International schools group Nord Anglia Education has announced new appointments to its education advisory board.
The board provides “experienced external perspectives” across Nord Anglia’s 80-plus schools and is chaired by Lord David Puttnam. Its remit includes professional development, safeguarding and improving teaching and learning.
The board’s new appointments include:
- Dr Cláudia Costin, founder and director of the Center for Excellence and Innovation in Education Policies at Brazil’s Getulio Vargas Foundation. She has been senior director for global education at the World Bank and education secretary for Rio de Janeiro. She has served on the Unesco Institute for Lifelong Learning board and is a visiting professor at Harvard University.
- Kaya Henderson, executive vice-president and executive director of the Aspen Institute Center for Rising Generations. She was previously chancellor of District of Columbia Public Schools.
- Professor Lily Kong, president of Singapore Management University and the Lee Kong Chian chair professor of social sciences, who is widely known for research in social-cultural and urban geography.
- Sir Michael Barber, who was chief adviser on school standards to the UK government’s education secretary from 1997 to 2001. He also established the Prime Minister Delivery Unit in 2001 to implement key domestic policies, including around education and health.
Lord Puttnam said the new board members would “ensure that Nord Anglia’s students continue to excel academically and develop as global citizens with the life skills to thrive in a rapidly changing world”. He thanked outgoing members Dr Joseph Polisi, Mercedes Miguel and Dr Jane Gaskell for their “invaluable contributions”.
The new members sit alongside Lord Puttnam, Professor Steve Munby and Lord Jim Knight.
Professor Munby is a consultant and speaker on educational leadership who began his career as a secondary school teacher in Birmingham, England. He was chief executive of the National College for School Leadership and the Education Development Trust, and is a visiting professor at UCL.
Lord Knight serves as the non-executive chair of several education boards, including the Council of British International Schools (usually referred to as Cobis); he is also chair of the board of trustees at the E-ACT multi-academy trust in England. A former UK schools minister, he joined the House of Lords in 2010 where he frequently contributes on education and technology issues.
