UCU national official awarded MBE for services to adult education

In a career spanning more than three decades dedicated to education, Dan has helped pioneer the strategies to widen participation in further and adult education. He has created, maintained and managed numerous community partnerships aimed at delivering education to people on the margins of society who have traditionally been denied access to education.
 
Dan Taubman, awarded MBE for services to adult learning Dan Taubman said: 'I do feel honoured to receive this award. I feel that it is as much recognition for all those unsung adult educators and NATFHE/UCU members who have fought over many years to keep the flag of adult learning alive and kicking. It is due to their commitment and enthusiasm that we have managed to continue the long history of radical adult education in this country.'
 
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'Dan Taubman is a UCU treasure and one of the greatest champions of adult education you will ever find. He fully deserves recognition for his outstanding achievements. His 15 years with the union have been of incredible value and his tireless work to ensure further education never slips off the radar of ministers or policy makers has resulted in thousands of people benefiting from educational opportunities they otherwise would never have had.'
 
In 1994 Dan was appointed national education official at one of UCU's predecessor unions, the National Association of Teachers in Furthers and Higher Education (NATFHE) and has spent the past 15 years dedicating his working life to formulating policy and advising across the fields of further, adult and prison education. His particular areas of expertise are in curriculum and qualifications reform, and the governance and funding of further education.
 
From September 2004 to March 2006 Dan was on a one-day-a-week secondment in the 'Standards Unit' for further education  at the Department for Education and Skills working on a raising standards brief.  He now convenes union liaison with groups across further education and has been very closely connected with the various strands of work on initial teacher training and Continuing Personal Development.
 
He was a member of the government's Workforce Development Strategy Group and has been a member of the Institute for Learning's Council since its inception and served on the board of the Learning and Skills Development Agency from 2001 to 2004.