Former Schools Commissioner Sir Bruce Liddington has enjoyed a successful teaching career, during which as Head of Northampton School for Boys, he transformed the performance of the schools before leaving to join the Department for Education and Skills in 1999. Since then he has held several posts within the Academies Directorate of what is now called the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
Sir Bruce moved to become Director General of EACT, a multiple non-faith academy sponsor in February 2009.
Tim Byles joined Partnerships for Schools as Chief Executive in November 2006. He was previously Chief Executive of Norfolk County Council, where his achievements included raising the council’s performance to the highest level, creating a wide range of public private partnerships for improved service delivery, and developing trading subsidiaries turning over more than £100m per annum.
Before joining Norfolk in 1996 as one of the youngest chief executives in the country, Tim was Director of Economic Development at Kent County Council. During his time in Kent and Norfolk, he was involved in large-scale schools and commercial premises procurement projects.
Tim has worked extensively with central government in his roles as Chair of the Local Government Chief Executive’s Taskforce, the Local Government Construction Taskforce, and the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE), a position he held for four years. He also served as National Procurement Champion for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
Tim received a CBE in the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours list, for services to Local Government.
Mike is a journalist and broadcaster specialising in education. From 1989-2007 he was Education Correspondent for BBC News, reporting for TV's 6 & 10 O'clock News, the Today programme and Radio Five.
He was previously a Political Correspondent, Foreign Affairs Correspondent and Deputy Home News Editor.
He now writes and broadcasts for BBC Online, The Guardian, Teachers' TV, and the TES.
A former Visiting Professor at the Institute of Education, Mike's books include: 'Who Rules Our Schools' and 'A Parent's Guide to the New Curriculum'. He won the Ted Wragg Education Journalism Award, 2006. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Society of Teachers, and Fellow of the RSA.
Becta is the government agency leading the national drive to ensure the effective and innovative use of technology throughout learning.
Stephen Crowne took up his appointment as Chief Executive on 12 June 2006. He joined Becta with a wealth of experience in education. After graduating from Cambridge University, he undertook a broad range of jobs in the Department for Education, including Principal Private Secretary to successive Secretaries of State. He left to become the first Chief Executive of the Further Education Development Agency. Returning to the Department in 1998 to become Head of Special Educational Needs Division, he went on to be Director of Operations in the Standards and Effectiveness Unit, Director of School Resources and latterly interim Director General for Schools.
John’s popularity with teachers stems from his powerful and entertaining training presentations around the UK, and his featuring in more than sixty programs in the regular spot “Teaching with Bayley” on Teachers TV. In his teaching days OFSTED described his leadership of the Learning Support Service & Pupil Referral Unit in Southwark as "outstanding". John has been a delivery tutor for courses on Positive Behaviour Management and Special Needs Support at the London Institute for Education. He is currently working as Lead Behaviour Professional for Education London and as Project Leader on the Secondary Classroom Reading Project at the London Institute of Education. John has led, and continues to inspire, school improvement programmes in hundreds of LAs, academies, schools and colleges. He is probably the most frequently published commentator on behaviour issues and has written several books. John Bayley is the acknowledged expert on Behaviour and Learning Management in schools and is a popular keynote speaker at National and International events. He is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts.
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