Joe S•••

About

On the record

Joe is the Chairman and a Trustee of the Falkland Stewardship Trust which has responsibility for significant parts of the Falkland Estate in Fife, and who also leads on archaeological investigations on the estate In his professional life he worked as an educationalist for 35 years, leading and directing both Education provision and Community facing services. He retired from Local Government as a Head of Service at the end of 2014. He promoted Equalities practice within Education and worked to establish the development of a new schools/college strategic partnership in Fife. Within the School Estate Development Board, he was part of the strategic team which developed new schools and learning hubs in Fife between 2004 and 2014. In 2012/2013, Joe served as a member of the Scottish Governments National Advisory Group on Prevention. Joe previously served for 8 years as an elected representative in a number of roles including Chairman of the District Planning Committee and Chairman of the Council's Policy & Resources Committee. He was appointed by the Secretary of State to the Board of Glenrothes Development Corporation for 3 years between 1989 and 1991. As the first Chairman of Fife's NEET Strategy group, and until 2012 the Chairman of Fife's Education and Skills Executive group, he pushed a culture of working across agency boundaries to ensure young people were supported to develop their full potential, particularly in relation to employability and equalities issues. Joe was a member of the Association of Directors of Education Scotland and served on the Lifelong Learning sub group. He also trained as an Associate Assessor with HMIe. Joe now leads FST in their work on the Falkland Estate, improving public access, delivering learning opportunities and community participation. In 2017 and 2019 he was Project Director for two community excavations around the East Lomond hillfort, uncovering previously unrecorded human settlement and activity. The Dig was featured on the BBC's Digging for Britain Programme in December 2017. In 2021 (post Covid) a new Collaboration Agreement was signed between the Trust and Aberdeen University which has resulted in continuing exploration of the hillfort and it's environs - with jointly directed digs taking place in 2022, 2023 and 2024