ETS Wales appoints new Chair
Gareth Newton retired from his current role as Chair of the Education Training Standards Committee (ETS) Wales at the end of August 2019 after serving for seven years.
Following a Welsh Local Government Association recruitment process, Steve Drowley, currently ETS Vice-Chair, has been appointed as the new ETS Chair for a three-year term from September.
Gareth, formerly Rhondda Cynon Taf Council’s Director of Lifelong Learning, became ETS Chair in 2012 . Prior to local government reorganisation Gareth had worked for Mid Glamorgan County Council as a senior youth work and community education manager. He began his career in education in the mid-1970s as a secondary school teacher of English.
As ETS Chair, Gareth was able to provide valuable strategic direction for the Committee and was much praised for his inclusive approach and for ensuring the voices of all sector representatives were heard.
Reflecting on his term of office, Gareth said, “It has been a great honour to have been Chair of ETS for the past seven years. I have enjoyed working with a group of incredible individuals, each of whom is passionately committed to ensuring that youth work continues to provide much-needed support to young people in Wales. At a time when the transition from adolescence to adulthood is arguably the most complex in living memory, youth workers help our young people to find their way successfully through to the other side. If youth work didn’t exist, I suspect we’d have to invent it!”
Steve Drowley has recently retired as programme director for the Youth & Community Work BA programme at Cardiff Metropolitan University where he had worked for over 12 years. Prior to that Steve had been a senior officer at the National Youth Agency in England having previously worked at Devon Council as their Principal Youth Officer.
Steve said:
“I am delighted to be appointed as ETS Wales Chair and I look forward to working with colleagues to take forward the work of the ETS Committee”.
