For the last few years more and more of the detail of what teachers are expected to do has been prescribed by politicans, rather than practitioners themselves. Yet we now have the most experienced profession for a long time, with two thirds or so of teachers over the age of forty. There are signs that the 'compliance culture' may be coming to an end, or at least diminishing, and that school may be encouraged to foster more creative approaches. How do teachers acquire their professional skills, when and how do they change, what is creative teaching and how can it be nurtured, and what support should be made available? Is personalised learning meant to be machine-driven, or can it be genuinely multi-media? These are some of the questions and issued that will be addressed.

Biography

Ted Wragg is Professor of Education at Exeter University. He has taught in primary and secondary schools and in two universities. He obtained his BA, a First in German, at Durham University, his MEd at Leicester and his PhD at Exeter University. He has four honorary doctorates, from the universities of London, Strathclyde, Northumbria and the Open University, and is an Academician of the Learned Societies for the Social Sciences.

He currently teaches courses at all levels from undergraduate to postgraduate and has directed numerous research projects on such topics as classroom processes, teaching strategies, curriculum evaluation, appraising competence and incompetence, and performance-related pay. He has also studied education in numerous countries throughout the world.

He has been President of the British Educational Research Association, adviser to a Parliamentary Select Committee on the attainments of school leavers, chairman of the Educational Broadcasting Council of the UK and member of the Board of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority.

He is the author of over 50 books on a wide range of topics in education, such as teaching skills, teacher appraisal, literacy, research methods, teacher training, assessment, curriculum, many of which have been translated into other languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Indonesian, Polish and Portuguese. He has also written a 120 book reading scheme and produced two CD ROMs, a DVD on teachers' questions, and many videos and audiotapes.

He is a frequent broadcaster on radio and television and writes regularly in newspapers like the Times Educational Supplement and the Guardian.

Ted Wragg is married, with two daughters and a son.

Allowing creativity...

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