Dame Ruth became chair of the board of the Learning and Skills Improvement Service in March 2008 and chairs the LSIS Council.  In 2010, she was appointed by the government to chair the National Taskforce on the Future of the Careers Profession. She is on the board of the Jamie Oliver Foundation, is a member of the advisory group on Whole Education and a trustee of the Baker Dearing Trust.

Until Summer 2009 she was the principal of Lewisham College, a large inner-city, vocational further education college in south east London serving a diverse and multi-cultural population.  It is a double Beacon College offering inspiring and challenging courses and ensuring that all members of the community are provided with every opportunity to succeed. 

Under her principalship, the Ofsted Inspection report described the college as ‘a highly professional culture which values critical reflection, experimentation and sharing of practice’.  The report added that ‘the college is outstanding in meeting the needs and interests of learners . . . and skilful in aligning its provision to current learner and economic needs.’

Dame Ruth was a founder member on the new London Skills and Employment Board, is an adviser to the House of Commons Select Committee on Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills and co-chairs the Skills Commission.  She was a founding trustee of the Edge Foundation devoted to raising the status of vocational learning; she was the first chief assessor for the Qualifying Programme for Principals and is the visiting professor on educational developments at London South Bank University.  She was a member of the prime minister’s Women and Work Commission and is committed to economic inclusiveness, particularly in the inner city.

Additionally, Dame Ruth has written and broadcast extensively on educational matters.

Ruth Silver studied Psychology and Literature at Glasgow and Southampton Universities as an NUM scholar, trained at the Tavistock Institute for Human Relations in Adolescence and Transition and is a qualified, experienced teacher.  Her employment has spanned child guidance, teaching and inspection, and, in service, at the former Department for Education and Skills, developing national education policy on personal development in young people. 

In June 2006, Ruth Silver was awarded a damehood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to further education.  She was awarded a CBE in 1997 and holds Honorary Doctorates from London South Bank University and the University of Southampton.  She is a Fellow of the RSA, of The Working Man’s College and of City and Guilds.