Background
His father was a plasterer and his mother was a school cook.
headmaster chief Director of Curriculum
His father was a plasterer and his mother was a school cook.
He attended Magdalen College School, Brackley, then a grammar school. He attended Sheffield City College of Education (the City of Sheffield Training College on Collegiate Crescent, now part of Sheffield Hallam University) for his teacher"s certificate.
He was responsible for what British children are legally obliged to study at school via the National Curriculum. At school he was particularly good at cricket and wanted to become a professional cricketer. His careers advisor at school persuaded him to choose teaching as a career.
Teaching
He began as a primary school teacher in Nottingham.
LEAs
He worked at Birmingham LEA, then the (Labour-controlled) City of Manchester LEA at the end of 2002 where he was Chief Education Officer. Manchester LEA is in the bottom five for GCSE results in the country.
QCA
He moved to the QCA in May 2005, leaving in 2009. His role at the QCA was to give children a meaningful foundation of education, specifically to provide them with knowledge that will give them help in later life, and not just generic academic knowledge for the sake of lieutenant
This obligatory curriculum would prepare them for the future.
In September 2010, he described the English, Welsh and Northern Irish exams system (GCSE) as diseased and almost corrupt in the book Reinventing Schools, Reforming Teaching. He lives in High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. Guardian September 2010
Exams system in September 2010
Daily Mail February 2007
Video clips
Inspiring learning at Teachers television
Speech at Scottish Learning Festival
Department for Education.
