The Annual Conference for Teachers and Advisers 2025

Pat Carvalho joined Birmingham Metropolitan College as Principal in June 2021.  She has been in Further Education for over 30 years and a senior manager for 15 years.  Further education has always played a part in her life, providing the training for her first career as a medical secretary at a local Birmingham college, then helping her enter university as a mature student where she majored in Philosophy and then an MSc in Artificial Intelligence before going on to do a PGCE.  Since joining BMet, Birmingham has become a majority minority city and the youngest city in Europe and BMet as an anchor institution has a crucial role in influencing and bringing about real and sustainable change for all the communities it serves in collaboration with its partners.  For example, setting targets to increase achievement for Black, Asian and other ethnic minority groups as a pledge to the Birmingham Race Impact Group and Chairing the Birmingham Post-16 Executive Board part of Birmingham City Council’s Children’s and Families Directorate.

Collaboration is a key focus for Pat and she is proud of her work within Colleges West Midlands Group (e.g., Chair of the EDI Steering Group).  On the national stage, Pat is the President of the Association of Colleges,  a Trustee at UCAS where she represents the FE Sector and a member of the Black Leadership Group.