- 07/07/2025
Reporter James Vukmirovic chats to Diana Martin, the new principal of Dudley College about how she's getting on and her plans for the future.
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00:00Hello, I'm James McMirovich and I'm here at Dudley College of Technology.
00:04I am here to speak to the Chief Executive and Principal, Diana Martin.
00:08She's been in the role since February, but she's been at this college for over 21 years.
00:12She's worked her way up the rank, doing all sorts of different roles
00:16within teaching, within the organisation of the college.
00:19She's now the leader of the whole organisation.
00:21So we've had the chance to speak to her today to find out everything about her,
00:25her aspects of work for the future and what she wants to achieve.
00:28Okay, so let's start from the beginning.
00:31Can you believe you're here after all these years?
00:34No, absolutely not actually.
00:36So I came to the college 21 years ago as a fresh PGCE student.
00:41So this was my placement college.
00:43So I was doing my teacher training at Wolverhampton University.
00:47So I came here and have never left, but it wasn't really the career plan.
00:52I came here to teach English to adults.
00:54So what was the change then?
00:56So you came here to the college for that particular course.
00:59Was there something about the college that just made you think,
01:01I could do more?
01:02Yeah, I think so.
01:03You know, Dudley's a really special place.
01:05It's got some fabulous staff.
01:06And I suppose I came at a time where we were going through a period of change.
01:11So we had four years into my time here, we had a new CEO, Lowell Williams, who came and really started to kind of transform our succession planning processes.
01:22And I was given lots of opportunities during his tenure here.
01:27So that was really kind of opened my eyes to the possibilities of doing something different.
01:32You've not been doing the same thing for 21 years then.
01:35You've obviously done.
01:36So let's go through the list of things that you've done then.
01:38So I think first of all, I became supervisor to a group of in-class support assistants because they were looking for a manager for that area.
01:45So I was given an opportunity.
01:47Often at Dudley, you're told, we have an opportunity for you.
01:50That means you've got an opportunity to take on more responsibility usually.
01:54I then became curriculum manager for ESOL and additional learning support.
01:59And I did that for about four years.
02:02Really successful department, had a really good relationship with the staff there and the students.
02:08Really high kind of achievement rates and quite successful.
02:12And then my then boss retired.
02:15So there was an opportunity there.
02:17Again, it's just all about timing.
02:19I'd just come back from having my son.
02:21So I came back off maternity leave and she retired.
02:23So there was an opportunity there.
02:24So I applied for her role and was successful.
02:27Then in 2017, there was a slight restructure in terms of we had to, we introduced a college principal, which our vice principal then got.
02:38So again, there was an opening within the college and I applied and was successful.
02:43And then unbelievably, last year, Neil Thomas, who was the then CEO, like shared with me that he was thinking of leaving.
02:53And so I spent six months really thinking about whether I thought I could take on a new challenge, whether I thought I was the right person to sort of lead the college going forward and took the decision that I would apply.
03:05And again, went through an interview selection process with some externals and really happy to say that I was successful and started the job in February.
03:13You've sort of always been kind of in the right place at the right time.
03:16It feels a little bit like that, just timing seemed to work.
03:19So getting to the point of being principal and chief executive, 21 years ago, was that ever a blip on your radar?
03:28No, never, never. It wasn't, I'm not, it's not a career aspiration of mine. It was never that.
03:33It just felt like as opportunities opened up, I was probably in a place to take on a new challenge.
03:39I thought I'd done a good job in my current role and thought actually, could I do a little bit more?
03:44This would be exciting. I do like to sort of push myself and challenge myself.
03:48So, no, it definitely wasn't the plan. I came here to teach English. That was, that was it.
03:53Ultimately, it was just to teach people about Shakespeare and things like that.
03:56No, so my role was teaching adults literacy.
04:00So for adults who hadn't gained qualifications at school or so hadn't got a level two in either maths or English.
04:08And then also started teaching English for speakers of other languages.
04:11So people who'd come to the country and looking to sort of engage in their communities.
04:16And so you've, have you ever had the chance to do that oversight?
04:20I know you mentioned you've been part of the level, but do you think that as you sort of went along,
04:24you sort of realised that the priorities were changing?
04:27Yeah, definitely. The priorities were changing.
04:29The college was still ultimately for its community.
04:32So whatever happened, the college is a massive, massive asset to its local community.
04:37And for me, I guess it was about, do I think I can do a good job of that and bring something to the college to kind of strengthen our position?
04:45And I always thought that I could.
04:47So I thought that I could do a really good job as curriculum manager for ESOL, which I think I did.
04:51I thought I could do a good job as assistant principal at the time for business and core,
04:55which is probably the worst job title I've ever had because nobody quite understood what business and core was.
05:01But so, and I've never taken it as it's kind of about my career progression.
05:06It's about what I could bring to that role to make the college even better than it is.
05:11Do you think the fact that you live locally means that you've got a good understanding of the area
05:15and what it can bring to the students coming here?
05:17Yeah. So, yeah. So I live in Dudley. My son goes to school in Dudley.
05:21You know, it's a real community college.
05:23So I kind of understand the local community and I understand the challenges within our community.
05:28You know, Dudley is a strange, not strange, Dudley is an interesting place
05:32because actually you've got real areas of kind of affluence where people are quite wealthy and doing well
05:38and students have lots of opportunities.
05:40We've also got some real areas of deprivation where students have challenges at home.
05:44So, you know, I think it's good to have that understanding of our community
05:48and be really passionate about giving support to those most disengaged and disadvantaged communities.
05:54So I was the first and only, I'm still the only person from my family to go to university
05:59and someone gave me that opportunity, one of my teachers kind of gave me that aspiration
06:05and I think it's important that we do that as a college.
06:08I was going to ask, within your role, who were the people who maybe inspired you in the past to do this role?
06:13So, I would have to say Lowell Williams, who was a CEO here for, I think it was 12 years in the end,
06:20I might have got that wrong, I think it was 12 years,
06:22who obviously was really passionate about succession planning and saw something in me
06:27and kind of pushed me, pushed me at my comfort zone, got me public speaking on the stage
06:32and I was quite nervous about that but actually gave me those opportunities
06:36and inspired me to kind of do different things.
06:40I could talk about straight back to my English teacher at secondary school, Miss Cullen,
06:44who kind of said, oh actually, I think you could go and do A-levels,
06:47I think you should go on to university and study English and sort of really inspired me, I suppose.
06:52I think if you have a good teacher, you always remember them and unlock kind of this idea
06:57that you can be aspirational and you can achieve things and I think that's why I've stayed in education
07:03and I think FE's so vitally important because actually if we can aspire, give aspiration to people to progress,
07:11then it's great for our community.
07:13Is that part of your core message as principal then?
07:15Yeah, absolutely. You know, I've been, since I took on the role as an internal, I've been going out to team meetings
07:22and trying to talk to the teams about our core role is to sort of offer that.
07:27I think I've used Jaguar standard but you could replace it with any car brand that you prefer,
07:31that actually we should be offering the absolute best opportunities for our students, adults and young people
07:38to achieve their highest grades and highest achievements and to aspire to do really well and to go on and have great careers.
07:45I think that is absolutely what the college's job is.
07:49And it's not just about the students, I mean the students are the biggest part of this college
07:52but also there's all the staff who work here so you've got a lot of people to work with.
07:56What would you say your management style is?
07:59I think I am as much as possible, I'm a collaborative manager, I'm quite democratic, I like to get feedback from staff.
08:08But that said, I'm not afraid to make the tough decisions and be kind of more autocratic and say
08:14actually this is the right thing to do by the college, some people might not like that.
08:18I think, as I'd describe it, I think I'm quite an authentic manager, I try and be as my honest self
08:25because I don't know how to be anything else and I think staff will buy into that.
08:29You know, I am kind of very passionate about this college and I think that comes through.
08:34I am, you know, I've been 20 years here, you know, I'm very invested in the college and invested in the staff.
08:41We have some, we employ over 800 staff and we have some absolutely fabulous staff and ultimately I'm one person.
08:49You know, when I'm on holiday the college doesn't stop working.
08:52I need everybody to work with me. So it's about kind of getting them to understand what our role is,
08:58what I'm passionate about, what the college is to its community and delivering on that really.
09:02So ultimately, in a way, it is a democracy, but sometimes there has to be a little bit of a dictatorship if you think it needs to be.
09:09Yeah, I don't like the word dictatorship, but yes.
09:12Sometimes you have to put your mark on it.
09:13Absolutely, I have to put your mark on it 100%.
09:15And I've been trying to just, because we are a really good college, we've got a great reputation, we've got really good outcomes for our learners.
09:23So it's thinking about how can I have an impact on the college without, to use the term, throwing the baby out of the bathwater,
09:30but actually making incremental improvements and things that I'd do slightly differently to sort of drive us on even further really.
09:37What do you think of the state of the college is at the moment?
09:40I think it's in a really good position. We've got really, like I say, we've got really high quality teaching and learning for our learners.
09:46We've got huge applications for September. So, you know, continuing our reputation.
09:51So our applications are really high. We've got already started adult enrolment and we've got lots of adults already enrolled.
09:58So I think the college's reputation is in a good place. The college's finance is in a good place.
10:02I think it's in a really good position to sort of move forward.
10:06Do you think in a way it could be almost a model for other colleges in the way it's run and the way the students achieve good results?
10:12I think it's really difficult because I think all colleges are individuals.
10:16I think there's not one model really. And I think, you know, a college in Birmingham has a different demographic and a different community.
10:22Ultimately, yes, you're all trying to achieve the same thing, but I would never want to tell another college this is how you can do this
10:28and this is the perfect way to run a college because it just doesn't work like that in my sort of opinion.
10:34I think it's about, yes, you can share best practice. You can do what's out there, what's working well.
10:38But it's about doing the right thing for your college. And there's not kind of the magic formula.
10:43If you do this, your college will be really successful.
10:46But ultimately, you can say that Dudley College is doing well at the moment.
10:49Absolutely. A hundred percent. I a hundred percent believe that the college is doing really well for its community.
10:55And 21 years later, now that you're in this role that you're in, what do you look back on?
11:01What are you most proud of?
11:03Lots of things, you know, from meeting an old one of my ESOL students in Asda and him coming and finding me and telling me what he was doing there
11:13and how learning English language at Dudley College had changed his life to being Ofsted nominee in November 2023, where we got good across the board.
11:23To, you know, there's just so much to the charity work that the college does for its local community to kind of seeing people progress here at the college.
11:32So we've taken on lots of apprentices here at the college. My executive support manager is an example of that, came here as an apprentice and has progressed really well.
11:41So there's lots of things to be proud of here. And it's, you know, it's a privilege really to have this job.
11:47And I am really proud and, you know, really proud to have got the job because it is a real privilege because there's some great people and the college does great things.
11:56And you obviously intend to be in the role for a while. So what plans have you got for the next few years?
12:01Well, there's quite a few things going on in the FE sector. So we've got curriculum reform, we've got different government agendas going on.
12:10So there's lots to keep me busy in terms of what's happening in the sector. But in terms of the college particularly, I think it's about we've got a new strategic plan to write.
12:19Unbelievably, our strategic plan comes to an end in 2027. So over the next 18 months, we'll be starting to look at what's next for the college.
12:28We are going to look at writing an admission statement and values over the next 18 months for the college.
12:34Again, not making massive change, but just updating some of the things that we have done.
12:39And I think it's just about continuing to develop our curriculum, develop our estate and making sure that we are future proof for the communities of the future.
12:51And that's the final question. What would you like to say to all the people, all the students who've helped you along the way?
12:58Just a massive thank you. As I've said, I really mean the fact that it's a privilege. I never thought for a million years that I would be in this role.
13:05And now I am. I'm going to work really, really hard and tirelessly to give back to this college that's given me so much in terms of opportunities to develop my career.
13:13So now I want to give back to the students, the staff and everyone who's helped me along the way.
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