James Noble-Rogers is to step down as executive director of the Universities’ Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET).
Mr Noble-Rogers, who has led the organisation for more than 20 years, will leave his role in March next year.
He started at UCET in October 2004, having previously worked as a civil servant for the Department for Education and an officer at the Teacher Training Agency.
UCET represents accredited higher-education level teacher education providers, with more than 90 member institutions.
Career highlights
Mr Noble-Rogers told Tes that it has been his “honour and privilege” to lead UCET for the past two decades and to work with “committed and talented people from within the membership and beyond”.
“Universities have, and will continue to have, a key role to play in providing excellent teacher education to prospective and serving teachers alike and carrying out groundbreaking and relevant education research,” he said.
In his time in the role, Mr Noble-Rogers helped draft the refreshed teacher training framework and raised concerns about the controversial initial teacher training market review, offering to support legal action by members who were culled in the shake-up.
He also led the call to restore funding for subject knowledge enhancement programmes to cover all secondary shortage subjects after the government cut funding.
‘A constant advocate’
Stefanie Sullivan, chair of UCET, said it has been a “privilege” to work with Mr Noble-Rogers.
“James has been a constant advocate of university initial teacher education provision and has successfully led the sector through many pivotal reform moments,” she told Tes.
“He has been key to ensuring high-quality university teacher education remains at the heart of developing the next generation of inspirational teachers for our young people.”
