Alison Peacock

Professor Dame Alison Peacock DBE DL DLitt FRSA MEd BA(Hons)
File:Dame Alison Peacock.jpg

Professor Dame Alison Margaret Peacock DBE, DL, DLitt, FRSA, MEd, BA(Hons) is co-author of Creating Learning without Limits, Member of the Royal Society Education Committee, Trustee of Teach First, Trustee of the Open Futures Trust, Trustee of the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors [CIEA], Member of the Headteacher Board for the North West London and South Central Regional Schools Commissioner, a National Leader of Education, the Executive Headteacher of The Wroxham Teaching School and a columnist for The Times Educational Supplement [TES].

Early life and education

She was born on the 17 October 1959 in London to parents Leslie and Patricia Mann and educated at Oakthorpe and Hunsdon Primary schools. She then studied at Hadham Hall School, Little Hadham, Hertfordshire.

Having obtained a University of London BA degree in English & Drama in 1981 she attended the University of Warwick where she gained a PGCE in primary education in 1982.

In 1996 she was awarded a MEd from Queens' College, Cambridge.

Teaching career

She started her teaching career in secondary schools, then worked in Hertfordshire Teachers' Centres before moving into primary school education where she remains today.

Her first teaching post was at Passmores Comprehensive, Harlow, Essex in 1992, which some years later featured in a fly-on-the-wall documentary 'Educating Essex' for Channel 4.

She then taught in one other secondary school, two Teachers' Centres and three primary schools before her current appointment.

In 2003 she was appointed headteacher of The Wroxham School, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, a single form primary school, 4–11 years. When appointed as headteacher the school was in 'special measures'. The school emerged from 'special measures' ten months later and within two and a half years was rated as 'outstanding' by Ofsted. Subsequently, when re-inspected in both 2009 and 2013 it was judged to be 'outstanding' in all categories. In 2011 the school was in the first cohort to be included in the Department for Education's Teaching School initiative and currently provides a wide programme of continual professional development for teachers and school leaders. In 2012, The Wroxham Foundation was established. The school has generated international interest in its 'Learning without Limits' inclusive, creative approach to school improvement and has hosted delegations from: Australia, Denmark, France, Gambia, India, Japan, Norway, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, USA and Zambia. The increasing international interest has led to two organisations arranging placements for exceptional trainee teachers at the school, namely: Appalachian State University, North Carolina, USA and Haileybury Almati, Kazakhstan.

Honours, memberships and other educational roles

In the 2014 New Year's Honours list she was awarded the rank of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for services to education.

In July 2014 she was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by the University of Brighton.

In May 2015 she was appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant by the Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire, the Countess of Verulam.

In December 2015 she was conferred as a Visiting Professor by the University of Hertfordshire.

She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts [RSA]

She is currently a member of the following groups:

• Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors (Trustee)
• Department for Education [DfE] - Commission for Assessment Without Levels
• DfE - CPD Expert Group
• DfE - ITT Expert Group
• Future Leaders Advisory Group
• National STEM Centre Advisory Group
• New Vision Group
• North West London and South Central Regional Schools Commissioner Headteacher Board
• Ofsted (East of England) Headteacher Reference Group
• Open Futures Helen Hamlyn Trust (Trustee)
• Prince's Teaching Institute Academic Steering Group
• Royal Society Education Committee
• Shakespeare Schools Festival (Education Adviser)
• Teach First (Trustee)
• Welsh Government - Curriculum and Assessment Advisory Group

and previously:

• British Curriculum Forum
• CBI - Education Reference Group
• Cambridge Primary Review Trust (Board Member)
• DfE - Expert Panel for Assessment
• DfE - ITT Design and Technology Advisory Group
• NAHT - Commission for Assessment
• Prince's Teaching Institute Commission for The Royal College of Teaching
• Royal Opera House Bridge Advisory Group
• Royal Society Vision Committee
• The ASCL Self-Improving School-led System Reference Group
• Teacher Development Trust (Trustee)
• Teaching Schools Council (National Representative)
• Teaching Schools Research and Development Group (Chairperson)

In 2009 she joined the staff of the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge part-time, initially as a member of the Cambridge Primary Review team working closely with Professor Robin Alexander. She established a national network to disseminate the outcomes of the final report and to empower teachers towards excellence. Additionally, she was a founding member of the Cambridge Primary Review Trust from which she resigned as a Director in April 2013, but remained as a consultant advisor until September 2014.

In 2012 she was a speaker, together with Sir Michael Wilshaw, HMCI, for the launch of 'First Steps, a new approach for our schools' at the CBI Annual Conference. Also in 2012, she was a panellist on the BBC Radio 4 programme series 'Education Debates' and led a seminar at the London Festival of Education.

From January 2013 until May 2015 she was the Consultant Headteacher working with the University of Cambridge and architects Marks Barfield to plan and design the University of Cambridge Primary School, a new three form entry primary school with research facilities on the North West Cambridge Development. The school having obtained Department of Education approval during this period subsequently opened in September 2015.

In November 2014 she was an invited delegate to join a worldwide Global Changemakers conference in Washington DC organised by the Gates Foundation in partnership with the Sutton Trust.

Her expertise and work on 'learning without limits' and the pedagogy of 'growth mindset' is well established and widely known. The Guardian newspaper published an article about her on 29 March 2015 in their series Talking Heads (Teacher Network). She has toured in the UK with Professor Carol Dweck several times over a number of years and appeared with her in a BBC Radio 4 programme 'Carol Dweck and Growth Mindset' broadcast on 20 July 2015 as part of the series 'Mind Changers' .

In November 2015 she became a columnist for The Times Educational Supplement [TES].

In March 2016 she was invited to be a speaker at the TEDx conference in Norwich, England [TEDxNorwichED], where she presented a talk entitled 'Learning without Limits'

She is a regular guest lecturer and keynote speaker for various organisations: educational, trade union, think-tank policy. Also she provides consultancy both for a range of educational organisations within the UK and leadership consultancy internationally. Countries which she currently works with, or has in the past, include: Japan, Rwanda, Spain, Thailand and USA.

Educational research

She has been involved in a number of educational research projects from 1985 to date.

Whilst at Wreake Valley Community College, Leicester, in 1985 she participated in the ORACLE study led by Professor Maurice Galton, University of Leicester.

In 1996 her master's degree thesis 'Situational integration is not enough' explored inclusion in primary classrooms through a case study approach.

The ESRC funded a project on Pupil Voice in which she led school based research from 1999 to 2001 together with Dr Sara Bragg and Professor Michael Fielding, University of Sussex.

From 2001 to 2003 she was one of nine teachers whose classroom practice and pedagogical approach was studied by a team of University of Cambridge researchers led by Professor Donald McIntyre. This research was subsequently published as the internationally acclaimed book Learning without Limits in 2004.

From 2006 to 2009 The Wroxham School formed the basis of research into teaching without labelling by ability. As co-researcher she published the findings in 2012 with, Susan Hart, Mary Jane Drummond and Mandy Swann in Creating Learning without Limits. This work has been translated and published: in Spanish by Ediciones Morata and in Japanese by Josai University and the English Agency (Japan).

She researched system leadership within teaching school alliances to enable school improvement in partnership with the National College and ISOS. This work was published in 2015.

The Wroxham School became an Educational Research Centre in 2015.

She has recently finished gathering material and working on her next book 'Assessment for Learning without Limits' which will be published by McGraw Hill in summer 2016.

Personal details

She married on 6 August 1983, has two daughters and lives in Hertford, Hertfordshire.

Publications

In addition to her book, Creating Learning without Limits she has written several contributions to other books and numerous articles, these publications include:

• Working as a team. Children and Teachers at Wheatcroft Primary School Learning from Each other, FORUM (2001).
• Listening to Children FORUM (2001)
• Raising standards. What do we really want?, FORUM (2005)
• Escaping from the bottom set. Finding a voice for school improvement, School Improvement Journal (2006)
• If you go down to the woods today, FORUM (2007)
• Exploring the art of the possible, an irresistible invitation to all learners, NASEN (2009)
• The Cambridge Primary Review: a voice for the future, FORUM (2010)
• Beyond assessment levels: Reaching for new heights in primary education, NUT (2011)
• Developing outward facing schools where citizenship is a lived experience, The Gordon Cook Foundation (2012)
• Circles of Influence, Sanders,E (Ed) (2012); Moving beyond “What’s in it for me?”
• The art of the possible: creative principle leadership, Wilson,A (Ed) (2015); Creativity in Primary Education, Sage Publications Ltd., London

External links

• Official website The Wroxham School
• Official website The Wroxham Transformative Learning Alliance