Professor Becky Francis has become one of the most prominent figures in education’s response to the pandemic, having taken over from Sir Kevan Collins as chief executive of the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) in January 2020, just before the first lockdown saw schools close.

The EEF has since been asked to run the National Tutoring Programme, a key plank of the government’s “catch-up” effort after it flagged the impact that school closures were having on disadvantaged pupils in particular.

Professor Francis was previously director of the UCL Institute of Education.

Who was your most memorable teacher and why?

Well, this question makes me reflect on how much has changed in education and schools in the past 35 years, because my school, which is now a really excellent one, wasn’t a very safe school back in the 1980s.

I am going to single out my English teacher, Mrs Cross, who was just an incredibly hardworking and thoughtful teacher. She created stimulating and challenging curriculum projects that engaged us all, and she maintained discipline and high expectations while also conveying her passion and expertise in her subject.

What were the best and worse things about your time at school?

My best thing was meeting my lifelong best friend Karen, the worst was the lack of safety. There was rampant bullying, racism, homophobia [and] sexual harassment - and not attending to patently vulnerable kids. I was lucky to largely avoid bullying but many of my acquaintances were less fortunate. It made me reflect that many younger people don’t realise how quickly schools have changed in a very short space of time. Of course, schools mirror society. Corporal punishment was only banned in 1986, which was the year I turned 16, so violence was just more prevalent then, within the school and outside it.

There is also a great focus on professionalism - a drive towards excellence in teaching, which has changed schools very radically in the past 35 years.

Why do you work in education?

My long-standing interest in educational inequality and social justice in education was generated by some of the experiences [I had] at school. My start in education was quite serendipitous: I got a scholarship to do my PhD in the education field. But it’s the potential of schools to support life chances and the dedication to our state education system that keeps me engaged.

Leading an organisation designed to support evidence-informed practice in our school system, particularly to identify practices and support socially disadvantaged young people, is an incredible privilege.

What are you proudest of in your career and what do you regret?

In terms of proudest, I was the first ever female director of the Institute of Education...and having led the largest academic institution in the world in education is pretty special.

Since I joined the Education Endowment Foundation just before the start of the pandemic, I have been really proud of our response, especially the National Tutoring Programme and the Nuffield Early Language Intervention, both of which are seeking to support and help with learning recovery for disadvantaged young people. And it’s a real exemplar of what we seek to do, which is to generate and curate the research evidence about effective practice, and then to support that into the system, which I am very proud of.

I’d say that I don’t really have regrets. We all have bad experiences; I certainly have - and there are probably some small things that we reflect on and think we’d do differently if we had our times again, but those are the things you learn from.

Who would be your colleagues in your perfect school staffroom?

I have never been a school teacher. In terms of a staffroom, I have had experience of them while being an education researcher and hanging around in them rather awkwardly and, of course, we have our university staffroom, but I think it’s important to say that it hasn’t been my place of teamwork.

In terms of building teams, I guess the things that I value are commitment to a mission, excellence, to equality and diversity and, of course, to ethical practice. But also I think it’s always really important to have a diversity of skills, viewpoints [and] people who constructively question and challenge in the staffroom, to make sure it’s not an echo chamber.

What are the best and the worst aspects of our school system?

In terms of the best, the fact that it’s a largely comprehensive system and, to that end, it provides a broad and balanced curriculum for all pupils right up to age 16. We often forget that that’s actually relatively unusual still within Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development schools systems, but the OECD are very clear that it’s the most socially inclusive model.

In terms of the worst, I think it’s the inequality in quality of education across the system, so that access to high-quality teaching - and even to subject-specialist teachers in secondary education - can depend on your social background and where you live.

Your own teachers aside, who in education has influenced you the most?

The sociologist Ann Oakley, who introduced the concept of gender. She shone a light on both the treatment and expectations of women, and inspired a generation of young feminist social scientists, myself among them.

Notably, she wasn’t content simply to critique, which I think can often be a problem for sociology. Rather, she was dedicated to using social science to ensure evidence-informed change. She founded social science research units, and then the famous EPPI-centre at the Institute of Education, which focuses on systematic reviews of evidence across public services, including education.

And then, in terms of role models, I’d really like to pick out Christine Gilbert. She is a person of consummate integrity and [with] a sense of justice, and is possibly the wisest person that I have worked with. She has made a huge contribution to the system via her different leadership roles, but she still reminds me of the quintessential brilliant head: incisive and fair, and even quite stern, but always with a twinkle in her eye.

Would you want Gavin Williamson’s job? Have you ever thought about it - and what would be the first thing you’d do as education secretary?

I haven’t ever thought about it - and whether I’d want it, well, I suppose we’d all want jobs that enable us to make the best difference to the education system, so I might say yes. I recognise that it’s an incredibly difficult job.

Of course, you’d expect me to say this, but if I were education secretary I’d go to the evidence, and think, what does the evidence tell us about the most pressing issues? In the current climate, the focus would be on recovery. How to ensure a sustained approach to learning recovery and mitigate the impact of the pandemic to life chances.

We know that it’s actually high-quality teaching that makes the most difference to pupil progress and that’s particularly the case for socially disadvantaged young people. So, I’d instigate a set of schemes to get the best teachers into the schools in areas of social and economic deprivation, and focus on supporting high-quality teaching and making sure that’s equally available to all.

I’d invest in quality early years education - again, we know from the evidence that it’s the early start in life that is the most significant in providing that foundation for future learning, and at the moment, again, we have mixed quality there.

And I think I’d involve employers in the review of foundation qualifications for those young people who don’t secure grades 4 and above at GCSE.

What will our schools be like in 30 years?

One thing that the pandemic has illustrated is actually what a vital leveller state education is. It’s not perfect - and sociologists have identified many means by which schools can perpetuate social inequality - but without them, the wider discrepancies in family wealth and social capital have an even deeper impact.

Our reliance on home learning during the pandemic has really illustrated that point. So, a broad and balanced curriculum continues to provide the necessary foundation for advanced studies as well, and that’s true even in emerging new areas.

We also know that personal and face-to-face relationships remain really important. But I would predict that the availability of great teaching online will enable even better pedagogy, as teachers learn from one another and use especially effective online exemplars within lessons.

Likewise, digital tools will enable greater flexibility in provision and efficiency in assessment...and support ongoing teaching excellence, and those relationships between the teacher and the pupil, and the pupil and their classmates.

What one person do you think has made the most difference to our schools in the past 12 months?

It’s another really hard question. The notable thing about the past 12 months has been the incredible collective effort across the system. If you think about mentioning somebody, you also think that will undervalue others that have done so much.

I think, going forward, it’s actually really tremendous that Sir Kevan Collins has been just announced as the government’s recovery commissioner, I think there is no one better placed to take on what is going to be a hugely important role and opportunity.

Having been among the many research organisations that have provided evidence on the scale of learning loss caused by the pandemic, I am also really glad that the EEF is well placed to support schools and policymakers with that evidence on the most effective approaches for learning recovery, so we’ll be very glad to be supporting that effort going forward into 2021.

Professor Francis was interviewed by Tes news reporter Claudia Civinini

This article originally appeared in the 12 March 2021 issue