Our story began with Sir Isaac Pitman, who spent his ‘well-arranged’ life working to improve the efficiency and productivity of the office workforce. Leading by example, his robust career history is a testament to this: astronomy lecturer, temperance worker, preacher, president of the vegetarian society and, most notably, the creator of Pitman Shorthand. He developed this further by introducing Pitman Secretarial Colleges, which evolved into Pitman Training in the early 1990s.

For Sir Isaac Pitman, this ‘childhood dream’ became a reality, and a very ‘well-organised’ one, as you can imagine. Pitman considered his role in helping people gain skills and employment as “belonging not to time but eternity”, and it is this belief that has kept his legacy firmly rooted within training for employment. What can be seen from his legacy is the role that education has in supporting and developing careers as well as individual development. Evident to this day, Sir Isaac Pitman developed a system that has evolved over the years but stays true to its original intentions – training is for life, personal growth, and a ‘tool’ to help you achieve your goals.

With his place in history as an inventor and innovator, Sir Isaac Pitman’s heritage still lives on today, and his impact on the working world has reached thousands of people worldwide. His memorial plaque on the north wall of Bath Abbey reads, “His aims were steadfast, his mind original, his work prodigious, the achievement worldwide. His life was ordered in service to God and duty to man.”

We are very proud to continue developing his legacy and to have such an amazing wealth of heritage behind us. In 1992, we were established as a franchise in the education and training sector to help people transform their lives and be part of their journey to success, giving our franchisees the opportunity to witness that transformation while running their own businesses. This is an opportunity not to be missed.