Key Voices

This week we speak to James Page, CEO of Haringey Education Partnership (HEP). HEP is a not-for-profit, schools-led school improvement company established by Haringey schools in partnership with the local authority. We talk about what education partnerships do and how HEP helps local schools work together in a high challenge, high support, high trust environment for the good of all pupils.  We also hear about some of the recent work HEP has been doing on school improvement, curriculum and BAME achievement.  

We talk about: 

• How being genuinely schools-led is central to the way HEP works 

You can watch HEP’s 2021 BAME Achievement Conference here 

This week we speak to Shaun Paskin, Partnerships Manager for the Midlands at Governors for Schools, Linda Unternahrer, Lead Content Editor at The Key and Gulshan Kayembe, Education Consultant about remote governance. We discuss what we have all learned from doing governance remotely during the pandemic and think about how going forward, a blended approach might actually allow those involved with governance to innovate and fulfil their roles more effectively. 

We talk about: 

• The roles and responsibilities of governors and wide range of complex issues they get involved with 

This week we talk to Gareth Conyard, Deputy Director of the Developing Teachers and Leaders Division of the Department for Education, and Jacqueline Gilbert, Deputy Head at Park View Community School about the Early Career Framework (ECF). We hear from Jacqueline about her experiences as lead mentor for a group of Early Career Teachers (ECTs) as part of the early roll-out.  We learn more about why the ECF is being introduced and how it works in practice for schools. 

We talk about: 

• The rationale for the introduction of the ECF and how it will work 

You can sign up for a webinar about the ECF here 

This week we talk to Viv Grant, Founder of Integrity Coaching and Colette Morris, Headteacher at Christ Church Primary School. Viv has created a programme called Race, Identity and School Leadership and Christ Church Primary are participating in it.  Colette and her staff have been working with Viv to explore their own racial identities, bring about long-lasting change and impact whole school leadership, learning, policy and practice with regards to race equality.

We talk about:

• The history of work that has been going on in schools regarding race and how this conversation is now starting to broaden out and involve more schools

You can find out more about the programme here 

This week we talk to Paul Ainsworth, School Improvement Director at Infinity Academies Trust. Paul talks to us about the philosophy that sits behind his book No Silver Bullets: Day In, Day Out School Improvement. He focuses on the importance of incremental and sustained improvement rather than magic ideas to revolutionise how schools work. We also talk about Paul’s career to date, his role as a system leader and how multi academy trusts can be an effective vehicle for school improvement. 

We talk about:

• Paul’s diverse school leadership experience

This week we talk to Dr. Victoria Carr, Headteacher at Woodlands Primary School. Victoria tells us about her current role, as well as her previous diverse teaching experiences, and how she balances work and study with being a parent and an army reservist. We also talk about some of the issues around using social media as a school leader and her thoughts about what might change as a result of the pandemic. 

We talk about: 

• Victoria’s current school, its improvement journey and her recent experience of Ofsted

The TED Talk that Victoria gave on the power of language can be found here 

This week we talk to David Weston, CEO at the Teacher Development Trust about his recent report reviewing the evidence around the impact teacher working conditions have on other aspects of a school.  David explains how teacher working conditions link to effective CPD and tentatively to school improvement and better pupil outcomes. David also tells us about how the findings of the research reviewed in the report, underpin the Teacher Development Trusts (TDT) curriculum for their NPQs and ultimately, how schools can make sure both their teachers and pupils continue to thrive and learn. 

We talk about: 

• The new options and opportunities the pandemic has unlocked for staff CPD

You can read the research paper we discuss here 

You can read the blog by Dr. Sam Sims that David mentions here 

You can find out more about the TDT’s NPQ here 

This week we talk to Maria Brosnan, an educational leadership and well-being specialist. We discuss in some detail what happens in the body when we experience stress, plus Maria shares some practical techniques that can help us manage our response. We also consider coaching as a way of resolving issues, the importance of sleep and the ongoing impact of anxiety linked to the pandemic. 

We talk about: 

• Maria’s background in well-being and her work in schools

You can learn more about Maria’s  approach to well-being here

Her work on sleep can be found here 

She has some free resources available here

“Schools are about communities of humans coming together in real-time to talk to each other and to build relationships. We might have learned a bit more about how we can learn efficiently and effectively, but ultimately it is still about those relationships and being available to those people - learning with them, learning for them and learning from them.”

This week we talk to Derek Peaple, Former Headteacher at Park House School,  Head of Education at SafeToNet and Director of Operations at Aspire 2Be about his career in teaching and headship. He shares his thoughts on how although school leadership itself has evolved, the role of the headteacher at the centre of the community has remained constant. We also hear more about how he developed computing and sport specialisms in his school. 

We talk about: 

• Derek’s route into headship and his passion for leadership 

“79% of schools want clear proof the solution works, but only 8% trust the claims made by the suppliers*, so there is this big trust issue.” 

*Teacher Tapp Survey December 2019 

This week we talk to Michael Foreshaw, Founder and CEO, EdTech Impact about how he is helping schools make more granular comparisons of EdTech products before they buy, and helping EdTech suppliers focus more deeply on the impact of what they do.  We discuss the changes resulting from the pandemic and think about the future ways in which the EdTech sector might develop. 

We talk about: 

• How Michael started his career as an IT technician in school and has gone on to develop two education businesses

You can learn more about EdTech Impact here. 

The EdTech Impact Buyers Guide on formative assessment Michael mentions can be found here

You can learn more about the  EdTech Evidence Group here. 

You can also get in touch with Michael direct here. 

“I think we’ll see more aspirational usage of EdTech over time, I know teachers are incredibly pushed around workload, it would be amazing if we could move away from selling based on ‘pain points”.