Jill Bourne

Born in South Africa, I came to England with my family in 1958, and was educated on the south coast of England. The first in my family to attend university, I graduated from the University of Liverpool with a BA (Hons) in Philosophy. I worked as a journalist in London before traveling extensively, teaching English as a foreign and second language in Istanbul, Spain and South India, where I also worked as the producer of a local radio programme. Later I wrote a weekly column for the women’s page of a local newspaper in Australia, and then, on returning to England, became a foster parent and, for a time, secretary of the Camden Association of Foster Parents.

Engaged to teach ESL in my children’s primary school in the late 1970s, I became committed to finding ways to improve the teaching of minority ethnic group students, and in 1980 gained a Distinction in the Primary PGCE at the University of London Institute of Education. I taught as a primary classteacher in inner London, before returning to the Institute to gain a Diploma in the teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), and was invited to stay on to undertake a PhD. During my studies I became a part-time tutor on the Diploma in ESOL and the PGCE (ESOL) courses at the Institute, as well as being appointed to a part-time research post at the National Foundation for Education Research (NFER). At this time I worked on two major projects, one a national survey of local education authority provision for bilingual pupils, and the second on an evaluation of initial teacher training of ESL teachers, both of these studies having a major impact on national policy development. I then successfully bid for and led a Department of Education study on Partnership Teaching, resulting in a pack of resource materials for developing co-operative teaching strategies for English language support in mainstream classrooms. Following this, I took up a post as lecturer in Primary English at the University College of Wales, Swansea, before moving to the Open University where I led the development of a Primary PGCE by open and distance learning. At the Open University I also bid for and led an influential national study on ‘Teaching and Learning Strategies in Successful Multi-ethnic Schools’.

In 1998 I was appointed to a Chair at the University of Southampton School of Education, where I launched and led a new Primary PGCE. Recent funded research has included a study of pathways into teaching for teaching assistants, an evaluation of a local Sure Start programme, consultancy reports for the Teacher Training Agency on training teachers to work in multiethnic classrooms, and a major ESRC funded project with colleagues in the London Institute of Education and Keele University on ‘The Production of School English’.

Outside the UK, I have been fortunate enough to have worked and/or contributed to conferences in Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, USA, Australia, Japan, Pakistan, India, South Africa, as well as, within Europe: Belgium, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Turkey. These visits, together with supervision of a number of talented PhD students from around the world, have encouraged an ever growing interest in the analysis of comparative forms of pedagogy and pedagogical discourse.

Professor Brian Boyd

Professor Brian Boyd has been a headteacher of two secondary schools, a chief adviser in Strathclyde region and was recently a member of the Ministerial Review group on the curriculum, 3-18, which produced A Curriculum for Excellence. Since joining the faculty in 1993, he has been involved in a range of research projects from Improving School Effectiveness in the 1990s to more recent work on inclusion, primary-secondary transition, setting and pupils' views of Guidance. He has led a number of evaluation projects within local authorities, the most recent being the role of the Family Support Service in Renfrewshire Council. He is editor for Hodder Gibson of the Continuing Professional Development in Education series, and has written two books in that series, Primary-Secondary Transition and CPD: Improving Professional Practice (both 2005). He is section editor and contributor to Scottish Education (Bryce and Hume, Eds). He is currently working on his next book in the Hodder Gibson series, The Learning Classroom (2008, forthcoming). Brian is first and foremost a teacher and in 2001 he co-founded Tapestry, an organisation which aims to place creativity at the heart of the learning and teaching process.

David Cameron

David Cameron has been Director of Children's Services in Stirling Council since July 2005. Prior to that he was Head of Education in East Lothian in Scotland from February 2001 – June 2005.

In the past, he has been an Area Manager providing support and challenge to a large group of schools in Fife, Performance Review Manager with overall responsibility for Quality Assurance and, before that an Adviser responsible for curriculum development and assessment.

He worked in schools up to the early ‘90s and has extensive experience in school management at all levels and experience of leading a major national development in curriculum and assessment at the time of Standard Grade.

He is currently Vice President of the Association of Directors of Education Scotland and is involved with a range of national groups, notably on Curriculum for Excellence and Looked After Children.

Graham H C Donaldson

Graham is HM Senior Chief Inspector, HM Inspectorate of Education. Before joining HMIE in 1983, he taught history and modern studies in Glasgow and Dunbartonshire. He then worked as a Curriculum Evaluator for the Consultative Committee on the Curriculum. During this period he was seconded to BP to review links between education and industry. His report, Industry and Scottish Schools was published in 1981.

On joining HMIE he served in the Western Division before moving to the Northern Division as Chief Inspector. He became HM Depute Senior Chief Inspector in 1996 and took up post as HM Senior Chief Inspector in 2002. He has been asked by the First Minister in Scotland to lead the establishment of a national system for the inspection of services to children, with an initial focus on child protection.

Andy Hargreaves

Andy Hargreaves is the Thomas More Brennan Chair in Education at the Lynch School of Education at Boston College. The Brennan family, who have endowed this professorship, have renamed it after their son who died on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The mission of the Chair is to promote social justice and connect theory and practice in education. Andy Hargreaves's teaching and research at Boston College concentrates on sustainable leadership, professional learning communities, educational change and the emotions of teaching.

Andy Hargreaves grew up in a working class community in the small Lancashire textile and engineering town of Accrington in England – famous for its legendary football club, Accrington Stanley. Andy went to school at Spring Hill Primary School where the teacher in his last year, Mary Hindle, was one of his greatest sources of inspiration to become an educator. The youngest of three brothers, Andy was the first in his extended family history to move on to higher education – studying sociology at Sheffield University.

Professor Hargreaves qualified for and went on to teach primary school before studying for (and some years later) completing his Ph.D. thesis in Sociology at the University of Leeds in England. He then lectured in a number of English universities including Oxford until in 1987 he moved to the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education in Canada, where he co-founded and directed the International Center for Educational Change. From 2000-2002, he was also Professor of Educational Leadership and Change at the University of Nottingham in England.

Professor Hargreaves has authored or edited more than 25 books which have been translated into a dozen languages. Andy Hargreaves' book Teaching In The Knowledge Society: Education in the Age of Insecurity, is published by Teachers' College Press and Open University Press and has received the Choice Outstanding Book Award from the American Libraries Association for Teaching and the American Educational Research Association Divison B Outstanding Book Award. His new book with Dean Fink, Sustainable Leadership, is published by JosseyBass/Wiley.

Andy now lives close to Boston, Massachusetts with his wife Pauline who is also an educator. Their children, Stuart and Lucy, are in their mid-20's, working in the fields of law and environmental policy.

Professor Alma Harris

Alma Harris is Pro-Director (Leadership) and Chair in Educational Leadership at London Centre for Leadership in Learning, at the Institute of Education, University of London. She has previously held posts at the University of Warwick, University of Nottingham and University of Bath. She is currently Associate Director of the 'Specialist Schools and Academies Trust' and she is the editor of journal ‘School Leadership and Management'

Her research work has focused upon organizational change and development. She is internationally known for her work on school improvement, focusing particularly on ways in which leadership can contribute to school development and change. Most recently she has completed a major project for the DCSF on ‘Parental Engagement and Student Achievement. She is currently co-directing a large DCSF project on ‘Leadership and Learning Outcomes' and an ESRC study on ‘Multi-agency Working'.

Her writing has explored middle level leadership, teacher leadership and leadership in challenging circumstances. Her most recent work has focused on distributed leadership and ‘Distributed School Leadership: Developing Tomorrow's Leaders' is published by Routledge/Falmer Press in July 2008.

Malachi Pancoast

Malachi Pancoast is President of The Breakthrough Coach, a management consulting firm dedicated to working hands-on with school administrators at all levels. Malachi has been helping organizations produce breakthrough improvements in performance, productivity, and employee satisfaction for over twenty years. From 1986 through 1996, Malachi founded and ran his own business consulting firm. After working with Malachi, client companies typically reported a 200-300% increase in profitability in less than one year.

Malachi has been applying his Breakthrough Coach Management Methodology™ to his work with instructional leaders since 1998. His efforts in education have led to dramatic increases in employee satisfaction and retention, student achievement, and the productivity of administrative teams.

Malachi earned his B.A. from the College of Business and Economics, West Virginia University. He has led seminars and workshops on transformational leadership throughout the United States and internationally. He has been a guest speaker at numerous professional conferences including the Harvard University Graduate School of Education Summer Principals' Institute, and the National Associations of Elementary and Secondary School Principals.

Dennise Sommerville

I was appointed Headteacher of St Michael’s Primary School in November 2003, having been a Senior Teacher and then a Depute Headteacher, working in a number of schools, both rural and urban, across Dumfries and Galloway since 1989.

In July 2006 I was asked by the Scottish Government to be a part of a team to attend a Summer School for Leadership at Harvard University, Boston. In July 2007, the Scottish Government asked me to return to Harvard, this time, to lead a group of Scottish educationalists in attending a further leadership course. Since my Harvard visits, I have attended and made presentations about my leadership experiences to a number of audiences around Scotland.

As well as being the Headteacher of a school where distributive leadership is encouraged and is now much in evidence, I sit on the Dumfries and Galloway Leadership and Management Strategy Group, am actively involved in the Dumfries and Galloway “Introducing School Leadership” course for aspiring headteachers and, as a Scottish Qualification for Headship Field Assessor, support local candidates through this programme.

The shared vision for all stakeholders of St Michael’s Primary School is that “everyone should be encouraged and supported to achieve their potential.” This involves ensuring that all pupils, parents, staff and community, regardless of personal circumstance, feel part of and can “reach for the stars” and contribute towards the St Michael’s Team. It is this vision which I work hard, with others, to promote in the day to day life and ethos of our school.

Graham Thomson

Graham is Director of the Scottish Centre for Studies in School Administration (SCSSA) based in Edinburgh University. SCSSA provides a national and international forum for the professional development of leadership and management in schools.

A key part of SCSSA's work involves devising and delivering a range of tailored leadership programmes direct to local authorities and schools, as well as providing an educational consultancy service. This session has seen SCSSA working in Germany, Italy and Poland.

In addition, SCSSA runs a series of ‘best practice' seminars and conferences that are delivered by practitioners from all over Scotland. These highlight innovative and practical approaches to leadership and deal with key issues such as A Curriculum for Excellence and The Journey to Excellence.

SCSSA is currently involved in coordinating and developing, along with the national CPD team, the Learning Rounds programme which involves groups of education staff, from teachers to directors, investigating processes of system wide school improvement.

Graham is both a former local authority head of service and a former secondary Headteacher. While seconded to the Teachers' Agreement Communications Team [TACT] Graham's work took him into schools and education departments up and down the country and he was responsible for a number of papers including ‘School Leadership and Collegiality' [April 2004]. This paper explored the process and benefits of more collegiate approaches to school leadership.

In July 2006, Graham led a group of Headteachers and Deputes to the Harvard University Leadership School in Boston. The 8-day programme highlighted many examples of innovative practice and SCSSA used this experience to further develop its school leadership programmes.

Chris Ward

Chris is a Superintendent of Education from Durham, Ontario ,Canada who is presently seconded as the Cooperative Learning Trainer and Coordinator for North Lanarkshire. She has been a teacher, depute, head teacher and Educational Officer as well as an adjunct professor with both York and Niagara Universities. Chris has taught in all sectors ( nursery, primary, secondary, special and university) and co-authored two books – What's This Got To Do With Anything?,a book of team builders and energizers and Cooperative Meetings. She has presented across Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Portugal, Estonia, Canada , the U.S.A., the Caribbean, Mexico and Australia.