David Jackson

David has been a Senior Associate at Innovation Unit since 2006 and has supported many of our innovation programmes across a range of services and sectors. David holds the unfailing belief that, through bold and radical innovation, public services (and education in particular) can achieve transformative outcomes for users (young people).

David’s primary expertise is in education, particularly leadership, school (re)design and system change. Currently he is leading Innovation Unit’s endeavour to create a multi-academy trust (MAT) of new school models. Previously he has been a Leadership Coach for the Education Endowment Fund supported REAL Projects programme; a consultant for 10 years to the Global Education Leaders Programme (GELP); and an Innovation Coach for the DFE’s Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme. He actively supported the design and establishment of New York City’s iZone initiative in 2010, and then for three years acted as coach to programme leads and school principals in the generation of new models of schooling and learning. He was a member of Innovation Unit’s team supporting Learning Frontiers in Australia between 2013 and 2015.  

Between 2000 and 2006 he was Research and School Improvement Director at the National College for School Leadership, where he led the Networked Learning Communities programme, the world’s largest and most ambitious applied research program into school-to-school collaboration. Prior to that he was, for 14 years, headteacher at Sharnbrook Upper School and Community College, at the time one of the UK’s most innovative and successful schools. He has taught on Leadership Masters programs at the universities of Cambridge and Nottingham, has worked on system change initiatives in a number of countries and has written extensively on leadership, school collaboration and system change themes.

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