Chief Inspector of the Education and Training Inspectorate

Stanley joined the Education and Training Inspectorate (Inspectorate) in 1985 as a specialist inspector of physics. Shortly after his appointment to the Inspectorate, he was transferred to Omagh in Co Tyrone, where he remained as District Inspector for schools in the Omagh area until 1996.

In October of that year, he was promoted to principal inspector for science in Northern Ireland and, in the following year, left Co Tyrone to live again in Co Antrim. In October 2001,

Stanley was promoted to the rank of Assistant Chief Inspector with responsibility for Policy, Planning and Improvement; on 1 September 2008, he was promoted to Chief Inspector of the Education and Training Inspectorate, and is based within the headquarters of the Department of Education (DE) in Bangor, Co Down.