'I was a student at Dudley College - and now I'm in charge' - Pride of principal who aims to create stars of the future

Getting to the top of the tree at any organisation can take a lot of work, a lot of effort and a lot of time.

For Diana Martin, the journey to becoming chief executive and principal of Dudley College is one which started in 2004 as a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) student as part of her teacher training at Wolverhampton University and saw her do a placement at the college.

That placement sparked a passion for Dudley College which saw her take on role after role over the last 20 years, building a reputation for solid leadership and a desire to do better and help other people do better, and then, in February, being given the opportunity to become chief executive and principal.

As chief executive and principal, Diana Martin is responsible for ensuring the College’s senior leadership team is leading the college effectively to achieve its strategic plan and delivers an excellent experience for learners, apprentices and all stakeholders.

For the 46-year-old, it's a huge privilege to have the role, but one that she said was never a career aspiration as she'd always wanted to teach adults English.

She said: "It really wasn't a career aspiration of mine, but it just felt that as opportunities opened up, I was probably in a place to take on a new challenge and I thought I'd done a good job in my current role, so I thought about whether I could do a bit more.

"I also though that this would be exciting as I do like to push myself and challenge myself, but it wasn't the place as I'd come here to teach English and teach adults literacy, helping adults who hadn't gained qualifications at school or hadn't got a level two in either Maths or English.

"I also started teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), for people who had come to the country and were looking to engage in their communities, and it just went from there."

Ms Martin said her journey at the college saw her start as a supervisor to a group of in-house support assistants, then become curriculum manager for ESOL and additional learning support, which she did over four years.

Her path then saw her, in 2017, apply for and get the role of vice principal due to a restructuring of the way the college was run and then, at the end of 2024, she was told of the decision by the principal Neil Thomas to step down and, after debating whether to pursue it, successfully applied for the role and become chief executive and principal.

She said that while it hadn't been something she'd ever considered doing, she could also see her priorities were changing and she could see how she could make her own mark on the college.

She said: "I could definitely see my priorities were changing, as well as seeing that the college was still ultimately for its community and would always be a massive asset to the community, so I guess it was about whether I could do a really good job in the role.

"I think I did so as the ESOL lead and as vice principal and as business and core lead, and I've never taken it as how my career is progressing, it's always been about what I could bring to that role to make the college better than it is."

Ms Martin also said that Dudley itself helped to shape the college, due to its diversity and her own understanding of it as someone who lived locally and had always worked there, and how much she wanted to help people to be better.

She said: "I live in Dudley and my son goes to Dudley and I think this is a real community college, so I understand the local community and I understand the challenges within our community as Dudley is a really interesting place.

"You've got real areas of affluence, where people are quite wealthy and doing well and students have lots of opportunities, but you've also got some real areas of deprivation where students have challenges at home, so I think it's good to have that understanding of our community.

"It's also good to be really passionate about giving support to those most disengaged and disadvantaged communities and I was the first and, so far, only person from my family to go to university, with someone giving me that opportunity and that aspiration, so I think it's really important as a college that we do that."

Ms Martin said she counted the likes of former college CEO Lowell Williams and her former English teacher Miss Cullen for helping develop her and give her the impetus to learn and achieve what she has done, from learning how to speak in public to going to university and being able to push herself.

She said that since taking over as principal, she had tried to work as collaboratively as she could do with staff to make sure the college offered the best support and service it could for students, although she also wasn't afraid to take the tough decisions when the time called for it.

She said: "Since I've taken on the role, I've been going out to team meetings and trying to talk to the teams about our core role, which is to offer a Jaguar standard, which means we should be offering the absolute best opportunities for our students, adults and young people to achieve their highest grades and achievements and to aspire to do really well and go on to have great careers.

"I think that's the college's job and it's not just about the students as while they are the biggest part of the college, there's also the staff who work here, and I think that, as much as possible, I am a collaborative manager and I like to get feedback from staff.

"However, I'm not afraid to make the tough decision and kind of autocratic and say that this is the right thing to do by the college, which some people might not like, but I think that I am quite an authentic manager and try to be my honest self because I don't know how to be anything else."

Ms Martin said that she felt the college was in a really good position at present, with a lot of high quality learning and teaching, huge numbers of applications for courses in September, lots of adults enrolling on courses, a strong reputation and finances in a good place.

She said that, having been part of the college for 21 years, there were plenty of things she was proud of, but was also mindful of planning for the future and not resting on her laurels.

She said: "There a lots of things I'm proud of, such as meeting one of my former ESOL students in Asda and him telling me how learning English at the college had changed his life to being Ofsted nominee in November 2023 when we got good across the board to all the charity work that the college does for the local community and seeing how people progress at the college.

"We've taken on lots of apprentices at the college, such as my executive manager who has progressed really well, so there's lot's to be proud of here and it's a real privilege to have this job because the college has great people and is doing great things.

"There's lots going on in the Future Education sector, from curriculum reviews to different government agendas, so there's a lots to keep me busy, but it's also about writing a new strategic plan as our current one runs out in 2027 and so over the next 18 months, we need to look at what's next for the college.

"That means not making massive changes, but just updating some of the things we've done and continuing to develop our curriculum, develop our estate and making sure we are future proof for the communities of the future."

After 21 years at the college, working in different roles and climbing the ladder to the top, Ms Martin said she was just massively thankful for everyone who came with her on the journey and to the college which shaped her life.

She said: "I just want to say a massive thank you because, as I've said, I really meant the fact that this is a privilege and I never though, for a million years, that I would be in this role.

"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.

"I want to give back to the students, the staff and everyone who helped me along the way."