Principals are questioning the status of Association of Colleges chief executive Roger Ward after the announcement that he has temporarily left his post following allegations of impropriety.
An AOC press release announcing the move was interpreted by many principals as being for the good of Mr Ward, rather than the sector. As The TES went to press they said that they would be seeking clarification .
Discontent has grown in the sector over the way the AOC board has handled TES revelations that Mr Ward had a Pounds 650-a-month consultancy agreement with finance firm Burke Ford Reed and too close links with the lecturers’ agency, Education Lecturing Services.
The AOC denied that Mr Ward had been suspended and in a statement referring to the independent inquiry into the allegations said “it has become clear that the task of both representing the FE sector and defending himself has placed an unreasonable burden on the chief executive”.
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