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In conversation with Dr Sue Pember CBE (Policy Director, HOLEX)
In conversation with Dr Sue Pember CBE (Policy Director, HOLEX)

Tue, 18 Mar

|

Online | Zoom

In conversation with Dr Sue Pember CBE (Policy Director, HOLEX)

Will the new Government’s approach to Education and Skills have a positive or negative impact on adult education?

Time & Location

18 Mar 2025, 10:00 – 11:00

Online | Zoom

About the Event

Swimming With and Against the Tide: In Conversation With Dr Sue Pember CBE


We’ll be exploring Sue Pember’s views on whether the new government’s approach to Education and Skills will have a positive or negative impact on adult education. Will the devolution of Adult skills budgets to local authorities open up new opportunities? What impact will Skills England and the Growth & Skills levy have on adult skills? How will the DWP’s “Get Britain Working” initiative dovetail with DfE policies?


Sue Pember is currently Policy Director for HOLEX, the professional body for Adult Education providers which represents over 140 organisations, including local authority Adult Community Education services, Institutes for Adult Learning and independent third sector providers.


Growing up in a working-class family in South Wales, Sue recalls “I wanted to be a competitive swimmer, and to sponsor myself to do the swimming, I wanted to be a hairdresser”. But her primary school headteacher encouraged her to be more ambitious and eventually she went into teaching instead.


She is both an expert and a champion for Adult Education in all its forms, having had a high-flying career in the Education and Skills sector for several decades. After graduating with a B.Ed from the University of Wales she started teaching in the London FE sector, before becoming Principal of Canterbury College where she served for nine years before being recruited to implement the government’s Skills for Life programme when David Blunkett was Education Secretary. She subsequently took on a series of senior government roles, working with eight different ministers in three different departments on skills policies over a 13 year period, helping in particular to shape new policies on literacy, numeracy, and apprenticeships.


So Sue has certainly experienced swimming with and against the fast-changing tides of government skills policy. Having worked in the education system at such a variety of levels in such a variety of roles, she is uniquely placed to comment on the evolving policy landscape and reflect on what lessons we can learn from the past to help us navigate the future.

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