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the GTC

Nominees from other bodies

last updated:16 Jul 2009

The follow people have been nominated to sit on the GTC Council:

Rajinder Mann, Association of Colleges (AoC)
Andrew Baxter, Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS)
Oona Stannard, Catholic Education Service (CES)
Liz Carter, Church of England
Jill Hill, Confederation of British Industry (CBI)
To be nominated, Commission for Equality & Human Rights (x2)
Anne Madden, Commission for Equality and Human Rights
Muriel Robinson, GuildHE
Sam Crooks, Local Government Association (LGA)
Tony Lewis, Local Government Association (LGA)
Robert Gordon, Local Government Association
Fergus Crow, National Children's Bureau (NCB)
John Adams, National Governors' Association (NGA)
Chris Cook, Universities' Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET)
Geoff Whitty, Universities UK

Scroll down for member biographies.

Rajinder Mann - Association of Colleges (AoC)

Rajinder Mann was nominated by the Association of Colleges onto the Council in 2008.

Rajinder leads the Black Leadership Initiative (BLI), which was set up to address the under representation of senior managers and leaders in Further Education. The BLI works with key stakeholders in the post sixteen sector and provides mentoring, coaching, support, secondment and work shadowing opportunities for aspiring Black staff in Further Education.

She has over 24 years experience in adult, youth and community education. Rajinder was Director of Community Education at Bristol Community College then moved on to developing Lifelong Learning at the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. She has also worked in policy development at NIACE, Birmingham City Council and Wolverhampton Borough Council.

She holds a Master of Social Sciences Degree in Race and Education as well as a Bachelor of Education from Birmingham University. The area of expertise in her Masters provides her with the theoretical knowledge for understanding race equality issues in education.

She is passionately committed to the principles of social inclusion, community cohesion and empowering people through education and training in order to augment economic and social regeneration. She has a track record in promoting race equality in the sector and her commitment to equalities is demonstrated through her voluntary roles as a former Chair of the Network of Black Managers, Vice Chair of the Commission for Black Staff and a member of DCSF Stakeholders committee. She is Vice Chair of the NBM and a member of the Association of College Managers Council, Equality and Diversity Committee for the University of Industry, member of the Institute of Leadership and Management and a fellow of the Royal Society of arts.

Declaration of interests

a) Any unpaid office held in a professional or public body, including those which are associated with education. Offices include posts such as President, Chair, Chief Executive, Treasurer, Council Member or Secretary.

Executive Director – Network for Black Professionals
Director – P17 Executives Ltd

b) Any unpaid office held in a professional or public body, including those which are associated with education. Offices include posts such as President, Chair, Chief Executive, Treasurer, Council Member or Secretary.

Commissioner on 2020 Public Services Commission

c) Membership of professional bodies and trade or other associations which is unpaid, either educational or non-educational.

Institute of Leadership and Management
Association of Colleges Managers

Andrew Baxter - Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS)

Andrew Baxter was re-nominated onto the Council in 2008. He sits on the GTC’s Executive Committee.

Andrew was Cambridgeshire County Council’s Director of Education, Libraries & Heritage from 1996 to 2006. He had previously served as Director of Education in the London Borough of Bromley and Area Director of Education at Kent County Council.

His early teaching career included four years as Head of Modern Languages at a Warwickshire school.

He now serves as a School Adjudicator. He is a trustee of Homerton College, Cambridge and Chair of the Eastern Leadership Centre. Andrew has a BA in French and Drama, an MFA in Arts Education, and other professional qualifications in management and education. His interests include music and literature.

Declaration of interests

a) Posts held in the course of full and part time employment, self employment or practice, including partnerships and directorships.

Managing Director, TPM Associates Ltd
Schools Adjudicator

Trustee, Homerton College, Cambridge
Chair of Board, Eastern Leadership Centre
Chair, Independent Advisory Panel, Army Training Regiment (Bassingbourn)

c) Membership of professional bodies and trade or other associations which is unpaid, either educational or non-educational.

Member, Association of Directors of Children’s Services

Oona Stannard - Catholic Education Service (CES)

Oona Stannard was nominated onto the Council by the Catholic Education Service in 2000 and 2004 and re-nominated in 2008.

Oona is Chief Executive of the Catholic Education Service for England and Wales, and through the dioceses she has links with the 2,500 Catholic schools and their teachers. Oona has 10 years experience as an HMI, which included considerable experience of LEA inspections and local organisational issues. She has a strong track record on equality issues and was HMI’s point of reference on gender issues.

Prior to becoming a HMI, Oona taught in community schools in inner London and outer boroughs. She also has experience of working in health service management, and in wider health education.

Oona is concerned that the GTC should reflect the diversity of the teacher population. She will encourage the GTC to acknowledge that there is much about the profession that is generic but that there are also aspects of teaching that are distinctive according to the ethos of the school.

'I see my role as ensuring the GTC recognises the 48,000 teachers working in Catholic schools.'

Declaration of interests

a) Posts held in the course of full and part time employment, self employment or practice, including partnerships and directorships.

Chief Executive and Director: Catholic Education Service for England and Wales

Vice Chair of the Board of St Mary’s University College

c) Membership of professional bodies and trade or other associations which is unpaid, either educational or non-educational.

Member of First Division Association

Liz Carter - Church of England

Liz Carter has been the Church of England nominee to the Council since 2004. She sits on the Registration and Regulation Committee and has been a member of the Policy and Research Committee.

Liz is the National School Support Officer for the Church of England Education Division and the National Society, working closely with the Head of School Development on issues involving school buildings, including academies, the workforce and pupils and representing the Church of England on several DfE working parties and committees, and other national bodies.

She is the reference point for a legal advice scheme for diocesan directors of education, schools and governors. She is on the ecumenical steering group for ‘Education Sunday’. She is also the coordinator of the National Society’s preparations to celebrate 200 years of church schools in its bicentenary year, 2011.

Liz was a parent governor in a community secondary school for 12 years and is a foundation governor of a new Church of England secondary school.

'Through membership of the GTC I hope to work towards further raising the status of the teaching profession, particularly in Church schools.'

Declaration of interests

Member: National Employers Organisation for School Teachers
Member: School Support Staff Negotiating Body

Jill Hill - Confederation of British Industry (CBI)

Jill Hill was nominated onto the Council by the CBI in 2008. She sits on the Executive Committee and sat on the former Policy and Research Committee

Jill is a qualified engineer (FBCS, CEng), who spent the majority of her career with Rolls-Royce plc, the last position as Chief Executive of their Materials Handling Division.

From 2001 until 2008 Jill was an Executive Director of Remploy Ltd, a not-for-profit company which finds employment opportunities for people with significant barriers to employment, in particular those with disabilities. During that period Remploy increased the number of people it supported into employment each year from 500 to over 6,500.

Jill is also a Member of the Competition Commission. She has been active throughout her career in a voluntary capacity in organisations which support businesses in her sector, in particular in the last few years as a Director of ERSA, the organisation for supported employment providers, and as a committee member of the CBI’s Welfare to Work committee, and their Education and Training Committee. She was the CBI representative on the Foster Review of the future of Further Education.

Declaration of interests

a) Posts held in the course of full and part time employment, self employment or practice, including partnerships and directorships.

Member of Competition Commission
Director and Company Secretary of Varndean Park Estate Ltd.

Governor of Fairlight School, Brighton

c) Membership of professional bodies and trade or other associations which is unpaid, either educational or non-educational.

Fellow British Computer Society

Anne Madden - Commission for Equality and Human Rights

Anne Madden was nominated onto the Council by the former Equal Opportunities Commission in 2000 and 2004 and re-nominated by CEHR in 2008.

Anne is Director of Policy and the lead officer on educational and training matters for lCEHR. It is her responsibility to brief commissioners, attend ministerial meetings and select committees and develop policies and practice.

She has brought to the GTC experience and expertise of equal opportunities complaints, formal investigations and policy development in relation to employment matters and education. She has previously sat on the GTC’s Teaching and Learning Advisory Committee.

She hopes her involvement with the GTC will be a positive contribution to a new and important organisation.

'My key aims are to mainstream equality through the functions, procedures and policies of the GTC and to work toward equality and fairness in the teaching profession.'

Declaration of interests

None declared.

Muriel Robinson - GuildHE

Muriel Robinson was nominated onto the Council by GuildHE in 2008.

Muriel began her professional life as a primary school teacher and taught for ten years in inner London before completing an MA in Language and Literature in Education and moving into the world of teacher education at the University of Brighton.

Whilst there Muriel became increasingly interested in the interplay between media and as a result her PhD thesis explores the relationships between reading and television with regard to narrative. She also took on an increasing range of management and leadership roles, including responsibility for the suite of CPD provision offered by the School of Education, ultimately taking on the role of Deputy Head of School.

During this time Muriel was also privileged to work on international programmes, working with teachers from Israel and Mauritius. After 14 years at Brighton she was appointed as Vice Principal (Academic Quality) of Newman College and then as Principal of Bishop Grosseteste University College Lincoln from September 2003.

Among her external roles as Principal Muriel is a governor of two local schools, a member of the Lincolnshire Assembly Executive Group, a Vice-Chair of GuildHE and co-ordinator of the Church Colleges and Universities UK chapter of CUAC, Colleges and Universities of the Anglican Communion. Muriel has served on national committees such as the Burgess Group and currently chair the Credit Issues Development Group.

Muriel’s research interests remain in the area of media with particular reference to the competences and confidence of young people and intending teachers and to the contrasts between the ways different generations engage with new media.

Declaration of interests

a) Posts held in the course of full and part time employment, self employment or practice, including partnerships and directorships.

Director of GuildHE
Director of Bishops Grosseteste College (Lincoln) Ltd

Vice Chair of GuildHE
Member of Lincolnshire Assembly executive
UK trustee and member of committee for CUAC

c) Membership of professional bodies and trade or other associations which is unpaid, either educational or non-educational.

University and College Union (UCU), National Association of the Teaching of English (NATE) and United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA)

e) Consultancies, directorships, management or advisory position in an organisation which might be affected by regulatory or commercial decisions taken by the Council.

Principal of Bishop Grosseteste University College Lincoln

f) Any other direct or indirect and material financial interest relevant to the Council’s work.

Principal of Bishop Grosseteste University College Lincoln

Sam Crooks - Local Government Association (LGA)

Sam Crooks has represented the Local Government Association (LGA) on the GTC since 2004 and was re-nominated in 2008. He sits on the GTC’s Executive Committee.

He is the Leader of Milton Keynes Council and runs an educational software company. A (very junior) member of the team that created the Open University in 1970 he has subsequently worked as Director of the University of London External Programme, and Dean of Students & Register of INSEAD in France. He has been an educational consultant to the European Commission and a Fulbright Fellow in America. He has an M.Ed degree from the University of Cambridge on curriculum reform in management education. He has been a longstanding member of the Liberal Democrat Education Association including a period as editor of its journal.

Declaration of interests

(a) Posts held in the course of full and part time employment, self employment or practice, including partnerships and directorships.

Chief Executive Virtual Learning International (for which I receive a salary)
Leader, Milton Keynes Council (for which I receive a special responsibility allowance)

(b) Any unpaid office held in a professional or public body, including those which are associated with education. Offices include posts such as President, Chair, Chief Executive, Treasurer, Council Member or Secretary.

Trustee of the Bletchley Park Trust (which has educational activities) & chair of its Audit Committee
School governor

(c) Membership of professional bodies and trade or other associations which is unpaid, either educational or non-educational.

Liberal Democrat Party

(g) Family interests: Please list any interest of yourself, your partner or close family members that might be considered relevant to your position on the Council or in the business dealings of the GTC.

Niece who is a qualified teacher.

Tony Lewis - Local Government Association (LGA)

Tony was nominated by the LGA for the Council in 2008.

Tony has had a strong interest in education and schools since his children started school in 1988 and he became a school governor. At one time he was a governor or equivalent of seven education establishments.

He has a professional background in computing and management and spent 30 years in that industry before retiring early in 2000.

He is a local Labour and Co-operative councillor and has held a number of senior positions, including responsibility for education, schools, and children and young people.

He is a Vice-Chair of the National Employers Organisation for School Teachers (NEOST), a member of the National Employers for School Support Staff (NESSS), the School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB) and the Workforce Agreement Monitoring Group (WAMG). He was a member of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People Board from its creation in 2004 until he stood down in July 2010. He served for 14 years on the national executive committee of a trade union, including a year as its president.

Tony's son is a physics graduate and works in Information Communications and Technology for a distribution and warehousing company in Suffolk. His daughter has MAs in Architectural History and History and lives in Perth, Australia where she was married to a local in December 2009. His fiancée is a director at the Barbican Centre in London.

For rest and recreation, he is a big fan of music and plays 12-string guitar in the Back Porch Band. He has always been keen on cars and motor sport and, with a friend, has a motor racing and engineering company. They also own and run a removals and storage company.

Tony is very keen on France, its people and its way of life and plans to move there when he really retires!

Declaration of interests

Vice-Chair of NEOST
Member of NESSS
Member of SSSNB
Member of WAMG
Member of JNC for Teachers in Residential Establishments
Member of DCSF Ministerial Stakeholder Group on Behaviour and Attendance
Member of Ipswich Borough Council
School Governor at Westbourne High School and Whitehouse Primary School
Member of the Corporation of Suffolk New College
Public Partnership in Europe (EU Social Partner).

c) Membership of professional bodies and trade or other associations which is unpaid, either educational or non-educational.

Labour Party
Co-operative Party
Association of Labour Councillors
Musicians Union
Re-Connect (trade union body)
Mid-Suffolk Light Railway Company
Ffestiniog Railway Society
Psoriasis Society
Fresh Start Removals Ltd – Director
Monk Racing Ltd - Director

Robert Gordon - Local Government Association

Robert Gordon was appointed to the GTC by the Local Government Association in April 2006 and re-nominated in 2008. Robert sits on the Registration and Regulation Committee.

Robert is Leader of Hertfordshire County Council where he was previously Executive Member for Education. He is a Member of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People Board and former Chairman of the National Employers Organisation for School Teachers. He was also a member of Hertfordshire Learing and Skills Council.

Declaration of interests

a) Posts held in the course of full and part time employment, self employment or practice, including partnerships and directorships.

Leader, Hertfordshire CC
Member, Hertfordshire Police Authority
Member, LGA Children’s Board

Clerk, Watford Grammar Schools Foundation

c) Membership of professional bodies and trade or other associations which is unpaid, either educational or non-educational.

Law Society

e) Consultancies, directorships, management or advisory position in an organisation which might be affected by regulatory or commercial decisions taken by the Council.

Leader, Hertfordshire CC
Member, Hertfordshire Police Authority
Member, LEA Children Board
County Councils Network

f) Any other direct or indirect and material financial interest relevant to the Council’s work.

Leader, Hertfordshire CC
Member, Hertfordshire Police authority
Member, LEA Children Board
County Councils Network

g) Family interest: Please list any interest of yourself, your partner or close family members that might be considered relevant to your position on the Council I in the business dealings of the GTC.

Two children considering teaching as a career

Fergus Crow - National Children's Bureau (NCB)

Fergus Crow was nominated onto the Council in 2008 by the NCB.

Fergus Crow is Assistant Director – Well-being at the National Children’s Bureau. He leads NCB’s work on well-being in schools and education settings.

Alongside a key focus on policy, this work includes overseeing a national programme of support for Personal, Social and Health and Economic Education (PSHE Education); two expert networks: the Anti-Bullying Alliance and the Sex Education forum; and the ‘Life Routes’ programme, which supports marginalised children and young people to learn life skills in a series of innovative participation projects across the country.

The National Children’s Bureau is one of the country’s leading children’s charities. Established in 1963, NCB’s central aim is to promote the voices, interests and well-being of all children and young people across every aspect of their lives.

Fergus was formerly a writer, teacher and, until 2006, an adviser in one of the country’s first local authority Children and Young People’s Trust.

Declaration of interests

a) Posts held in the course of full and part time employment, self employment or practice, including partnerships and directorships.

National Childrens Bureau – Assistant Director – Learning & Schools

National Childrens Bureau - representative trustee of the Association for Citizenship Teaching (ACT)

c) Membership of professional bodies and trade or other associations which is unpaid, either educational or non-educational.

Member of the Association of Professional in Education and Children’s Trusts (ASPECT)
Member, National PSE Association for Advisers, Inspectors and Consultant (NSCoPSE)

g) Family interests: Please list any interest of yourself, your partner or close family members that might be considered relevant to your position on the Council or in the business dealings of the GTC.

Partner is a registered teacher

John Adams - National Governors' Association (NGA)

John Adams was appointed to the Council by the National Governors Association in 2008. John sits on the Policy and Research Committee.

In an academic career of more than 30 years, John has taught, researched and examined in economics in universities in the UK and overseas, and has written and lectured extensively on a variety of subjects in economics, staff development and governance. He has authored more than 150 books, reports and seminar papers.

John has recently demitted office as the Chair of the newly-formed National Governors’ Association (created by a merger between the National Governors’ Council and the National Association of Schools Governors) and has previously been Chair of NASG and NAGM. In November 2006 he was elected the first Vice President of the NGA.

In addition to membership of a range of governmental advisory and working groups, recent activities have included giving evidence to the School Teachers’ Pay Review Body (STRB) and to three Select Committees of the House of Commons – most recently on the 2005 Education White Paper.

In 2002 John was part of a ministerial delegation to the Russian Parliament to advise on the introduction of school governing bodies throughout the Russian Federation, and in 2004 undertook a lecture tour to South Africa under the aegis of the University of Pretoria, to share experience of governance and good practice from the UK.

Related activities include acting as an inaugural panel member and judge for the National Teachers Award, NCPTA Gold Star Awards and the National Clerks Awards.

Declaration of interests

b) Any unpaid office held in a professional or public body, including those which are associated with education. Offices include posts such as President, Chair, chief Executive, Treasurer, Council Member or Secretary.

Vice President of National Governors Association

Chris Cook - Universities' Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET)

Chris Cook is a founder member of Council nominated by the Universities’ Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET). He sits on the GTC’s Executive Committee.

Chris was Head of the Education Department at the University of Hertfordshire until 2000, having started a career in teaching in 1963. He has taught in all phases of education and continues to work closely with student teachers in primary schools in London.

He brings to the GTC expertise in the professional education, training and development of teachers and wide experience of education in England and overseas.

Up to 2004 Chris had been a member of GTC’s Professional Delvelopment Committee and Chair of the Initial Teacher Training Committee. He is now Treasurer of UCET, having been its Chair from 2003 to 2005.

Declaration of interests

a) Posts held in the course of full and part time employment, self employment or practice, including partnerships and directorships.

Now formally retired from the University of Hertfordshire where I was Head of the School of Education, I continue my links with that University as Professor Emeritus and through occasional teaching and supervision of students in schools

Treasurer of UCET (Universities Council for the Education of Teachers)

Spouse is retired headteacher who does part time consultancy for schools

Geoff Whitty - Universities UK

Geoff Whitty has been Director of the Institute of Education, University of London, since September 2000. He taught in primary and secondary schools before lecturing in education at Bath University and King’s College London. He then held Chairs and senior management posts at Bristol Polytechnic and Goldsmiths College before joining the Institute as the Karl Mannheim Professor of Sociology of Education in 1992.

His main areas of teaching and research are the sociology of education, curriculum studies, education policy, health education and teacher education. He has led evaluations of major educational reforms and has assisted schools and local authorities in building capacity for improvement. His many publications include Making Sense of Education Policy, Sage Publications 2002, and Education and the Middle Class (with Sally Power, Tony Edwards and Valerie Wigfall), Open University Press 2003, which won the Society for Educational Studies 2004 education book prize.

Geoff Whitty has been a member of the General Teaching Council for England since 2003 and has been a specialist advisor to successive House of Commons Education Select Committees since 2005. He is a past President of both the British Educational Research Association and the College of Teachers and a former Chair of the British Council’s Education and Training Advisory Committee. In 2009, he was awarded the Lady Plowden Memorial Medal for outstanding services to education.

Declaration of Interests

a) Posts held in the course of full and part time employment, self employment or practice, including partnerships and directorships.

Director, Institute of Education

President, College of Teachers
Vice President, BERA

d) Members must provide details of any connection, or relationship, they may have with any body which supplies goods or services too, or is involved in any other commercial transaction with the General Teaching Council for England.

Governor at Camden School for Girls

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