Strategies for transforming local education systems Matt Davis Matt Davis Regional Director UK In over a decade as a teacher, manager, researcher and trainer, Matt worked in primary and secondary schools, Further and Higher Education, a Special School and Pupil Referral Units. Since joining Education Development Trust, Matt has put this experience to use designing complex national programmes for governments around the world, helping them to turn their policies into reality. Working with experts from across Education Development Trust, Matt helps our clients to create the systems and structures which empower brilliant teachers and leaders to change lives. Maggie Farrar Maggie Farrar Maggie has more than 30 years' experience in the education sector working with ministries, districts, schools and the voluntary and government sectors. She was the previous Director of Leadership Development, Policy and Research and interim Chief Executive at the National College for School Leadership and a former senior civil servant. She has wide experience of working closely with ministers, and senior leaders internationally to support improvement across the early years and school sector. Her recent assignments for Education Development Trust include support to the start-up phase of our change programme in Rwanda and development of system leadership approaches to school improvement in Kenya and India. In the UK, Maggie led our development of a school-led cluster based model for school improvement based on peer review and the building of a coaching culture with schools in England: the Schools Partnership Programme (SPP). Ben Bryant Simon Rea What happens when strategic leaders from more than 20 local education systems across England come together to discuss education reform? This thinkpiece captures the questions raised, their implications and some possible solutions. The big questions facing local education systems: How can local education systems best make sense of the manifold relationships within them? How can local education systems ensure the coherent deployment of system leadership resources? How can local education systems make the most of the opportunity of the transition to build system leadership capacity? How can local education systems ensure that there is clear accountability and, where necessary, challenge? How can local education systems link education improvement partnerships with other functions, including place-planning and support for vulnerable young people? How can local education systems best facilitate and strengthen partnership working where it is in its infancy? In parallel, how can local education systems strengthen partnerships that are superficial, cosy and lack purpose? How can partnerships within local education systems identify and respond quickly to weak and vulnerable partners? How can local education systems quickly identify, disseminate and utilise knowledge about what makes partnerships effective? How can local education systems develop local partnership capacity, rooted in the local context?