DAVID HOPKINS

Professor David Hopkins is currently Chair of Educational Leadership at the University of Bolton, as well as Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Education, University College London and the University of Nottingham. David is passionately committed to improving the quality of education for all and has worked at the intersection of policy, research and practice for over forty years. Among a range of educational roles, he has been Chief Adviser to three Secretary of States on School Standards in the UK, Dean of Education at the University of Nottingham, a secondary school teacher, Outward Bound Instructor and consults internationally on school and system reform. He was recently ranked as the 16th most influential educator in the world by the American-based Global Gurus organisation.

Schooling Post Covid-19 – a perspective from England

In England, as in most other countries of the world, the Corvid-19 pandemic has almost instantaneously changed life for just about everyone. In terms of education, on 20th March 2020, the Secretary of State closed all schools - hopefully they will re-open in early September.

In the presentation three fundamental questions are asked and then answered about the impact of school closure on the learning of students.

1. What impact do school closures have on learning?
2. What is the impact on disadvantaged students?
3. What is the impact of school closures on the attainment gap?

In light of the response, what should the “next normal” look like, and how should education schools and systems re-invent themselves. Those familiar with ACEL’s Curiosity and Powerful Learning school improvement programme will find the following five proposals familiar.

1. Focus unrelentingly on personalised learning and student agency
2. Ensure high quality consistent teaching
3. Embrace instructional leadership
4. Utilise intelligent accountability
5. Provide additional funding and target support

These then are the five policy drivers that we should adopt in any re-imagination of an educational system that has excellence and equity at its core.

Exploding the Myths of School Reform

In his latest educational exposé, internationally acclaimed author and scholar, Professor David Hopkins, places established and emerging ideas about effective school and system improvement under scrutiny.

Exploding the Myths of School Reform confronts real-world challenges and perspectives from research, policy and practice, and draws on international benchmarking studies to support its objectives and claims.