In conversation with David Hughes CBE (Chief Executive, Association of Colleges)

Given the continuing cascade of new policy announcements from the Labour government there’ll be plenty to talk about with the Association of College’s long serving Chief Executive, David Hughes CBE. It will be a chance to get an in-depth insight into his views on the opportunities and risks presented by Skills England, the Growth & Skills Levy, devolution of adult education budgets, and the modern Industrial Strategy, not to mention reforms to apprenticeships and Ofsted, plus the imminent new Post-16 strategy. How does he now assess the prospects for colleges, and how does he see AoC’s strategy developing in response?

In an Post-16 landscape of constant change David Hughes stands out as a beacon of stability and constancy. He’s been Chief Executive of the Association of Colleges for nine years, seeing numerous Education Secretaries and Skills Ministers come and go at regular intervals and navigating an unending series of policy changes. He has remained a calm and steady presence throughout.

In his early career David worked in a variety of public benefit roles in the UK and Australia before taking on senior roles at the Skills Funding Agency and Learning & Skills Council for over a decade between 2000 and 2011. Before joining the AoC in 2016 he oversaw the successful merger of NIACE and the Centre for Economic Inclusion to create the Learning & Work Institute, of which he was first CEO.

During his tenure as CEO of the AoC he has successfully raised the profile of the FE sector through initiatives such as Colleges Week, the Love Our Colleges campaign and the forging of a “Future Skills Coalition” with City & Guilds and the Association of Employment & Learning Providers. Behind the scenes at the Department for Education he has been a tireless advocate of better funding for colleges, but has also been prepared to campaign publicly, famously appearing at a mass demonstration in 2018 beside Jeremy Corbyn, Angela Rayner and teaching union leaders on a double decker bus in Parliament Square.

But he’s no firebrand, instead being seen as a pragmatist and realist whose low-key, rational style has achieved some tangible results, in terms of extra funding and concessions from government. But in recent statements he’s made it clear that yet again FE is facing a big battle to secure the extra funding colleges need to put them on a sound financial footing and to close the growing shortfall in FE teachers’ pay. And despite all the promising policy news, last month’s announcement of cuts to the Adult Education Budget show that government purse strings are just as tight as ever. This shouldn’t dishearten David, who once reflected, “The thing I keep clinging on to, and it is hard, is not to become hopeless. As a leader…you’ve got to try and find a way through.”