All of us at the GTA were saddened to hear of the recent passing of Dick Taylor, and our thoughts are with his loved ones.
Dick was passionate about education and his contribution to the local education service was significant. Dick started out as a history teacher at Les Beaucamps and, on the back of a very successful teaching career, he become Deputy Director of Education. His interest and passion for matters teaching and learning extended well past his retirement and all told he gave more than 60 years working to improve Guernsey’s education system. Dick cared deeply about all aspects of education: he was as passionate about the removal of the 11 plus and ensuring that no child was left behind as he was in his vocal support of the development of the College of Further Education.
Dick had great vision and very early on recognised that the economy of Guernsey relied on knowledge-based enterprise; he understood that our current workforce needed to be highly skilled and educated. He was a Training Advisor to the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC) and, following John Roper’s (Director-General of the GFSC) famous ‘meringue’ speech, which likened the local finance industry to the sugar confection (firm on top, soft underneath) and emphasised the necessity of training; it was Dick’s influential 1995 report “Education and Training For The Finance Sector” which provided the blueprint for the creation of the Finance Training Agency which subsequently became our organisation, the GTA University Centre.
Dick was the first Chief Executive of the Finance Training Agency and remained a friend to and supporter of the GTA throughout his life and I was fortunate to engage him on matters education on numerous occasions. He was incredibly knowledgeable and also a true gentleman, a man of real kindness and compassion. His passing is a huge loss to educational locally.
RIP Dick - you have made a huge difference to the lives of so many who have passed through our education system – thank you.
Simon Le Tocq - Chief Executive, GTA University Centre
