You know what it’s like: you wait ages for an FE minister, and then three turn up all in one year. Shirley-Anne Summerville left the post she’d held for two years in June 2018. Her announced replacement, Gillian Martin, had to step down before she’d even stepped up, after derogatory comments she made about transgender people and disabled people in a blog of 2007 were unearthed.
So, will the third person to hold the post in 2018 be the charm? Tes Scotland sat down with Richard Lochhead to find out. Lochhead is no stranger to government, having served as rural affairs, food and environment secretary from 2007 to 2016. But what approach will he be taking to FE? Here are some of his key quotes:
“I want to be a high-profile, vocal minister for further and higher education and science, and to ensure that my colleagues in government and the wider country recognise the importance of our sectors and the amazing role they play in equipping the country for the future.”
“I am known for getting out and about and meeting people, and I will continue in that vein. I won’t be afraid of making changes where I think they are required to improve the sector’s resilience and effectiveness, but I am bowled over by the talent I have come across in terms of both students and staff.”
“Since I took on this job, I have been reflecting on my own learner journey. When I left school, all my friends went straight to university and I guess I didn’t have the confidence back then to do that. I went and did my HNC and I really enjoyed that.”
“I have been in government before and I have dealt with all kinds of FE and HE institutions - clearly you know it is a very important sector. But now I am in this post, you actually realise that it is massive. Not only is it massively important, but also in its size, in terms of the institutions and their students and the big role they play in their communities, as well as in the country’s future.”
“There is no reason we shouldn’t be urging people in their thirties, forties and fifties to retrain and learn skills, especially if it is in the national interest.”
“The college sector has been through some turbulent times in recent years and we are now in a period, hopefully, of much more stability.”
