Michael Barber (educationist)

Last updated

Sir
Michael Barber
Sir Michael Barber government portrait (cropped).jpg
Government portrait, 2017
Born (1955-11-24) 24 November 1955 (age 69)
Liverpool, Lancashire, [1] England
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Educationist
Chancellor of the University of Exeter
Chairman of Somerset County Cricket Club
Known forFounder and chairman of Delivery Associates

Sir Michael Bayldon Barber (born 24 November 1955 [2] ) is a British former public servant and educationist known for serving as head of the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit under Tony Blair’s government. He was knighted in 2005 for his contributions. [3] He is the founder and chairman of Delivery Associates, [4] a global advisory firm. [5] [6]

Contents

He has advised governments in over 60 countries on issues of public policy and delivery. He was the founder and first head of the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit under Prime Minister Tony Blair, and later served as chief education advisor at Pearson, [7] and as a partner at McKinsey, where he was head of the global education practice. He served as co-chair of Boston Consulting Group's not-for-profit foundation and the Centre for Public Impact. [8]

Barber published How to Run a Government: So that Citizens Benefit and Taxpayers Don’t go Crazy [9] in 2015, and his second book, Accomplishment – How to achieve ambitious and challenging things, [10] was published by Penguin in 2021.

In 2021, he was asked by the UK Prime Minister and Cabinet Secretary to conduct a review of government delivery after COVID-19. [11] In January 2022, Barber was appointed Chancellor of the University of Exeter. [12] In April 2022, Barber was announced as the new chairman of Somerset County Cricket Club. [13]

Education and early career

Barber was born in Liverpool, son of Chris Barber (1921-2012), chairman of Oxfam from 1983 to 1989, and Anne Satterthwaite, née Fowkes. [14] His paternal grandmother's family owned Jacob's Biscuits, where his father worked from 1949 to 1980. [15] He was educated at Bootham School [16] in York. He studied history at the University of Oxford. He taught in schools in Britain and Zimbabwe.

Barber worked in the education department of the National Union of Teachers. As a member of the Labour Party, he was elected to the council of the London Borough of Hackney, becoming chair of the education committee. In 1987, he contested for Labour the seat of Henley, then held by Michael Heseltine. [17]

Government

Barber served as Chief Adviser to the Secretary of State for Education on School Standards during the first term of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, from 1997 to 2001. [7]

During Blair's second term, from 2001 to 2005, Barber served as the Chief Adviser on Delivery, reporting directly to Prime Minister Tony Blair. [7] As head of the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit (PMDU), [18] he wrote a book about his experience at the PMDU. Instruction to Deliver: Fighting to Reform Britain’s Public Services (Methuen 2008), [19] It was described by the Financial Times as "one of the best books about British Government for many years". [18]

Barber was appointed as the first ever Chair of the Office for Students (OfS), the regulator for higher education in the UK established in 2018, until he stepped down in March 2021. [20]

Delivery Associates

Barber is the founder and chairman of Delivery Associates, a global advisory firm.

Pakistan

Barber has served as the co-chair of the Pakistan Education Taskforce as DFID Special Representative on Education for Pakistan, which led to the development of the "Punjab Roadmap", with stated goals of increasing the quality of education at 60,000 schools in Punjab. The Good News from Pakistan, published in 2013 with Reform, summarises the change between August 2011 and January 2013. [21]

The Independent Commission on Aid Impact has praised the Roadmap as "an excellent example of how a well-designed monitoring system can be integral to the design of a reform programme". [22]

Barber also advised Dr Sania Nishtar, the Special Assistant to the Pakistan Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, on the Ehsaas Programme in Pakistan. [23]

UK Government

Barber was asked by the UK Treasury in 2017 to conduct a review into how government measures impact each taxpayer pound spent on public services. The Public Value Review [24] sets out the approach. [25]

In 2021, Barber was asked by the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Secretary to review government delivery after COVID-19. [26]

In November 2022, British Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt announced that Barber would serve in an advisory role on the government's skills reform programme. [27]

At McKinsey and Company

Barber served as partner and head of McKinsey's Global Education Practice until 2011. Barber published Deliverology 101 [28] in 2011 to serve as a comprehensive guide to system reform and delivery. While at McKinsey, Barber co-authored How the world’s most improved school systems keep getting better (2010) [29] and How the world’s best-performing schools come out on top (2007). [30]

Education Delivery Institute

In the summer of 2010, Barber teamed with the Education Trust and Achieve to found the U.S. Education Delivery Institute. In 2010–2016, this institute worked with leaders of K–12 and higher education in the United States. [31]

Honorary degrees

Barber has been a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Harvard Graduate School of Education and is an Honorary Fellow of The Queen's College, Oxford. [32] He was awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Exeter and Nottingham Trent University. [33]

Publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prime Minister of the United Kingdom</span> Head of government of the United Kingdom

The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet, and selects its ministers. As modern prime ministers hold office by virtue of their ability to command the confidence of the House of Commons, they sit as members of Parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Cullen (politician)</span> New Zealand politician (1945–2021)

Sir Michael John Cullen was a New Zealand politician. He was a Member of the New Zealand House of Representatives from 1981 to 2009, the Deputy Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party from 1996 to 2008 and a senior minister in the Fifth Labour Government from 1999 to 2008, serving as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, and Attorney-General.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthew Mendelsohn</span> Canadian public sector leader

Matthew Mendelsohn is a Canadian public policy expert and public sector executive, best known for leading Prime Minister’s Justin Trudeau’s Results & Delivery Unit and the Government of Canada’s Impact & Innovation Unit from 2016-2020. These followed his role as a chief architect of the Liberals’ 2015 election platform and serving as a member of incoming Prime Minister Trudeau’s transition team, helping with cabinet selection and penning open and public Ministerial mandate letters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geoff Mulgan</span> British political advisor

Sir Geoffrey John Mulgan CBE is Professor of Collective Intelligence, Public Policy and Social Innovation at University College London (UCL). From 2011 to 2019 he was chief executive of the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts (NESTA) and visiting professor at University College London, the London School of Economics, and the University of Melbourne.

The Commission for Africa, also known as the Blair Commission for Africa, was an initiative established by the British government to examine and provide impetus for development in Africa. Initiated in Spring 2004, its objectives include the generation of new ideas for development and to deliver implementation of existing international commitments towards Africa. African leaders form a majority of the 17 commissioners.

The Prime Minister's Delivery Unit (PMDU) is a centre of government institution in the United Kingdom, providing support to the Prime Minister on public service delivery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Blair</span> Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007

Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997 and held various shadow cabinet posts from 1987 to 1994. Blair was Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007, and was special envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East from 2007 to 2015. He is the second-longest-serving prime minister in post-war British history after Margaret Thatcher, the longest-serving Labour politician to have held the office, and the first and only person to date to lead the party to three consecutive general election victories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Higher Education Commission (Pakistan)</span> Statutory body formed by the Government of Pakistan

The Higher Education Commission is a statutory body formed by the Government of Pakistan which was established in 2002 under the Chairmanship of Atta-ur-Rahman. Its main functions are funding, overseeing, regulating and accrediting the higher education institutions in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julian Le Grand</span>

Sir Julian Ernest Michael Le Grand, FBA FRSA is a British academic specialising in public policy. He is the Richard Titmuss Professor of Social Policy at the London School of Economics (LSE) and was a senior policy advisor to former Prime Minister Tony Blair.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Seldon</span> British educator and historian (born 1953)

Sir Anthony Francis Seldon is a British contemporary historian and educator. As an author, he is known for his political biographies of consecutive British Prime Ministers, John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss. Seldon is the author or editor of more than 45 books on contemporary history, politics and education.

The Prime Minister's Strategy Unit was a unit based in the UK Cabinet Office between 2002 and 2010. The Strategy Unit was established by the former Prime Minister Tony Blair, forming one part of a more streamlined centre of government along with a Delivery Unit, a Policy Unit and a Communications Unit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nigel Crisp, Baron Crisp</span> British civil servant (born 1952)

Edmund Nigel Ramsay Crisp, Baron Crisp is a crossbench member of the House of Lords where he co chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global Health. He works and publishes extensively in global health and international development. He was a British senior civil servant in the Department of Health, public policy analyst, and Senior Manager in the NHS. He was awarded a life peerage upon retirement.

The Committee on Standards in Public Life(CSPL) is an advisory non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom Government, established by John Major in 1994 to advise the Prime Minister on ethical standards of public life. It promotes a code of conduct called the Seven Principles of Public Life, also known as the Nolan principles after the first chairman of the committee, Lord Nolan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis</span> British politician and journalist (born 1963)

Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis, is a British Labour Party politician and journalist who served in HM Government for five years in the Blair ministry and the Brown ministry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ian Watmore</span>

Ian Charles Watmore is a British management consultant and former senior civil servant under three prime ministers, serving from October 2016 as the First Civil Service Commissioner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Idris Jala</span> Malaysian politician

Dato' Sri Idris Jala is a Malaysian technocrat. He served as the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department and as the chief executive officer of the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) from 2009 till 2015, the unit tasked with spearheading Malaysia's transition towards high income status by 2020. He was also a Senator in the Dewan Negara from 2009 till 2015. At present, he is the President and CEO of PEMANDU Associates, a global consultancy firm focused on public sector transformation and business turnaround.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeremy Heywood</span> British civil servant (1961–2018)

Jeremy John Heywood, Baron Heywood of Whitehall, was a British civil servant who served as Cabinet Secretary to David Cameron and Theresa May from 2012 to 2018 and Head of the Home Civil Service from 2014 to 2018. He served as the Principal Private Secretary to Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown from 1999 to 2003 and 2008 to 2010. He also served as Downing Street Chief of Staff and the first Downing Street Permanent Secretary. After he was diagnosed with lung cancer, he took a leave of absence from June 2018, and retired on health grounds on 24 October 2018, receiving a life peerage; he died a fortnight later on 4 November 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dominic Barton</span> Canadian business executive and diplomat

Dominic Barton, known as Bao Damin in China, is a Ugandan-born Canadian business executive, author, and diplomat. He is the current chairman of the private investment firm LeapFrog Investments and was the chancellor of the University of Waterloo from 2018 to 2024. He served as the Canadian Ambassador to the People's Republic of China from 2019 to 2021. Prior to this, Barton was the Global Managing Director of McKinsey & Company, the global consulting firm, from 2009 to 2018 and has previously served as Chairman of Teck Resources and as Non-Executive Director at the Singtel Group in Singapore and Investor AB in Sweden.

Don Drummond, is a noted Canadian economist, having served extensively in the federal Department of Finance Canada, as Chief Economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank and as a scholar at Queen's University. He is known for his wide contributions to public policy in Canada and extensive citation on economic issues.

Conor Ryan is an Irish-born UK-based independent writer and consultant, a former senior civil servant, and adviser who was until June 2023 the Director of External Relations at the Office for Students, a non-departmental public body of the British Department for Education. He served as a special adviser and the senior education adviser to British Secretary of State for Education and Employment David Blunkett from 1997 to 2001 and then to British Prime Minister Tony Blair from 2005 to 2007.

References

  1. ↑ GRO Register of Births: DEC 1955 10d 736 LIVERPOOL S. - Michael B. Barber, mmn = Fowkes
  2. ↑ "Sir Michael Barber: Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). National Research University Higher School of Economics. 2009. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  3. ↑ "Honours and Awards". 15 September 2006. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  4. ↑ "Delivery Associates | Homepage". www.deliveryassociates.com. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  5. ↑ "Delivery Associates: Global leaders in public sector strategy and implementation". deliveryassociates.org.com. 11 January 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  6. ↑ "20 things about delivery from Michael Barber (and 3 stories about a neglected American President) you really need to know". Institute for Government. 20 March 2015. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  7. 1 2 3 "Sir Michael Barber to Join Pearson as Chief Education Advisor". pearsoned.com. 26 May 2011. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  8. ↑ "Centre For Public Impact, a BCG Foundation". Centre For Public Impact.
  9. 1 2 Barber, Michael (2017), How to Run a Government: So that Citizens Benefit and Taxpayers Don't go Crazy, Penguin, ISBN   978-0-1419-7958-8
  10. 1 2 Barber, Michael. "Accomplishment". penguin.co.uk. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  11. ↑ "PM's latest hire signals desire for Whitehall reform". BBC News. 12 January 2021. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  12. ↑ "University of Exeter". exeter.ac.uk. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  13. ↑ "Sir Michael Barber announced as new chair of SCCC". Somerset County Cricket Club. 13 April 2022. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  14. ↑ Wilby, Peter (14 June 2011). "Mad professor goes global". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 13 December 2024.
  15. ↑ "Chris Barber". www.thetimes.com. 20 August 2012. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
  16. ↑ Bootham School Register. York, England: Bootham Old Scholars Association. 2011.
  17. ↑ Wilby, Peter (14 June 2011). "Mad professor goes global". The Guardian . Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  18. 1 2 "Board of Directors". U.S. Education Delivery Institute. 2015. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  19. 1 2 Instruction to Deliver: Fighting to Transform Britain's Public Services. 2015. ASIN   0413776646.
  20. ↑ "Sir Michael Barber to step down as Office for Students chair". Times Higher Education (THE). 24 June 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  21. ↑ "The Good News from Pakistan". 2013. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
  22. ↑ Independent Commission on Aid Impact (2012). DfID's Education Programme in Three East African Countries.
  23. ↑ "Ehsaas a global model to tackle poverty: UK expert". The Express Tribune. 10 December 2020. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  24. ↑ "Delivering better outcomes for citizens: practical steps for unlocking public value". GOV.UK. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  25. ↑ "The Barber Public Value Review – Civil Service". civilservice.blog.gov.uk. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  26. ↑ "How can Boris Johnson ensure that his promises are being delivered?". The Independent. 19 February 2021. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  27. ↑ Adu, Aletha (17 November 2022). "Hunt brings in Blairite heavyweights to aid public sector reform". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  28. 1 2 Barber, Michael; Moffit, Andy; Kihn, Paul (2015). Deliverology 101: A Field Guide For Educational Leaders. ISBN   978-1412989503.
  29. 1 2 Mourshed, Mona; Chijioke, Chinezi; Barber, Michael (November 2010). "How the world's most improved school systems keep getting better". McKinsey. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  30. 1 2 Barber, Michael; Mourshed, Mona (September 2007). "How the world's best-performing schools come out on top". McKinsey. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  31. ↑ "Delivery Approach". U.S. Education Delivery Institute. 2015. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  32. ↑ "Honorary, Supernumerary & Emeritus Fellows".
  33. ↑ "Sir Michael Barber". WISE Summit, Qatar Foundation. 2015. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  34. ↑ Rizvi, Saad; Donnelly, Katelyn; Barber, Michael (23 August 2012). "Oceans of Innovation: The Atlantic, the Pacific, global leadership and the future of education". Institute for Public Policy Research . Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  35. ↑ Rizvi, Saad; Donnelly, Katelyn; Barber, Michael (2015). "An avalanche is coming". avalancheiscoming.com. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  36. ↑ "The Incomplete Guide to Delivering Learning Outcomes". Pearson. 2015. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  37. ↑ "Asking More: The Path to Efficacy". Pearson. 2015. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  38. ↑ Stevenson, Alexander (2013). The Public Sector: Managing The Unmanageable. Kogan Page. ISBN   978-0-7494-6777-7.
  39. ↑ Barber, Michael; Rodriguez, Nick; Artis, Ellyn (2017), Deliverology in Practice, Corwin, ISBN   978-1-4522-5735-8
Academic offices
Preceded by Chancellor of the
University of Exeter
2022-		Succeeded by
—
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.