The Guild of Educators.

The Guild congratulates two of its Freemen on their recognition in the recent Queen's Birthday Honours list.

Professor Deian HOPKIN, Vice-Chancellor of London South Bank University, received a knighthood for services to Higher Education and to Skills.

Peter WILLIAMS, Chief Executive of the Quality Assurance Agency, received a CBE for services to Higher Education.

Livery Companies have played a central role in the City of London since the Middle Ages. They started as fraternities mostly to protect the interests of particular trades and the practitioners of those trades. Today they continue to be important to City life through their work to support charities and the new and changing nature of the City of London itself.

The oldest charter of incorporation of a Livery Company was 1155 (Weavers). Today there are 103 Livery Companies, some modern (Builders Merchants, Environmental Cleaners, Information Technologists) and some of ancient origin (Mercers, Goldsmiths, Weavers, Fishmongers). The ancient Companies flourish alongside modern Companies who represent today's professions and reflect recent developments and innovations.

The traditional concerns of the City Livery Companies have always included education and training, first and foremost, in the development of apprenticeships and similar schemes pursuing professional competence and excellence in trade.

There was however, no Company dedicated exclusively to those who teach and train until the founding of The Guild of Educators on the 24th May 2001

The Guild is registered with the Corporation of London in the first of a three-stage process that will ultimately result in full Livery Status. The second stage of the process is to become a Company without Livery and the final stage is to be a Company with full Livery. These stages take several years and are dependent on membership (Freedom) growth and financial stability together with the growth and demonstrated use of the charitable fund. The founders of what is now a thriving City institution wish not only to recognise the worth of education but also to contribute to its development.

Nowadays, as the UK moves away from manufacturing into the new knowledge-based economy, there is an ever-increasing need for a conduit linking industry and government to academe. The Guild has an important part to play to help define the skills that will be needed to innovate in the future. These skills, once recognised, will lead to suitably qualified educators with appropriate training that will be essential for us to compete effectively in the future.