Les was teacher-trained at Shoreditch Teacher Training College and started his teaching career in 1966 as a CDT teacher at Heathside School in Weybridge. After a number of appointments in Surrey, in 1974 he was appointed as Head of the D&T faculty at Sandhurst School in Berkshire. Over the next 25 years he taught in a number of schools in Surrey and Berkshire. During his time with Berkshire he was seconded as part of the LEA advisory team and also undertook an MA in D&T Education. In 1991 he left main-stream teaching to join the Design and Technology lecturing staff at Brunel University to develop his passion about teaching electronics and pneumatics. He ended up being the course director for the BA in Industrial Design and Technology. In 2003 he left Brunel to open his own Design Consultancy in Lincolnshire and over the last 13 years, as well as undertaking electronic product design within his company, he has been involved with consultancy for The Design and Technology Association, CfBT, SKBC, Sheffield Hallam University, Bangor University and a number of GTP programmes. He is passionate about young people succeeding in Design and Technology Education
Les is also a Registered Design and Technology Health and Safety Consultant (RDTHSC) Nationally providing courses under The Design and Technology Association’s (D&TA) accreditation scheme.
His specialist fields are electronics and pneumatics. He has wide experience in running CPD courses and in supporting student teachers on various Graduate Teacher Programmes and on the DTE course at Sheffield Hallam University. Over his career he has been the External Examiner for a number of Design and Technology Teacher Education courses. He has been the external examiner for courses at Middlesex University, Sheffield Hallam University and Bangor University. Les has been the National Evaluator for Subject Knowledge Booster Courses (SKBC) and is currently the External Examiner for the Product Design and D&T QTS courses at Bangor University. Over a long period of time Les has been the contract holder for providing curriculum support across Lincolnshire through the EiSS (Electronics in Schools Strategy) programme.
Les is the Design and Technology Consultant for Lincolnshire working in partnership with CfBT (Centre for British Teachers) and is currently working on a number of curriculum development courses for The Design and Technology Association including writing delivery materials for the BBC Micro:bit programme and the Self Evaluation framework which could lead to schools being awarded The Design Mark for their Design and Technology Departments.
In 2011 he was awarded The Science and Design and Technology in STEM award by The Design and Technology Association. He is passionate about curriculum development in D&T and is also passionate about sharing the success of students working within all areas of Design and Technology.
Locations: Metheringham, Sheffield