Curriculum Vitae

Following a traditional education at a girls' grammar school where she studied Art and English Literature, Helen Williams trained as a teacher in the seventies and gained her Bachelor of Education degree in 1978. She taught Art, CDT (as it was then) and, increasingly, Information Technology alongside the general primary curriculum. She was head of Art, Design and CDT in three schools, with her own specialist workshop in two of them, before moving into LEA inspection and advisory work in 1989.

She worked in three very different local education authorities' Advisory Services supporting Art, Design & Technology and ICT in the primary curriculum. She was involved in training teachers during the early implementation of the National Curriculum (including the dreaded SATs moderation) and, for her sins, she did a stint as an Ofsted inspector (thinking it could make a difference. She was wrong).

She completed an MA in Professional Studies in Education in the early 90s as part of her work in an LEA National Curriculum Training Team.

Once upon a time she had a research and publication profile in Design & Technology, and spent two years in a research fellowship at a northern university looking into creativity in Design & Technology at primary school level.

After a period working as an education advisor for a multimedia company, during which time she edited and developed online educational material and advised on content, she went on to found an independent ICT Advisory Service with her business partner, Mark Hickson.

PriorITas has been trading successfully since 1997. Its core business is providing advice, support and training to the education community in the use of digital technologies in the curriculum, with a specific emphasis on enhancing creativity through media such as digital still photography and digital video.

In 2003 the company broadened its portfolio in order to concentrate more fully on photography outside the educational context. PriorITas Digital Arts is the umbrella under which Helen and Mark make, print and exhibit their photographic work.

Helen is a serious stills photographer with moderate success in local competitions, exhibitions and sales. She won her Photographic Society's Photographer of the Year competition in 2005, and serves as the society's Public Relations Officer.

Along with two other people, she is a member of a photographic collaborative called TakeThree which exhibits at local venues.