Bio

Ian is the Deputy Director of of the UK's leading not for profit organisation involved in education and design - the British Council for School Environments (BCSE; www.bcse.uk.net). He is also the co-founder of the thinktank The Centre for School Design.He is a highly respected national policy advisor and education commentator and a leading authority on education & design, public services and learning beyond the classroom. His background is in education, public services and the not for profit sector. He started his career as a sociology and psychology teacher, worked in government for the Charity Commission before joining the charity Education Extra as Head of Training developing major CPD, leadership programmes and resources for the Department of Education and Welsh Assembly Government. He became Policy Director for the charity ContinYou and led national developments on the Extended Day / Schools agenda and developed work internationally on learning outside the classroom, including a collaboration with Harvard University. Ian became Director of Learning and Development for an educational thinktank with clients including the National College for School Leadership before setting up his own consultancy, where he worked as a national advisor on Extended and Children’s Services and Building Schools for the Future for a number of national charities, curated a number of national conferences, led a series of research projects including Every Special School Matters and wrote a number of guides for teachers and school leaders including the Private Finance Initiative and Extended Services for the Department for Children Schools and Families. He joined the BCSE in September 2008 and is responsible for education policy, innovation, research, partnership development and external relations. He has co-edited a number of publications for the BCSE including 'The New 3Rs' and 'Free Schools Thinking' and has had articles/quotes in the TES, Independent, Guardian, The Observer, Architects Journal and on high profile blogs including Political Innovation and ConservativeHome. He has also given presentations and keynotes at 50 events and seminars in the UK and internationally. His media work includes the BBC Radio 4 programme 'Costing the Earth' discussing sustainable schools. He is a Fellow of the RSA, a Member of the Institute of Directors and recently became a Governor of a special educational needs school. He blogs regularly on the Centre for School Design website - http://www.thecentreforschooldesign.org/ - and is on twitter at @ianfordham