Sir Alan Tuckett, the Centenary Commission’s vice-chair (pictured above, with our chair, Dame Helen Ghosh) has just retired again – this time, as Professor of Education at the University of Wolverhampton. You can read a fascinating interview with him here.

Alan has, of course, retired before: most notably, from NIACE, the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, which he led very successfully from 1988 until 2011. At NIACE, he famously started Adult Learners’ Week – which has now spread to over fifty countries. He also backed the Adult Participation in Learning survey.

Alan also has a wealth of committee experience – he was vice chair to Bob Fryer on Department the for Education & Employment advisory group that wrote the two “Fryer Reports” (1997 and 1999), and commissioned Tom Schuller and Sir David Watson’s Inquiry into the Future for Lifelong Learning (2009). He was also responsible for innumerable NIACE policy reports.

Fortunately, Alan continues to be an active advocate of adult education, and supporter of the Centenary Commission’s work.