#EdInfluence

Season 02, Episode 09   In the final episode of #EdInfluence series two, Nick MacKenzie is joined by Carl Ward, founder and Chair of the Foundation for Education Development (FED) to discuss how a long-term education vision and plan can best serve the needs of our country and its people.   Through providing a neutral space for experts from across education, business, politics and the community to come together, Carl outlines the thinking behind FED’s ambitious three-year objective to unify our country’s approach to life-long learning focus. Nick and Carl discuss: The need for, and process of undertaking research to underpin the robust principles on which a vision and plan can be developed; The ideas and voices of our young people; the leaders of the future, and The regionalisation of education and how this might impact the development of an education plan. Remember to subscribe to this podcast so receive new episodes as soon as they're released.   All of our previous episodes are listed at brownejacobson.com/edinfluence   For up-to-the-minute education news and legal opinions, follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter To contact us directly, e-mail education@brownejacobson.com   This episode was recorded on 03.03.20

  Season 02, Episode 08   Nick MacKenzie is joined by Alastair Falk a former headteacher currently working as an education consultant to talk about what makes a great school. The following subjects are covered: Three broad roles of a great school - traditional role of school, the online school and the role of schools as a community hub hearing the voice of parents and pupils shared learning between teachers and pupils from the online experience the role of schools in the social and economic regeneration of the country the importance of networks and raising your ‘head up’ Nick and Alastair also discuss the importance of local networking, place and the role of schools in the social and economic regeneration of the country.   Remember to subscribe to this podcast so receive new episodes as soon as they're released.   All of our previous episodes are listed at brownejacobson.com/edinfluence   For up-to-the-minute education news and legal opinions, follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter To contact us directly, e-mail education@brownejacobson.com   This episode was recorded on 20.06.20    

This is the final part of two special edition podcasts in which Nick MacKenzie is joined by five leading voices in the education space to speak about the impact of Covid-19 on schools and academies. Each guest highlights examples of meeting this considerable challenge and shares their ideas about positive changes that could be used as a catalyst for long term beneficial change in the education sector. Again resilience, adaptability, collaboration and the civic role of our schools are key themes. The speakers in this episode are: Joy Madeiros - Global CEO, Oasis  (01:12) Graham Feek - Deputy Chief Executive, Greenwood Academies Trust  (12:16) Joseph Lyons - Chief Executive, Lyons Academy Trust  (23:50) Dan Morrow - Trust Leader & Chief Executive, Woodlands Academy Trust  (40:55) Stuart Gardner - Trust Leader, Thinking Schools Academy Trust  (52:35) Some of the guests in this podcast joined us for a webinar on this subject - you can register to watch on-demand here: shorturl.at/mvQSW 

This is the first of two special edition podcasts in which Nick MacKenzie is joined by five leading voices in the education space to speak about the impact of Covid-19 on schools and academies. Each guest highlights examples of meeting this considerable challenge and shares their ideas about positive changes that could be used as a catalyst for long term beneficial change in the education sector. Resilience, adaptability, collaboration and the civic role of our schools are key themes. The speakers in this episode are: Leora Cruddas - Chief Executive, Confederation of School Trusts  (01:12) Luke Sparkes - Executive Director, Dixons Academies Trust  (09:20) Debbie Clinton - Chief Executive Officer, Academy Transformation Trust  (22:10) Richard Gill - Chief Executive Officer, Arthur Terry Learning Partnership  (32:15) Hugh Greenway - Chief Executive, The Elliot Foundation  (43:26) Some of the guests in this podcast joined us for a webinar on this subject - you can register to watch on-demand here: shorturl.at/mvQSW 

Season 02, Episode 05  Mark Blois is joined by Sir Steve Lancashire, CEO of the REAch2 Academy Trust, to discuss the continuing development of the largest primary-only multi-academy trust in the country. Sir Steve and Mark explore a range of issues including the Trust’s origins and history, its approach to governance and the Trust’s ‘Cornerstone’ and ‘Touchstones’ strategy. Remember to subscribe to this podcast so receive new episodes as soon as they're released.   All of our previous episodes are listed at brownejacobson.com/edinfluence   For up-to-the-minute education news and legal opinions, follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter To contact us directly, e-mail education@brownejacobson.com   This episode was recorded on 22.01.20

Mark Blois, Partner in Browne Jacobson’s Education Team, welcomes Emma Knights, CEO of the National Governance Association (NGA), to discuss the publication of the latest version of the NGA’s guidance on the role of Members in Academy Trusts.

Season 02, Episode 03  Mark Blois is joined by Ambition Institute’s Associate Director of Research & Evaluation Vivien Niblett to discuss their research ‘People Power’ and what can be learnt from multi-academy trusts about how to develop and retain educators. Remember to subscribe to this podcast so receive new episodes as soon as they're released.   All of our previous episodes are listed at brownejacobson.com/edinfluence   For up-to-the-minute education news and legal opinions, follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter To contact us directly, e-mail education@brownejacobson.com   This episode was recorded on 05.12.19

Season 02, Episode 02 Nick MacKenzie, Partner in Browne Jacobson’s Education Team, welcomes Stephen Morales, CEO at Institute of School Business Leadership to discuss the future of school business leadership and the need for pedagogical leaders, governance leaders and business leaders to lean into each other and joined up leadership. Remember to subscribe to this podcast so receive new episodes as soon as they're released.   All of our previous episodes are listed at brownejacobson.com/edinfluence   For up-to-the-minute education news and legal opinions, follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter To contact us directly, e-mail education@brownejacobson.com   This episode was recorded on 05.12.19

Season 02, Episode 01 Nick Mackenzie, Partner in Browne Jacobson’s Education Team welcomes Graham Feek and Steve Sanderson from Greenwood Academies Trust to discuss the implementation of an innovative digital strategy and the Microsoft Office 365 platform throughout their 35 academies Remember to subscribe to this podcast so receive new episodes as soon as they're released.   All of our previous episodes are listed at brownejacobson.com/edinfluence   For up-to-the-minute education news and legal opinions, follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter To contact us directly, e-mail education@brownejacobson.com   This episode was recorded on 24.10.19  

“For learners you need three things - a safe space, some rules and to create the belief” - Hugh Greenway, CEO of the Elliot Foundation Academies Trust. Hugh Greenway joins education lawyer Nick MacKenzie to talk about all that’s important to the Elliot Foundation – from their vision, values and goals, to their biggest lessons which we think you’ll relate to. Listen, share, subscribe #EdInfluence

“The purpose of education isn’t to get great test results and it isn’t to get great Ofsted grades, it’s to build the society of tomorrow” – Hugh Greenway, CEO of the Elliot Foundation Academies Trust. We caught up with Hugh Greenway, having piloted Ofsted’s new education inspection framework, for an insight into what’s changing for schools. Hugh and education lawyer Nick MacKenzie take a closer look at the proposal to introduce a ‘quality of education’ judgement and - something that Ofsted talk about throughout the document - ‘intent’ and how this is likely to be received by the profession. We also hear why the Elliot Foundation doesn’t have a curriculum and how investing in early years – particularly primary education – can help children find and shape their own destiny. Listen, share, subscribe #EdInfluence

Continuing with the theme of tech in schools, Sir Mark Grundy, Executive Principal of Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust, joins education lawyer Nick MacKenzie to discuss how Shireland has harnessed technology over the last decade to support learning and school improvement. Tune in today for more on integrated learning systems - doing it at scale, being brave, making changes and inspiring youngsters through technology. Connect with Nick MacKenzie on LinkedIn and listen, subscribe, share! #EdInfluence

Tuning into three key areas of the NAHT report 'Improving School Accountability': pupil performance data, inspections and improvement. Mark Blois heads up the Education team at Browne Jacobson and for episode 5 of #EdInfluence, is joined by Paul Whiteman, General Secretary at NAHT, to talk about their recent accountability commission, the report coming out of that, and what’s next for the proposed accountability reforms. We take a look at the wider pressures in the current accountability system - money, workload, stress, recruitment and retention – and what’s needed to support the next generation of leaders, teaching teams and learning in education. How do we begin this change? Listen, subscribe, share! #EdInfluence

#EdInfluence goes behind the UK’s high-tech creative and video game industries for a thought-provoking look at the national curriculum and, in particular, ways of promoting computer science and digital skills in the school system. Our guest Ian Livingstone is one of the co-founders of Games Workshop, also co-founder of a series of role-playing gamebooks, Fighting Fantasy, and the author of many books within that series. In this episode Ian talks about his move from Games Workshop into the video games industry, sharing some of his lessons for educators, parents and strategic leaders in education. We explore the notion of learning through play as a contextual hub by providing the opportunity to develop critical thinking, problem solving and creativity skills. Ian also discusses the importance of creating students that can become creators and not just consumers of technology. Hear Ian’s story and views on importance of creativity today – you can also take a closer look at the Next Gen. report here.  Connect with Nick MacKenzie on LinkedIn and listen, subscribe, share! #EdInfluence

In this episode Geoff Barton, General Secretary of ASCL, and Julie McCulloch, Director of Policy at ASCL, talk with education lawyer Nick MacKenzie about ethical leadership. With the recent trends in recruitment and retention in mind, we begin with an observation made in Geoff’s first speech as General Secretary at the 2018 ASCL Annual Conference where he shared his biggest regret after 15 years of headship – “I didn’t appropriate an assembly each year for this purpose – asking members of staff at different points in their career to talk about why they became teachers, what they love about the job, their memorable moments, and the teacher who had inspired them.” Delving deeper, we hear more about ASCL’s Ethical Leadership Commission and how it intends to provide more guidance and an agreed framework around the ethical dilemmas faced in our schools and academies every day, such as decision making under pressure. Moving on to discuss the principles of high level accountability, Geoff Barton and Julie McCulloch give their perspective on the direction of travel for our accountability system. We then hear from Geoff on storytelling and what our school leaders should be doing now in order to seize opportunity in sharing achievements and success stories within our communities so that parents and pupils become the storytellers about their school. What does a successful leader look like in our education system? Listen, subscribe, share! #EdInfluence

Keen to discuss autonomy, accountability and curriculum further following our latest roundtable report ‘Our school system – the way ahead’ Nick MacKenzie, education lawyer, is joined by special guest and educationalist Leora Cruddas for episode 2 of #EdInfluence. Leora Cruddas, CEO of the Freedom and Autonomy for Schools – National Association (FASNA), helps us shift our focus from ‘autonomy’ to ‘subsidiarity’ or ‘collective autonomy’, exploring what it means for the school system and for you as sector leaders. We also hear about the future direction of travel for FASNA, ethical leadership and ethical governance, with some final words from Leora around what she’d change about the English education system - if there were just one thing! Listen, subscribe, share #EdInfluence

Joined by Andrew Warren, Chair of the Teaching Schools Council, and Stephen Munday, also a member of the Teaching Schools Council, education lawyer Nick MacKenzie takes us back to the start of spring term 2018 for an insight into the conversations that were happening amongst the Council. In response to those conversations – which then reached much wider than the Council itself and resulted in engagement with a wide range of key stakeholders - Andrew goes on to talk about the key drivers behind commissioning their recent think piece ‘Where Next for the Self-Improving School System?’ in partnership with FASNA and supported by Browne Jacobson. With a particular focus on getting system governance right, this podcast takes an honest look at the direction of travel for our school-led system - taking Andrew and Stephen’s views on accountability ahead of the DfE consultation coming in the autumn, how they see the system at the moment, and a description of the pyramid representation set out in the think piece for a system of good governance supporting system improvement made up of three ‘spaces’ – the improvement, inspection and intervention ‘spaces’. They also share some thoughts on where next for Teaching Schools. “We have to be saying to Teaching Schools - work with others like you’ve never done before, share with others like you’ve never done before, because there are some challenges but we can’t solve them on our own” - Andrew Warren, Chair of the Teaching Schools Council. Nick MacKenzie is independently ranked as a leading lawyer for education nationally. He has significant experience advising on the creation and development of academy groups, joint ventures, Teaching Schools and collaborations in the education sector and providing governance and strategic advice. At a national level, Andrew Warren is the Chair of the Teaching Schools Council. Andrew is also the Executive Director of the Manor Teaching School Alliance, based at Manor Primary School in Wolverhampton - consistently one of the best performing primary schools in the country.  The teaching school’s brief is to support schools and find the next generation of outstanding teachers and leaders.  He is also a qualified coach and professional mentor and works closely in this capacity with many headteachers and senior leaders. Stephen Munday is the Chief Executive of The Cam Academy Trust and the Executive Principal of Comberton Village College. Stephen works in several advisory capacities with the Department for Education, including the Teaching Schools’ Council and the Eastern Region Headteachers’ Board, and is a National Leader of Education with the National College for Teaching and Learning, and an Associate Head with the SSAT.