Professor Rachel Lofthouse

is from Leeds Beckett University where she has established the Research and Practice Centre CollectivED: The Mentoring and Coaching Hub. Her ongoing research is orientated towards the transformation of professional learning through partnerships of scholarship and practice development. She continues to research how educational workplaces can both offer, and constrain, professional learning. The title of her input at the NaPTEC conference is ‘Creating a legacy; mentoring for a thriving profession’.

Dr Caroline Daly

is a Reader in Education at the UCL Institute of Education, London and has worked extensively in the field of professional learning for Early Career Teachers. Her research and development looks at mentoring ECTs, the professional learning of mentors and the school factors that affect the learning of new teachers. She has responded in depth to the DfE suggestions to cut workload in initial teacher education.

Dr Rob Loe

is Director of the Relational Schools Foundation. Together with colleagues from the Suffolk-Norfolk SCITT, Rob will present findings from their joint research project on how a trainee’s social support network impacts on their retention in the profession and their effectiveness as teachers / trainees.

Flora Barton

Flora is the headteacher at Crowmarsh Gifford CE Primary School in Oxfordshire. After being educated in Tunisia, the former Yugoslavia, Canada, the USA and the United Kingdom, FloraBarton started her formal educational career within an EBD school in Worcestershire while completing her BA degree and PGCE at Worcester University. Her earliest teaching position included working within a two-room schoolhouse where she taught years 3, 4, 5 and 6 in one classroom. Whilst there, she obtained a place on the NCSL's Fast Track programme, completing both Leadership Pathways and her NPQH qualification. She served for four years on the GTCE and recently completed her Master’s Degree in Education. She is now in her sixth year of headship. Her school, Crowmarsh Gifford CE Primary, is known for challenging the status quo and truly putting children and staff at the heart of everything. @FloraBarton

Flora Barton

Geoff Rutherford

Geoff is Headteacher at The Wyche, a small primary school set in a semi-rural location in Malvern. In recent years the school has acquired a reputation for its innovative approach to the curriculum and learning. He has spoken at conferences predominantly on the theme of Curriculum Design and has written two books, one on The “Wyche Curriculum” and the other entitled “Wyche Way to Teach”.

Geoff Rutherford

Richard Kieran

Richard is in his 27th year of teaching. Thirteen of these have been as a Head teacher. He currently leads Woodrow First School in Redditch, serving an area of profound disadvantage. The school is acknowledged for its work using Mantle of the Expert. He is adamant children will have a meaningful voice in their schooling. Richard has worked with teachers and children in schools across UK, Europe and the Middle East as well with ITT students in Birmingham, London, Leeds and Worcester. He has led teacher education exchange projects in Palestine and taught for four years at a Summer School for drama teachers in Jordan. He is at his happiest in the classroom asking questions he doesn’t know the answers to, constructing narratives and stories with children as well as working alongside the incredible team at Woodrow.

Richard Kieran