Lorna Fitzjohn HMI

Director for Further Education and Skills, Ofsted

Lorna joined Ofsted in April 2007 following the merger with the Adult Learning Inspectorate where she was an Inspection Manager. In the 10 months prior to the formation of new Ofsted, Lorna was the lead officer within the Creating New Ofsted programme. She joined new Ofsted as an Assistant Divisional Manager. Appointed as Divisional Manager in February 2010, Lorna was responsible for Ofsted inspection policy development in learning and skills including further education, work based learning and prison education and led on the development of the new Common Inspection Framework launched in September 2012. In January 2013 Lorna took up the role of Regional Director in the South West moving permanently to the West Midlands region in October 2013. She is responsible for Ofsted’s performance in the region including driving improvement in those schools and learning and skills providers which are less than good. From January 2014 this extends to include Social Care, Early Years, Initial Teacher Education and independent schools.

Previously Lorna’s career began in primary education and subsequently the delivery, management and quality assurance of vocational, employment skills training and education in the post-16 sector specialising in the early years field. She has held senior management positions within primary and post-16 education including a large FE college. Lorna is a qualified primary school teacher, has a degree in post compulsory education and a Masters degree in Business Administration.

In March 2014 Lorna also became the National Director for Further Education and skills.

John Landeryou - Event Chair

Consultant, Association of Employment & Learning Providers

John is director of his own consultancy company specialising in strategy and quality in further and higher education and skills, working with organisations in the public and private sector. He works on a part time basis for AELP and is involved in a range of sector wide initiatives. He is also a member of the National Improvement Partnership Board. Immediately prior to this he was Director of Further Education in the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) where he was responsible for advising ministers on further education and lifelong learning policy. Previously he was Director of Improvement in DIUS.

During his earlier career he had extensive experience of inspection and quality improvement work, designing inspection regimes in the ALI and heading up Ofsted’s post-16 and learning and skills work. He has also held senior positions in education business partnerships, local authorities, and a Chamber of Commerce Training and Enterprise, having originally started out as a teacher.

Paul Warner

Director of Employment and Skills, Association of Employment & Learning Providers

Having been a specialist recruitment consultant to the defence industry for six years, Paul started in the post-16 sector in 1993 working on Training for Work contracts for TBG Learning. He subsequently took on a variety of related operational and senior management roles, culminating in a successful tenure as Director of Business Development. On leaving TBG he worked as a consultant for a time, including a spell managing WBL delivery at Barking College in East London, before joining AELP in September 2003 where he now oversees all aspects of operational and policy delivery, particularly concentrating on the alignment of the skills and employability agendas.

Paul holds a First Class Honours degree in International Relations from the University of Keele, and an MA in Post-Compulsory Education and Training from the University of Sheffield. He is a Director of the Institute of Employability Professionals and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Married with one daughter, hailing from the New Forest but living in Essex, he lists his hobbies as rock music, amateur dramatics and karate.

Paul Kessell-Holland

Programme Manager, Professional Standards & Workforce Development, The Education and Training Foundation

Paul Kessell-Holland recently joined the Education and Training Foundation from the Higher Education Academy, where he was involved in professional standards and policy development work across the UK. Paul has spent the majority of his career in general FE as a lecturer and manager. Having spent the first five years of his teaching career in SEND teaching at primary, secondary and adult education he is an advocate for education for all, and has a cross cutting role in the Education and Training Foundation, including  responsibility for areas of the workforce development agenda and the Professional Standards.

Shirley Woodcock

Managing Director –Challenge and Change Consulting
(Formerly General Manager – Capital Training Group)

Shirley has a successful background in Education and Training for over 20 years and has held a variety of Senior Roles within FE Colleges, Tribal, Work Based Learning and Welfare to Work. Joining Capital Training Group in September 2011 as Senior Business Development & Growth Manager, it was within the first two weeks of joining Capital that they underwent a disastrous Ofsted inspection and were graded ‘Inadequate’. With a background in quality improvement, Shirley was asked by the Chairman to take over the management of the SFA provision and to implement an organisational change to improve all aspects of the quality of Teaching, Learning and Assessment, Performance Management including Sub-Contractor Management.

English & maths including Functional Skills was deemed an area of weakness particularly in Construction and Shirley worked closely with an LSIS support advisor to significantly improve this area of learning.

Following a successful Ofsted inspection in May 2014 Capital Training Group are now officially graded ‘Good’.

Due to personal commitments Shirley has recently moved to the North Pennines and is running her own quality improvement consultancy supporting colleges and providers to manage the change process required in order to improve.