Research and Innovation

2007 Education Research Forum - Valerie Hannon

Disciplined Innovation – Valerie Hannon, 14 February 2007

The Research Branch hosted a forum, on 14 February 2007, with Valerie Hannon (Director of Strategy, Innovation Unit, UK).

Valerie Hannon was, until 1999, the Director of Education of Derbyshire County Local Education Authority (LEA). She was an adviser to the Local Government Association, Chair of the East Midlands Chief Education Officers and an executive member of the Association of Chief Education Officers. Formerly Deputy Director of Education in Sheffield, she has worked in a broad range of LEAs. Before joining local government she was a senior research fellow in the University of Sheffield and a teacher.

In 1996 Valerie was appointed to the National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education, which produced the report All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education. She has subsequently worked to promote creativity in learning, teaching and leadership, acting as adviser to a number of LEAs, to the Department for Education and Skills, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and to the Creative Partnerships initiative.

In this forum, Valerie discussed 'disciplined innovation' by looking beyond what most people in schools would generally call 'best' practice in order to generate what might be the 'next' successful practice. This work draws on the four futures thinking projects the Innovation Unit has undertaken. The Unit is working with the National College for School Leadership in the first project, Next Practice in System Leadership. The second is Resourcing aspects of personalisation, which is being done with the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust. The third project, Communities for Learning, is considering how to use the whole workforce to enhance learning, and a fourth project will consider parental engagement in teaching and learning.

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