As the education landscape shifts beneath our feet, one truth remains steady: real change doesn’t wait for permission. It doesn’t always come from the top. Often, it emerges from the middle — from the everyday influencers quietly shaping the future of our schools. That’s the focus of our national summit this year: Leadership from the Middle.
In schools across the UK — and beyond — the demand is growing for high-quality, independent support and challenge that isn’t tied to political cycles or narrow frameworks.
Instead, schools are calling for something more enduring: professional advice focused on outcomes, grounded in evidence, and delivered with integrity.
This is the work of the education adviser — a role we believe must be redefined.
For too long, we’ve judged educational impact by titles held and positions occupied. But what if we flipped that? What if we focused instead on what people actually do — how they translate their experience to adapt, influence and transform learning communities?
That’s why the Association of Education Advisers (AoEA) has built a rigorous accreditation standard — shaped by research, rooted in practice, and tested across systems. It’s a standard not for instruction, but for influence.
Crucially, it transcends sector boundaries: it applies as much to advisers in local authorities and academy trusts as it does to independent consultants, MAT central teams, or curriculum hubs.
This approach is not just theoretical. It’s built around a “continuous improvement circle” — one that supports professional learning and reflection, rather than compliance and judgement. It distinguishes clearly between targeted intervention, and universal support and challenge — each playing a vital role in school improvement.
But standards alone won’t transform the system.
We want to move away from performance snapshots and towards capacity-building
That’s why we’re investing in critical connections, not just critical mass. Inspired by Grace Lee Boggs’ observation that “movements are born of critical connections,” our work this year is about bringing together a network of regional, national and international partners including Wales and Northern Ireland — each playing their part in testing a new model for education support.
In England we are building from the middle. From curriculum hubs to colleges, from multi-academy trusts to local government, we’re building a coalition that spans systems.
Our network includes the Association of Colleges, the National Governance Association, Research Schools, Chartered College of Teaching, NAHT, ASCL,NASS, SSAT, and many others.
Together, we’ll explore a model for an equitable, adviser-led support system that is truly national in its reach — and tailored to local needs.
This isn’t a top-down reform, nor a patchwork of good intentions. It’s a deliberate act of collaboration, driven by a shared belief that all schools — whatever their type, size, or setting — deserve access to professional challenge and high-quality support.
The goal? To measure less, and enable more.
We want to move away from the tyranny of performance snapshots and towards a culture of capacity-building. A system that values learning as much as outcomes. That enables people to lead not because of their job title, but because of their expertise and impact.
It was Peter Drucker who said that the task of leadership is to “create an alignment of strengths, making a system’s weaknesses irrelevant.” That’s the journey we’re on — and it starts by recognising the power of professional dialogue, trust, and shared purpose.
So today, as we gather at this summit, we are not just holding another event. We are building a movement. One that recognises the real levers of change in education sit with those who make it happen — quietly, consistently, and courageously.
Welcome to the start of something bigger.
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