the TSC was appointed as chair designate of the ALI on 4 July, and it seems likely there will be other similar moves. Speaking of the appointment, Reilly said of Sherlock that "in leading the Council’s inspectorate and presenting the strengths and weaknesses of work-based training and the New Deal in his last two annual reports, David Sherlock has shown himself a critical friend to training providers...he has built up the respect of employers, training providers, colleges and a wide network of organisations with which he will work in the future."
The Further Education Funding Council is looking for help from colleagues in TECS, colleges and government offices to help during the setting up of the new Learning and Skills Council. Secondments are being offered on a full or part-time basis from August to March 2001. Further details can be found on their website.
