My Background
I have spent more than 15 years working in, and learning about, education. I am now using my experience to help others who want to reform the education landscape. I have a particular expertise in:
Online course design - for example, I helped Big Ideas design an online course to help prisoners find employment when they are released. I have been the education consultant on a number of BBC Bitesize/Teach projects.
Working with organisations to plan projects which engage with schools - for example, I helped Carmarthenshire Council design school-based projects with local employers
Designing interdisciplinary 'real-world' learning experiences - for example, I helped School21 plan and deliver a number of projects as part of 'Curriculum21'
Curriculum and assessment (re-)design - for example, I helped an online school design their curriculum and assessment model
Training programmes - for example, I have delivered training sessions in many schools across the UK and internationally
I have spoken at the Education Select Committee, had my work featured in two books, contributed to the book Professional Learning Networks and written a chapter in Managing Teacher Workload.
I am also a primary school governor, on the strategy and innovation committee of a Multi-Academy Trust and founded an organisation - www.school-compass.com - which empowers parents with the information they need to navigate the complex school system with confidence.
Experience
2023-Present
CEO and Founder
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Role: Established my own company to offer education consultancy to schools, parents and organisations.
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Key achievements: Traded successfully since launch. Worked on a range of projects from curriculum design for an online school, developing teacher training programmes for schools, working with a local council to integrate the work of local employers into schools and working on a learning course to help prisoners find employment.
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Key skills developed: I have deepened my understanding of the business of education, including marketing, finances and community building. I have gained a new perspective of the education landscape.
2022-2023
Head of CPD, Big Education
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Role: Responsible for mapping out a learning journey for our internal staff and external professionals looking to offer a ‘Big Education’. This involved planning Trust-wide inset days, hybrid learning courses and overseeing school tours.
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Key achievements: I led our first Trust-wide inset day in which 96% of our almost 300 staff found to be useful or very useful. We have established school visits as a steady revenue stream as well as enabling us to work with organisations all over the country and world. We have developed, from scratch, a range of successful hybrid learning courses.
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Key skills developed: In this role, I have had to learn to navigate the complex relationship between Trusts and school leaders. I have developed my skills in running online learning programmes and I have proven my ability to organise large scale events which run smoothly and effectively.
2020-2022
Strategic Content Creator, Big Education
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Role: Responsible for developing from scratch a teacher development programme to spread the work of our innovative schools into the system.
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Key achievements: Bringing together a team of people to develop a project from scratch - codifying complex work, breaking it down into a series of courses and running these courses as a blended learning curriculum.
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Key skills developed: In this role I transitioned from being a teacher to an educationalist - bringing my deep knowledge of the classroom to help shape sector wide initiatives. I have also learnt a variety of new skills, including the basics of Wordpress, marketing tools and CRMs and how to develop learning networks.
2017-2020
Senior Leader, Curriculum and Assessment Innovation, School 21
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Role: Responsible for developing the whole school curriculum based around educating the ‘head, heart and hand’ of the students. Also responsible for developing an innovative assessment system which could measure the effectiveness of the delivery of the curriculum.
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Key achievements: Reinventing the school structure and timetable to ensure a good mix of ‘head, heart and hand’ education. Building and developing the infrastructure to allow a greater amount of staff and student agency. Developing an assessment system which evaluated this new curriculum model.
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Key skills developed: Leadership across a 4-18 school - this involved working with more than 100 staff. Vision - to achieve this required a huge number of people to buy-in to my vision of curriculum.
2013-2017
Head of Humanities / Head of Projects, School 21
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Role: Responsible for developing and implementing a new Humanities curriculum from scratch. Working with a start-up school in order to put in strong curriculum foundations. Later, this involved inducting new team members into the school. Later promoted to Head of Project Based Learning which involved developing projects across the school and upskilling staff to enable this.
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Key achievements: Developing a curriculum which delivered outstanding results nationally. Using the most up-to-date research and pedagogy to ensure effective delivery of the curriculum. Building a Humanities team, widely regarded in the school as high functioning. Ensuring Project Based Learning was embedded as a key feature of the school.
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Key skills developed: Team leadership - as the Humanities team grew from one person to nine people I needed to ensure we functioned effectively and built on the skills of others. Persuasion - I needed to convince all staff in the school of the merits of Project Based Learning.
2011-2013
History Teacher, Teach First
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Role: Teacher of History (and RE) and later Assistant Head of House, I was responsible for delivering the curriculum of the department and helping to manage the wellbeing and professionalism of a House of 250 students.
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Key achievements: Rated ‘Outstanding’ by Teach First. Increased the performance of the House in many areas.
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Key skills developed: Teaching skills and using research and pedagogical theory to ensure fantastic results. People leadership - using coaching to ensure the development of the students in my care.
2009-2011
Senior Teacher, Education First, China
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Role: Holding academic and business roles in the school - ensuring the quality of teaching was high in order to attract more paying students to the school.
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Key achievements: Part of a team which ran a very effective school in the organisation in a very competitive market. Was responsible for training other schools. Set up a teacher assistant programme with a local university which spread across the whole organisation.
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Key skills developed: Business leadership skills - not just developing pedagogy and the skill of teachers I managed, but also improved the finances of the school. Administration and management skills - to ensure the timetable functioned and staff:student ratios were cost effective.
2007-2009
JET Programme, Nagasaki
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Role: To assist the creation and delivery of an English language curriculum across forty schools on a remote Japanese island.
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Key achievements: Was asked by the Board of Education to help develop an island wide curriculum to enhance the curriculum pushed by the government.
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Key skills developed: Resilience - being one of a small number of English speakers working on a remote island and working in the Japanese state school system.