Overcoming disadvantage for struggling learners 2013 - Speakers

Wednesday 1 May 2013
Birmingham

Keynote Speakers



Stephen Twigg MP (Shadow Secretary of State for Education)

Dr Kevan Collins (Chief Executive, Education Endowment Foundation)

Dr Kevan Collins began his career as a teacher in East London, and became the National Director of the Primary National Strategy in January 2003. In September 2005, Kevan was appointed to become the first Director of Children’s Services in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. In 2009, he was promoted to become the Chief Executive of the Authority. In October 2011, Kevan moved to his new post as the first Chief Executive of the Education Endowment Foundation.



Professor Steve Higgins (Durham University)

Steve Higgins is Professor of Education at Durham University. Before working in higher education, he taught in primary schools in the North-East of England, which was where his interest in children’s thinking and learning started. His research interests lie mainly within the areas of the use of evidence in education and the application of meta-analysis in particular, as well as the effective use of digital technologies in schools.



Trevor Hawes (Optimal Learning)

Trevor Hawes is one of the UK’s leading experts on teaching and the learning brain and has a growing international reputation. Trevor co-authored the best-selling book “Effective Teaching and Learning in the Primary Classroom”, a bible for many teachers and NQTs. A former Assistant Director of Education in Leicestershire, for the last 20 years Trevor has been head of the Optimal Learning Group. He presents and trains on a variety of topics relating to teaching, learning, thinking and creativity in a primary classroom and has a particular interest in initiatives like the Pupil Premium which narrow the attainment gap.



Dee Reid (Catch Up Co-creator and Consultant)

Dee Reid was a teacher for many years before becoming a tutor and researcher at the Reading and Language Information Centre at Reading University, where she also achieved an M.A. in Children’s Literature. She later taught English on the B. Ed. Course at Oxford Brookes University. She is now a freelance consultant on primary literacy and runs courses and INSET all over the UK. Dee is one of the original authors of the ‘Catch Up Literacy’ intervention.