The PTI (formerly The Prince’s Teaching Institute) has announced today that Carolyn Roberts, Headteacher of Thomas Tallis School in London, has been appointed Co-Director of the charity. She succeeds Bernice McCabe OBE who sadly passed away in February.
Carolyn, who is also Chair of the Ethics Committee and a Founding Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching, will take on the role of Co-Director from September alongside current Co-Director Chris Pope, whilst continuing in her role as Headteacher of Thomas Tallis School, a 11-19 community comprehensive school in Greenwich of nearly 2000 students.
Carolyn has worked in education since 1983 after reading Theology at King’s College London followed by a PGCE at Birmingham and MA at Durham. She began teaching in Birmingham, became Head of RE at Pimlico School in London and then Houghton Kepier School in Sunderland. Carolyn went on to become Headteacher at St Hild’s C of E School in Hartlepool and Durham Johnston School in Durham, which under her headship became one of the region’s most successful secondary schools. More recently she has held the post of Honorary Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) which is where she became instrumental in setting up and chairing the Ethical Leadership Commission.
Following her attending the PTI Headteachers’ Conference in 2010, she co-authored the book Knowledge and the Future School: Curriculum and Social Justice with Prof Michael Young, Prof David Lambert and PTI Academic Steering Group member Martin Roberts. The authors argue for the importance of young people acquiring “powerful” subject knowledge at school, especially those who will not be introduced to it at home. As well as contributing regularly to a number of publications and journals, earlier this year she also published the book Ethical Leadership for a Better Education System.
Chris Pope, Co-Director of the PTI, said: “We are very pleased that Carolyn will be joining the PTI and I am looking forward to working alongside her. She is a longstanding friend of the PTI, and the charity will benefit hugely from her wealth of experience. Her passionate belief that all young people, irrespective of background or ability, are entitled to benefit from inspiring teaching and a rich subject-based curriculum fits the PTI’s mission perfectly.”
Keith Breslauer, Chairman of the PTI, said: “Carolyn is arriving at an exciting moment of growth in the PTI’s activities and I am sure the charity will benefit hugely from her national profile, experience working at policy level and deep experience of teaching in a variety of schools, in many different areas of the country. Carolyn will be able to continue to build on the strong base that Bernice McCabe helped to create and we are very much looking forward to working with her.”
Carolyn Roberts said: “I am delighted to take up the post of Co-Director of the PTI. It is an honour to serve an organisation which has done so much to support teachers to pass on their subject passions to children. My schools have really valued the deep and thoughtful work of the PTI and I want to help spread this further. What greater service can we give to the future but to teach and inspire our young?”