Christine Counsell has been appointed as the first director of education at the Inspiration Trust where she will “guide and support” principals at the trust’s 13 schools across East Anglia. She will also lead teacher training and professional development programmes.
Counsell says she specialises in supporting teachers in “ways of blending secure narrative knowledge with discipline-rooted enquiry and argument in classrooms, especially with pupils of diverse background, ability or need”.
She says she is “delighted” to join the trust from October.
“I can’t wait to work with the teachers and leaders in continuing to define excellence in schooling and in securing the very best education for the children of East Anglia.”
Counsell, a teacher for 10 years, has spent two decades at the University of Cambridge focusing on teacher training and development.
She has also worked internationally advising on curriculum issues with teachers, scholars and policymakers in America, Australia, Singapore, Europe and the Middle East.
Three new associates are joining LKMco, the think and action tank.
Ellie Mulcahy, who has a background in psychology research, becomes the first primary teacher to join the team where she hopes to “bring knowledge gained from my experience in primary schools to the already varied expertise in the team.
“I look forward to working with Dr Sam Baars further developing our research output and ensuring I help the team and the sector to keep up to date with research on children and young people.”
Mulcahy taught at Newington primary in Kent, and spent some time as a field researcher for the Behavioural Insights Team, and a field researcher for the Teach First school relationships team.
She studied psychology at York.
Will Millard joins from The Key. He was previously deputy head of sixth form at Wembley high technology college, west London.
Millard, who holds two policy-focused Masters, says: “I’m looking forward to using my experience from both inside and outside the classroom to support LKMco’s delivery of high-impact projects for young people, and to support its policy research and analysis.”
He studied English at Bristol.
Iesha Small, currently assistant headteacher at Kings Langley School in Hertfordshire, will join the team from September.
She will combine her role at LKMco with a part-time position at her current school and says she is “excited” to share the practical and leadership experience that she has gained from working with young people from less advantaged backgrounds.
Small has a mechanical engineering degree from University College London.
All three gained their PGCEs at Canterbury Christ Church University.
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