Head of Curriculum and Digital Learning · JTL Senior Leadership Team Qualified teacher (PGCE)

Curriculum, platform and people, led as one.

I lead Curriculum and Digital Learning across the JTL as part of its senior leadership team: a multi-disciplinary department with its own operating model, business plan and KPIs. I took LEDA® from a whiteboard to an award-winning platform serving nearly 20,000 registered users and over 8,000 apprentices, with a mobile app in both stores, and I set how JTL uses AI in curriculum, content and staff capability.

Martin Lidyard
Industry award

Training Resource Provider of the Year

Electrical Industry Awards 2024, for LEDA®

Platform

LEDA.academy: nearly 20,000 registered users

Multi-tenanted Moodle Workplace platform and mobile app, concept to launch

Speaking

MoodleMoot Global 2025, Edinburgh

Moodle's flagship international conference

Latest recognition

National finalist, Best Use of Technology in Training

FE Week & AELP Apprenticeship and Training Awards 2026

About

From the classroom to senior leadership

I am a qualified teacher (PGCE) and my career covers every layer of the sector: six years teaching in Further and Higher Education, leading curriculum development across 13 digital apprenticeship standards, and now setting curriculum and digital strategy for one of the UK's largest apprenticeship providers as a member of the Senior Leadership Team, reporting monthly to the executive and writing the business cases for major investment.

At JTL, one of the UK's largest apprenticeship providers, I lead the Curriculum and Digital Learning function: curriculum design managers, a digital product manager, digital learning designers and LMS administration, a team of eight with a £600k budget, run as one department with its own operating model, business plan and KPIs, and responsibility for all of the curriculum content JTL delivers. In 2026 that department launched the Curriculum Communities of Practice, a national improvement cycle drawing nominees from all five JTL regions so that every centre teaches from the same, continually reviewed materials.

The centrepiece is LEDA® (Learn, Educate, Develop, Advance): a multi-tenanted learning platform I took from concept to launch, now serving nearly 20,000 registered users and over 8,000 apprentices, with a mobile app in the App Store and Google Play, six media libraries in build and a public YouTube channel. It won Training Resource Provider of the Year at the 2024 Electrical Industry Awards, was a British Training Awards finalist for Learning Platform of the Year, and is central to JTL's national-finalist shortlisting for Best Use of Technology in Training at the FE Week & AELP Apprenticeship and Training Awards 2026.

I set JTL's approach to generative AI, from the acceptable use policy through to a 15-module AI literacy programme for tutors, assessors and managers, and I speak internationally on where apprenticeship training technology goes next.

Where I'm heading

  • Director or COO-level leadership in apprenticeships, education or digital learning
  • Running curriculum, platform, data and people as one operation
  • Embedding AI responsibly across curriculum, content and operations
  • Scaling provision and learning platforms without losing quality
Expertise

Across the apprenticeship and digital learning landscape

Few leaders have worked at every altitude of this sector: classroom delivery, curriculum architecture, platform engineering and executive strategy. That range is the point.

◆Operating models & performance

Designing how a function actually runs: SOPs, backlog ownership, QA gates, business plans mapped to strategic objectives, KPIs with real reporting behind them, and the monthly conversation with the executive that keeps it honest.

◆Curriculum & apprenticeships

Curriculum design from FE classrooms to 13 apprenticeship standards, working alongside the Head of Quality on Ofsted intent, implementation and impact, and now a national standardisation model that keeps materials neutral to both awarding bodies and consistent across every centre and subcontractor.

◆Learning platforms at scale

Architecting multi-tenanted LMS environments on Moodle Workplace: tenancy strategy, mobile apps, media libraries, accessibility, e-commerce, integration with the student record system and platform-as-product commercial models.

◆Data & insight

Automated reporting for senior stakeholders, cohort-segmented completions reporting by centre and training officer, and regional intelligence dashboards that join centre locations to local employers, devolution and funding.

◆AI & emerging technology

Setting organisational strategy for generative AI in curriculum design and content production: policy, governance, staff capability and practical adoption while the technology shifts underneath the sector.

◆Partnerships & external relationships

Building supplier relationships into co-development: a five-year partnership with Titus Learning that shapes the LEDA roadmap and took JTL onto the MoodleMoot Global stage, reseller agreements, specialist production partners, and a new concept in development with a global tool manufacturer to bring education straight from the maker into apprenticeship delivery.

Experience

Career

May 2021 to present

Head of Curriculum and Digital Learning

JTL · Joined as Head of Digital Learning
  • Member of the Senior Leadership Team: define curriculum and digital strategy in line with the corporate business plan, report monthly to SLT and the executive, and write the business cases for major investment.
  • Lead a multi-disciplinary team of eight (curriculum design managers, a digital product manager, digital learning designers and an LMS administrator) with full accountability for people, CPD and a £600k budget; saved £15k this year through vendor renegotiation and moved part of the licensing spend to capex.
  • Accountable for all curriculum content JTL delivers across its electrical and plumbing apprenticeships: presentation materials, digital resources, induction and the learner journey, from design through QA to deployment in every centre.
  • Authored the function's operating model (SOP v1.6) and the FY26/27 business plan: 13 activities against four strategic objectives, KPIs tied to an operational plan and timeline.
  • Took LEDA® from concept to an award-winning platform serving nearly 20,000 registered users and over 8,000 apprentices, with a mobile app live on iOS and Android, automated onboarding via the PICSWeb API and six media libraries in build.
  • Curriculum counterpart to JTL's Head of Quality. JTL was graded Good at its most recent inspection, during my tenure, with me interviewed by inspectors as the curriculum and digital learning lead; now leading the curriculum side of preparing for Ofsted's renewed framework and report cards, evidencing intent, implementation and impact module by module, holding the QA gates between design and delivery, and keeping practice consistent across every centre of a single national provider.
  • Designed and launched the Curriculum Communities of Practice, a national improvement cycle across five regions with twelve module communities scheduled to 2028, and the JTL Learning Deck design system behind a full 19-presentation BS 7671 series.
  • Restructured AM2S preparation into a phase-gated model with cohort-segmented completions reporting by centre and training officer against a 45% engagement target.
  • Support JTL's commercial agenda at SLT and opened new commercial revenue streams through e-commerce, bespoke client portals and e-learning reseller agreements; registered LEDA as a UK trademark; opened a public YouTube channel with a monetisation case accepted by SLT.
  • Set JTL's approach to generative AI: a 15-module AI literacy programme and a review of the Acceptable Use of AI policy against Ofsted, ISO 27001 and ESFA audit.
  • Built a five-year partnership with Titus Learning that has moved from supplier to co-developer, shaping the LEDA roadmap and co-presenting at MoodleMoot Global 2025; now developing manufacturer-backed education with a global tool manufacturer, taught by the people who make the tools.
  • LEDA® won Training Resource Provider of the Year (Electrical Industry Awards 2024) and underpins JTL's national-finalist shortlisting for Best Use of Technology in Training (Apprenticeship & Training Awards 2026). Speaker at MoodleMoot Global 2025; chaired the Digital Technologies Community of Practice for GTA England.
Jun 2018 to May 2021

Head of Curriculum, Innovation & Technology

Estio Training
  • Led the strategic development of new and existing digital apprenticeship curriculum across 13 digital apprenticeship standards.
  • Owned the continual improvement cycle for delivery, innovation and technology, and set the organisation's approach to online learning through its LMS estate.
Show earlier career (2002 to 2018)
Jan 2017 to Jun 2018
Senior Technical Trainer
Knowledgepool

Delivered IT and digital apprenticeship training for organisations including the MOD, DEFRA, MOJ, Home Office and BAE Systems.

Feb 2016 to Jan 2017
Curriculum Manager
UKFast (now ANS)

Led curriculum for IT frameworks and the Software Developer trailblazer at the UK's largest privately owned hosting company.

Jul 2014 to Feb 2016
Curriculum Manager
Bright Future Software

First curriculum management role, focused on a bespoke Software Development apprenticeship offer.

Apr 2008 to Jul 2014
Creative Media PTL & ILT Coordinator
The Manchester College

Taught Creative Media in Further Education while completing an in-service PGCE at the University of Huddersfield.

Jul 2007 to Apr 2008
SharePoint Designer
Alternative Plc (now Daisy Group)

Built a SharePoint technical training environment for a large B2B communications supplier.

Jul 2005 to Jul 2007
Systems Trainer
Virgin Media

Specialist systems trainer during a major company merger.

Sept 2002 to Jul 2005
Officer Cadet
Manchester & Salford Universities OTC

Selected from over 600 applicants for a specialist unit focused on military and leadership training.

Education & certifications

Qualified to teach it, build it and lead it

Education

Qualified teacher: Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE)
University of Huddersfield, in-service while teaching in further education
BSc (Hons) Multimedia & Internet Technology
University of Salford
A-Levels: ICT, Business Studies, History, General Studies
Plus AS-Level Art; 10 GCSEs A to C incl. Maths, English & Science

Professional certifications

IBM Project Management Fundamentals2024
IBM Agile Explorer2024
IBM Artificial Intelligence Fundamentals2024
IBM Exploring Emerging Tech2024
IBM Fundamentals of Sustainability & Technology2024
Microsoft, IBM, CISCO and BCS technical certifications2020 to 2021
Skills

What I bring

Strategy & operations

  • Curriculum & digital learning strategy
  • Operating models, business plans & KPIs
  • Senior leadership & executive reporting
  • Multi-disciplinary team leadership
  • Departmental budgets & forecasting
  • Organisational change across regions
  • Public speaking & conference presenting

Platforms & technology

  • Moodle & Moodle Workplace, multi-tenancy
  • Mobile apps, media libraries & YouTube
  • Generative AI in learning design
  • Learner data & automated reporting
  • Video, podcast, interactive & game-based content
  • SCORM & e-learning authoring
  • Python, web development & data tooling

Sector & people

  • Apprenticeship provision & standards
  • Curriculum standardisation & quality
  • Senior stakeholder management
  • Commercial digital learning
  • Influencing & decision-making
  • Coaching & CPD design
Beyond the day job

Voluntary work & interests

Detachment Commander

Greater Manchester Army Cadet Force

Trained and supported young people aged 13 to 18, progressing to command one of the largest detachments in Greater Manchester: five staff, a 50-cadet syllabus, budgets and multi-week camps. Completed a leadership programme delivered by a Royal Military Academy director.

Interests

Away from the screen
Hiking & wild camping Football Photography Arts & crafts Travel