Christopher Acaster Email & Phone Number

Stafford

Responsible for 10 members of staff, the strategic direction of work-based learning and numerous other employee development interventions, and the management of funding and service procurement contracts . . .- Directed the activities of a work-based leaning service that through NVQ and Apprenticeship training improved the quality of teaching and learning provision in schools, and additionally, supported a more inward looking Apprenticeship programme on a corporate scale. - Secured external funding to support work-based learning and other school improvement activities. Collectively, funding obtained from various agencies, often through competitive tendering, totalled up to £2million per year.- Maintained Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) centre status, adding to VRQ course availability so as to meet growing customer needs.- Gained LSC approval to engage and preside over a consortium of 7 training providers (principally colleges) in the extension of the government’s Train to Gain initiative. Focussed towards schools, this served to elevate the profile of Teaching Assistants on a countywide scale. - Contracted/procured education support services and consultants to support the roll-out of school improvement strategy. Through ‘traded training' many of the procured services were maintained at a cost neutral level. - Implemented contract processing revisions that resulted in 65% error reduction, thereby saving associated admin time and streamlining contract set-up and maintenance arrangements. - Achieved the Training Quality Standard (TQS) for the Children’s Workforce in Schools, refining service processes and customer engagement practices accordingly for over 250 staff. This achievement for a local authority was ‘a first’ on a national scale.- Initiated a customer charter, and served on numerous working groups to influence and approve service direction and focus, and ensure that all appropriate quality standards were embraced.

Stafford

Responsible for 4 members of staff, the initiation of corporate training interventions, and the running of a dedicated training centre. - Developed extensive programmes of year-on-year employee training and development opportunity in alignment with personal development review/appraisal practices. Moved towards training standardisations and accreditations in this connection by achieving Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) centre status for the delivery of in-service VRQ programmes. In-service programme accreditations were successfully extended up to Masters Degree level through partnership working with Staffordshire University, and in order to meet growing customer demand/need.- Co-ordinated the running of a centralised and dedicated training centre with all due financial constraints accommodated, achieving year-on-year budgetary balance as required, against a backdrop of traded activity.- Achieved Investor in People (IIP) status for two major/centralised service departments. - Introduced and maintained graduate intake/development programmes as a means of adding strategically to the employer skill base and promoting an employer-of-choice mindset amongst potential recruits. This included serving as a member of the recruitment panel for the National Graduate Development Programme (ngdp) for local government.- Served through invitation, as a result of reputation and track record, as a training and development adviser/consultant to the West Midlands Local Government Association.

Blythe Bridge, Stoke-On-Trent