December 2019
Price: £150 PLUS VAT
Format: DOWNLOADABLE PDF
This conference will examine the future of England’s school system, with discussion centered around:
- Latest policy initiatives on driving forward school improvement and raising attainment - including the development of teaching school hubs;
- Next steps for free schools;
- The impact of selective school expansion; and
- Developing partnerships between state, independent schools and universities.
It takes place against the backdrop of a range of new government proposals in areas such as schools funding, the raising of school standards, and inspection, as well as policies being put forward by a range of political parties taking part in the General Election.
Keynote contributors are:
- Unity Howard, Director, New Schools Network;
- Amanda Martin, President, National Education Union;
- James Leonard, Head of Education UK, Google; and
- Professor Anne West, Professor of Education Policy and Director, Education Research Group, LSE, who will discuss the role of teachers in raising school improvement and how to develop greater alignment between maintained schools and academies.
Speakers sharing particular areas of experience include:
- Dr Mark Fenton, Grammar School Head Association - on use of the Selective Schools Expansion Fund to improve access for disadvantaged pupils;
- Melissa Benn, Comprehensive Future - on the challenges with the existence of the Expansion Fund for the wider school system;
- Clare Wagner, West London Free School - on establishing free schools and setting educational standards;
- Richard Gill, Teaching Schools Council - on the development of the Teaching School Hubs to strengthen the way schools support each other to improve; and
- Julie Robinson, Independent Schools Council - on the role and work of independent schools to support the sector more widely.
The agenda in summary
- Next steps for the Free Schools programme;
- Growing the number of good and outstanding schools - the impact of partnerships, free schools and the Selective Schools Expansion Fund;
- ‘One country, two systems? Setting out the practical steps to greater alignment between maintained schools and Academies’;
- Teacher led school improvement - the role of teachers in raising attainment;
- Supporting school improvement within the classroom through technological innovation; and
- Collaborative models for school improvement - the role of multi-academy trusts, cross-sector partnerships, and development of Teaching School Hubs.
