Professor Robin Alexander is Fellow of Wolfson College at the University of Cambridge and Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Warwick.  He has taught in schools, colleges and universities in various parts of the UK, has served on government advisory bodies and national enquiries, and has undertaken research, evaluation and consultancy in many other countries. His research and writing have covered policy, pedagogy, curriculum, evaluation, international comparative and cultural studies, primary education and teacher education. In October 2006, Robin Alexander launched the Primary Review, which when completed in late 2008 will be the biggest independent enquiry into the condition and future of primary education in England since Plowden.
Further information: www.robinalexander.org.uk, www.primaryreview.org.uk.

Keith Bartley is Chief Executive of the General Teaching Council for England. He taught for 13 years before taking responsibility for In-Service Education and Training in Northamptonshire. After a spell as Director of Education in Rutland, he became an HMI and, subsequently, a manager in the LEA Inspection division of Ofsted. From there he joined Oxfordshire County Council, initially as Director for Learning & Culture and then as Director for Children, Young People & Families. Read Celebrating the profession of teaching by Keith Bartley

Geoff Barton has worked in a number of comprehensive schools in different parts of the country, and is Headteacher of King Edward VI School, Bury St Edmunds. He writes and speaks on leadership, literacy and self-evaluation. He has written more than 50 textbooks and numerous articles in the education press.
Read the Shaping Ideas....Shaping Lives article 'Training Teachers' by and the fifth Counterblast ‘Shouldn't Ofsted be helping us to improve our schools?’ by Geoff Barton.
www.geoffbarton.co.uk

Mervyn Benford has worked for more than 45 years in education as teacher, small school headteacher, LEA and OFSTED inspector, and most recently advising Swedish schools on school-based self-evaluation using lesson observation and feedback. He served for eight years on Oxfordshire's Education Committee and many years working for his professional association. By profession a primary teacher, he works in Sweden across the 1 to 19 age range. His work has consistently involved being in schools and classrooms.
Read the reflections of Mervyn Benford: ‘Take your partners for the Ruskin waltz’ and ‘After Ofsted’ on the Shaping Ideas....Shaping Lives page.

Andrew Bennett was recently HMI with lead responsibility for the inspection of European schools. He taught English and drama before holding two headships in 11-18 comprehensives and senior positions in two local authorities. He has been chief examiner for a major board and a consultant to the QCA. He has delivered education leadership programmes for the University of Manchester. Andrew has worked extensively in school improvement.

Paul Bennett is Operational Director, Strategic Initiatives Primary at the National College for School Leadership (NCSL). Paul is leading on the Succession Planning Local Solutions project, working with ten pilot areas across the country and looking at the ways in which tomorrow's school leaders can be supported and developed. Prior to joining NCSL in June 2003, Paul spent his teaching career in primary schools in Birmingham. He had two headships: one in a small Church of England primary school, and the other in a large primary school on the southern edge of the city. In 1994, Paul became a primary school inspector in Warwickshire and went on to become Senior Primary Inspector within the local authority.

Stella Blackmore was, until recently, Deputy County Education Officer in Warwickshire. Her previous experience includes three deputy headships and two primary headships. She has led several Ofsted inspections, having a particular interest in leadership and management and arts education, and has also participated in five inspections in Hong Kong as a member of international teams working for the English Schools' Foundation. Stella was seconded to the National College for School Leadership in 2002 as Acting Director of Leadership Development.

Kim Bromley-Derry is South Tyneside’s Executive Director of Children and Young People’s Services. Before this he worked for Leicester City Council for five years as Service Director for Children and Family Services. He began his career in Cambridgeshire as a social worker, before working for a number of local authorities in a broad range of operational and strategic management roles.

Professor Colin Crouch is chair of the Institute of Governance and Public Management at the Business School of Warwick University. He is also the External Scientific member of the Max-Planck-Institute for the Study of Societies at Cologne. He previously taught sociology at the LSE, and was fellow and tutor in politics at Trinity College, Oxford, and professor of sociology at the University of Oxford. Until December 2004 he was professor of sociology at the European University Institute, Florence. He is a Fellow of the British Academy.

ProfessorCedric Cullingford is Professor of Education at the University of Huddersfield. He has previously lectured and led research at Oxford, London, Lancaster, Oxford Brookes and Brighton Universities. He has published numerous books, his main themes being: the place of parents in the education system ; the place of school in children's lives; and the development of understanding in the young.
Read the reflections of Professor Cedric Cullingford: 'A fleeting history of happiness: children’s perspectives'

Sally Dicketts is Principal of Oxford & Cherwell Valley College, a post she has held for three years.  She has been a Principal for over 10 years and has worked in a number of colleges of Further Education and in comprehensive schools, including in London and South Wales.  Sally chairs and sits on a number of local and national committees and boards.  Among her interests are curriculum design, and the impact of emotional and social behaviour on learning.

Dr John Dunford
Dr John Dunford has been general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (formerly the Secondary Heads Association) since 1998. He taught mathematics in secondary schools in Nottingham, Sunderland and Durham, before becoming head of Durham Johnston Comprehensive School in 1982. He is a trustee of Teach First and on the boards of Future Leaders and the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust.
Read the SISL article A new alignment for secondary schools and colleges

Maggie Donaldson is Headteacher at St John's Primary School in Reading, a post she has held for the past twelve years. Her experience covers a wide spectrum of education: VSO teacher/lecturer in India; teaching travellers; secondment to lead a 'Fresh Start' primary; consultant for Primary Strategy; work with HMI/ Ofsted on developing the inspection of good and outstanding schools.

Dr Tony Eaude was headteacher of a multi-cultural Church-Aided first school from 1989-1998 before completing a doctorate. Details of his current work as an independent research consultant can be seen on www.edperspectives.org.uk. Among his areas of interest and expertise are action-research, minority ethnic achievement and young children's learning, especially their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. He has published widely for academic and teacher audiences.
Read Dr Tony Eaude’s article 'SMSC-Optional Extras Or Hidden Opportunities'.

Naomi Eisenstadt has worked for the Open University, NCVO, Save the Children, and Family Service Units.  More recently she has been the Director of the Sure Start, Extended Schools and Families Group in the DfES. In February 2006 Naomi took up the newly created post of Secretary of State’s Chief Adviser on Children and Young People’s Services.  In this role she is advising ministers across the full range of Every Child Matters policy, and developing new approaches to the improvement of front line children’s services. In 2002 Naomi was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Open University for services to families and children.  She was awarded a CB in the 2005 New Year’s Honours List.

Roy Evans is Chair of the Interim Executive Board at Langleywood School in Slough, and has been Chair of Governors at other schools in both primary and secondary sectors. As a consultant he is engaged by Local Authorities to support governor development programmes and facilitate rapid improvement in governing bodies that are judged to be unsatisfactory. He draws on his experience at senior levels in industry and commerce to develop tailored and innovative structures and procedures to ensure that governors fulfil their strategic role in challenge, probity and school improvement.
Read NET’s third Counterblast 'Challenging the way we govern schools' by Roy Evans

Sarah Evans is Headteacher of King Edward VI High School for Girls, a leading girls' independent secondary school in Birmingham. Before that she was head of Friends' School, Saffron Walden, a co-ed day and boarding school. Sarah's interests include single-sex education issues, the interface between the state and independent sector, education for the gifted and talented, and teacher training and development.

Professor Deborah Eyre is a Professor of Education at the University of Warwick and, until recently was the Director of the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth. She is a world renowned expert in the education of very able pupils, and has a long standing interest helping children and young people of all abilities to maximise their educational potential.
Deborah serves on the Board of the Teacher Development Agency (TDA) and is their representative on the Board of The National College for School Leadership (NCSL). She is Vice President of the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children, an Advisory Board Member of the Centre for Talented Youth, Johns' Hopkins University, Baltimore, a Director of the Inspiring Futures Foundation, Governor of Kingshurst City Technology College, Birmingham and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Sir Iain Hall taught for thirty-nine years in complex urban environments, the last twenty-three as headteacher. He was head of a large inner-city school in Liverpool for nine years, before moving to Manchester in 1990 to take up the headship of Parrs Wood High School. Sir Iain is presently an associate director of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, with special responsibility for developing leadership programmes. He is presently seconded from the Trust to act as Director of Leadership Development for the Future Leaders organization. He was knighted for 'services to education' in 2002.
Read The new school leader, A Vexing Question, Making Choices and Aspiration 'on the slate' by Sir Iain Hall.

Dr Neil Hawkes has successful experience as a teacher, headteacher, senior and chief education adviser. He now works as an international education consultant to governments and ministries around the world. In England he is currently an adviser to the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) working on values-based education. He is a Director of ALIVE (Association of Living Values International). This charity works with organisations such as UNESCO to underpin education systems throughout the world with Values Education. Neil's most recent book is: How to inspire and develop values in the classroom.
Read A Quiet Revolution: placing positive values at the heart of the curriculum
Click here to download the Values Education December Newsletter
To find out more about Neil and his work click on the links below:
Values Education Newsletter ¦ Values Resource File ¦ How to Inspire ¦ What Neil is currently doing and how to contact him

Diane Hofkins is a freelance journalist and a member of the Primary Review's advisory committee. She was primary editor of The Times Educational Supplement for nearly 20 years, including five years as editor of TES Primary magazine. She led the TES Target Creativity campaign and edited a series of specials on What is Education For?

Nick Johnson is a leading commentator on issues of integration, cohesion and equality. In 2007, he joined the Institute of Community Cohesion as Director of Policy where he leads on policy development and public affairs. Between 2004-7, he was the Director of Policy and Public Sector for the Commission for Racial Equality where he led the development of the CRE's policy agenda. Nick contributes regularly to books, journals and magazines on a wide range of subjects including integration, multiculturalism, social capital, cohesion, citizenship and race equality. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts and an Associate of both the think tank Demos and the Smith Institute. He also provides strategic advice to the Barrow Cadbury Trust.

Professor Kate Jacques is Pro Vice Chancellor and Dean at the University of Bedfordshire, responsible for the Faculty of Education and Sport. Prior to joining the University of Bedfordshire, Professor Jacques was Director of Education at Manchester Metropolitan University. Professor Jacques's background is teaching and before going into Teacher Training she spent 7 years teaching in the Caribbean and for a period was Head of 6th Form at a High School in the Cayman Islands.
Professor Jacques has worked with the TDA and OFSTED as a consultant and been on the Executive of UCET.

Professor Simon Lee is Vice-Chancellor of Leeds Metropolitan University and Emeritus Professor at Queen's University Belfast.  He studied at Balliol College, Oxford and Yale Law School, and taught in Oxford and London. Subsequently he was Professor of Jurisprudence at Queen’s, then Rector & Chief Executive at Liverpool Hope University College. His books range from Law & Morals (1986) to Uneasy Ethics (2003)

Professor John MacBeath is the Chair of Educational Leadership at the University of Cambridge and until 2000, was Director of the Quality in Education Centre at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. From 1997 to 2001 he was a member of the government's Task Force on Standards. Other consultancies have included OECD, UNESCO and ILO (International Labour Organisation), the Bertelsmann Foundation and the European Commission. He is Chair of the Hong Kong based International Network for Educational Improvement and President of the International Congress on School Effectiveness and Improvement. He has written widely on school self-evaluation, school improvement and school leadership.

Pamela Matty is Headteacher of Grove Primary School, Birmingham. She has been head of this large inner city primary school for nine years and was previously responsible for the maths advisory team in Birmingham LEA. She has significant experience of inspection, as an OFSTED inspector and as a trainer of inspectors both in the UK and internationally. Her particular areas of expertise are in leadership, mathematics, early years, school improvement and curriculum development. Pamela has a wide range of experience as a writer of educational materials published in the UK

Sylvia McNamara joined Birmingham Advisory and Support Service in 1998 as Senior Secondary Adviser. Sylvia's background was in special education needs and support for pupil behaviour in secondary schools, and then as a Reader at Nottingham Trent University. In 2003 Sylvia was appointed as Assistant Director, School Effectiveness Division, and is currently the Director of Transforming Education. Sylvia has a wide ranging remit, with particular responsibility for the strategic leadership of the Transforming Education Agenda, including Building Schools for the Future. Sylvia describes Birmingham as one of the most exciting and vibrant places in which she has ever worked, and is committed to supporting the development of a children's service in the city that is at the leading edge of good practice, both nationally and internationally.
Read the first Counterblast by Sylvia McNamara Is Every Child Mattering?

Anne Nelson spent 17 years working in schools as an early years teacher and a primary head.  She worked in a local authority for 21 years as a school improvement adviser in primary, secondary and special schools and was also Head of Early Years and Childcare. She is currently Chief Executive of the British Association for Early Childhood Education.
Further information: www.early-education.org.uk

Dr Tessa Stone is Director of the Sutton Trust. Tessa read History at Newnham College, Cambridge, and graduated in 1994 with first class honours. She completed her PhD in 1998, and was appointed the Mary Bateson Research Fellow at Newnham in the same year. In 2000 she was appointed Admissions Tutor with responsibility for the College's admissions policy and process, and all outreach activities, and was a member of the University Admissions Forum. In April 2002 she became Director of the Sutton Trust, an independent grant-making Trust which aims to improve the life chances of non-privileged young people by influencing education policy. She works closely with the Chairman, Sir Peter Lampl, to realize the aims of the Trust. Tessa is a Trustee of the Brightside Trust, the CU Trust, and IntoUniversity, a governor of Brentwood School in Essex and the Belvedere School in Liverpool, and a member of the Institute of Directors.

Dr Nick Tate taught in schools and colleges of education in England and Scotland, and with the Open University, before joining the National Curriculum Council in 1989. From 1989 to 2000 he worked for a succession of national educational bodies, finishing as chief executive successively of the School Curriculum and Assessment Authority (1994-1997) and of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (1997-2000). From 2000-2003 he was Headmaster of Winchester College. Since 2003 he has been Director-General of the International School of Geneva, the world's largest international school. He was awarded an honorary doctorate of civil law by the University of Huddersfield in 1999, and appointed CBE in 2001.
Read the Shaping Ideas....Shaping Lives article 'What is education for?' by Nick Tate.

Dr Bernard Trafford has been Head of the independent Wolverhampton Grammar School since 1990. He is the 2007-8 Chairman of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) and also chairs School Councils UK. Bernard is an advocate of school democracy (the focus of his doctoral research carried out while a head) and writes, speaks widely and has advised government on that, and on school/ student councils, participation and broader educational issues. In 2007 he co-authored a manual on Democratic Governance of Schools for the Council of Europe.

Mick Waters is Director of Curriculum at QCA. Previously, Mick was Chief Education Officer for the City of Manchester: key agendas included the development of joint children's services, the 14-19 strategy, the employment and skills dimension, and building schools for the future. Before moving to Manchester Mick worked in Birmingham LEA, and had experience of headship in two schools and of working in teacher training. He was also part of an Education Development Unit which worked on a contract basis with LEAs and other agencies across the UK and worldwide. He has written a number of books on the curriculum, teaching and learning, and management.

Clive Wilkinson has been a primary headteacher, college lecturer and held various adviser and inspector posts in Local Authorities.  Most recently he was Assistant Director, Children’s Services in Worcestershire . He is a former president of SCIA (Society of Chief Inspectors and Advisers) and contributed to the professional development of school improvement professionals. Clive is currently Children’s Services Adviser based in the government office for the West Midlands and works with Local Authorities on the Every Child Matters agenda.

Sir Alan Wilson is Professor of Urban & Regional Systems at the UCL Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis. Alan Wilson graduated in Mathematics from Cambridge and converted to the social sciences through research on cities. He was appointed Professor of Urban and Regional Geography in the University of Leeds in 1970, and was Vice-Chancellor from 1991 to 2004. He was knighted for services to higher education in 2001. He has been awarded honorary doctorates by the Pennsylvania State, Bradford, Leeds and Leeds Metropolitan Universities, and honorary Fellowships by University College London and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. In February 2004, he became Director-General for Higher Education at the DfES in London.

Kathy Wood MBE has successful experience as a teacher, headteacher, teacher trainer, OFSTED Inspector working in the UK and abroad, and as an external examiner for TTA graduate and overseas teacher training programmes. From 1992 to 1998 she worked regularly as a consultant, leading education reform projects for UNICEF in Eastern Europe.  Her eleven years of headship have been in leading schools in challenging circumstances, both in the UK and overseas environments. Since 2004 she has been Headteacher of Hornbill School SCE in Brunei: the school follows the UK National Curriculum and serves children of Gurkha soldiers and other British military and civilian MOD personnel based in Brunei.
In 2008, Kathy Wood received the MBE for services to education.
Click to visit the Hornbill School web site