AOSEC Appoints New Chief Executive

AOSEC are delighted to announce the appointment of their new Chief Executive, Jan Edrich. Jan joins the organisation from a post as Assistant Principal at Hastings College, where she had the strategic lead for all the adult and commercial provision, IT infrastructure and strategic planning (her time at the college also coincided with a large new build programme).

Jan has developed a wealth of experience within the education sector which includes work at Sussex Learning and Skills Council (with responsibility for strategic area review and provider quality) and prior to this working in FE starting as a part time lecturer and ending up as a curriculum director. Despite busy workloads Jan also finds time for study, and is currently undertaking doctoral research in education policy impact in further education.

Jan has an excellent understanding of the complexity of the sector and the many changes and challenges it is currently facing. She has substantial experience of the operational aspects of an FE college and during her time at the LSC worked closely with a range of colleges, local authorities, councils, voluntary sector organisations and the RDA. This work has highlighted the importance of partnerships and what multi-agency working could achieve, "It helps to understand that no one solution is right for all parts of the region and that working within a local context is important although sometimes, complicated".

Jan has embraced the AOSEC role as "an opportunity not only to support the development of colleagues in the colleges, but also to make a difference by opening doors and influencing other agencies and decisions at national, regional and sub regional level".

In her view the small team at AOSEC are in an excellent position "to support and promote the work of the SE colleges, and already has many established ways of achieving this."  In a time when the infrastructure of further education is about to be transformed once again a number of regional bodies are now looking to AOSEC to bring the colleges to the table for discussion "It is a great opportunity to increase the colleges profile and to enable them to have greater influence on the issues that affect them." Jan hopes to make AOSEC the organisation to which staff in colleges turn to find out what is happening regionally that affects them.

Her plans include review and development to extend the opportunities AOSEC facilitates for members to work with colleagues across the SE for their own personal development, networking to provide solutions and professional updating in an informal and member driven environment. Jan is only too aware that in a constantly evolving sector "AOSEC will need to continuously adapt to provide a service that best supports its members". 

In her (limited) spare time Jan is a keen athlete "I love being outside, either running or walking and fortunately I live and work in a region with some wonderful scenery and plenty of open space". She has recently completed the London Marathon- much to the admiration of her new colleagues!

The AOSEC team are very much looking forward to the new leadership and the opportunities for development this creates.