Education stalwart retires after 33 years

Jan 21 2008 by Katie Campling, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A FORMER tutor has retired after dedicating 33 years to education in Huddersfield.

Keith Webb, who now lives in Reigate, Surrey, taught at Huddersfield Technical College and was director of the University of Huddersfield Consortium for Post-Compulsory Education and Training.

He started out as a local government officer before gaining a degree in sociology at the University of London in 1970.

He went on to complete a masters degree in politics and then studied for his PGCE teaching qualification at Huddersfield Technical College.

In 1974, he started his teaching career at the college in a part-time lecturing post.

He became deputy head of Business and Secretarial Studies in 1985 before leaving Huddersfield two years later to join the Bolton Institute.

He stayed there for 14 years and returned to Huddersfield in 2001 as director of the University of Huddersfield consortium, also known as the Huddersfield Network.

It started in 1966 and provided day release in-service training courses for teachers in the technical education sector.

Over the years, the network developed and in April 2001 it became the University of Huddersfield Consortium for Post-Compulsory Education and Training.

Under Mr Webb’s leadership, it became a recognised funding consortium with the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

It is made up of the university and 30 partner colleges across the north of England, trains 2,500 people per year and has qualified 12,000 lecturers since its creation.

Mr Webb had a large input into developing the curriculum for these learners.

He has a wide-ranging interest in education and has researched policies on vocational training both in the UK and overseas.

He has also done research into the contribution new technology makes to learning and teaching.

Mr Webb recently led a major project exploring how ‘e-learning’ can be used to support teaching. The project, called Associate Online, is run by the Fund for the Development of Teaching and Learning.