Lorrayne Hughes is the chief executive of Cumbria Education Trust, a multi-academy trust formed of three secondary schools, 10 primary schools and West Coast Sixth Form, which between them are responsible for the education of more than 5,000 children.

She has been CEO of the trust since its inception in 2015 and is also a board member of the Confederation of School Trusts.

Taking part in Tes’ 10 questions series, she talks about her favourite teacher at her school in Glasgow, the buzz she gets from working with young people, the joy of turning around struggling schools and why she believes teacher professional development has come on leaps and bounds during her career.

1. Who was your most memorable teacher and why?

I grew up just outside the east side of Glasgow and went to a comprehensive state school there, and my most memorable teacher was a lady called Mrs McCloud.

She was an inspirational PE teacher. She encouraged you, made you believe in yourself, and whatever your dream was, she wanted you to follow that.

She was one of those people you don’t come across often but when you do, that relationship you form, and that belief and support, is just fantastic.

2. What were the best and worst things about your time in school?

The best was the range of extracurricular opportunities. That’s what I remember: always going off playing in sports teams and taking part in performances.

The worst thing I remember, to be honest, is being bored; sitting in the classroom thinking, “Oh, my goodness, how long until I can go and do something that’s fun?”

3. Why do you work in education?

I absolutely love working with young people. I want every young person to be successful, to have the opportunity to flourish and to reach their potential. I’m an eternal optimist and believe in young people. Education has to be about creating a better future.

I work in some communities that are facing difficulties but there is not a day that goes by when I’m not blown away by young people’s ability and what they can do. We’ve got to believe in them the same way Mrs McCloud believed in me.

Our motto is “Be the best you can be”. It’s very simple but it gets to the heart of why I’m in education.

4. What are you proudest of in your career?

There are a few things really. Achieving good judgments in schools that have never had them before, and seeing that transformation happening, is always great.

We have one school, Workington Academy, that we took on in special measures that is now oversubscribed. It’s just going from strength to strength. We have another, Whitehaven Academy, that is on the same path, and it’s wonderful that young people are getting the education they deserve.

Seeing the trust develop into the organisation that it is now and keeping our culture of respect, responsibility and resilience at the heart of every school has also been wonderful. And, of course, I’m always proud of the staff that work with me - they go the extra mile for our young people to make sure they can be the best they can be.

5. Who would you want in your perfect school staffroom?

The key things for me are staff that always put young people first, will always make decisions based around including every young person in what they do, and have a can-do attitude.

6. What would you say are the best and worst aspects of our school system today?

On the best, I think the way we’ve started looking at professional development to support our teachers to get better as a whole, with instructional coaching, qualifications and leadership support. I think there has been tremendous work done in this area to help move our whole profession forward.

I think the other thing is building great trusts. It’s made us think about the role of leaders in education and making sure they can focus on the improvement of schools, rather than the other things they used to have to deal with, like finance and HR.

On the worst side, I think the recruitment crisis is a real issue. I think I’ve got the best job in the world and I’m sure there are a lot of people in Cumbria Education Trust that would say the same, but we’ve got a recruitment crisis and we’ve got to think about how that’s going to be addressed.

I also think the lack of support services in relation to supporting young people is a concern.

7. Who in education has influenced you the most?

I think the Confederation of School Trusts has done a fantastic job - its work has definitely supported us, working as trusts.

Ambition Institute is another. I got involved with it before it was Ambition and it really supported us as a small organisation as we grew bigger and bigger. We do our National Professional Qualifications with Ambition and we’re going to do initial teacher training with it.

It has been there to support my development and, and obviously, that impacts across the trust.

And there’s the Education Endowment Foundation and all the research it does. I love a piece of research. That has influenced my thinking in relation to developing a trust.

8. If you became education secretary tomorrow, what would you do?

I think focus on the recruitment and retention crisis that we’re currently in, and I’d have to put special educational needs and disability (SEND) up there, too, because there are a lot of young people we need to focus on in relation to SEND.

Looking at the disadvantage gap is also absolutely key. In some of the areas that I’m working in, Covid hasn’t helped and has made the gap bigger, so we’ve got so much to think about in that area.

And obviously, at the heart of that is, within many communities, we’ve got child poverty and we’ve got to look at how we support that whole education journey that we’re on.

9. Who has made the biggest difference in education in the past 12 months?

Teachers!

They are the ones who come to work every day, work their socks off and are in classrooms doing the right thing for the children. I know lots of people praised teachers during the pandemic but I don’t think we do enough of that - you can never say thank you enough to the people that do the job. And not just teachers but support staff as well and the great job that they do.

10. What are the most important lessons you’ve learned doing this job?

Always focus your decision-making on what’s right for children. I know that sounds like “well, of course”, but your decision-making can easily be swayed by different pressures but you have to stay true to your moral compass.

Look outwards, learn from others, and always be willing for other people to tell you how to do better. You need that support, you need that challenge.

Plan your trust growth carefully. Don’t be flattered. When someone says, “We really need you to do this,” make sure you can deliver.

Think about your own resilience. Sometimes it can be rocky but remember what you’re doing the job for and keep true to what you’re trying to achieve.

Lorrayne Hughes was talking to Dan Worth