“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

Margaret Mead

Charles Desforges is an emeritus professor in the University of Exeter. He is a research adviser to various government bodies here and overseas. Other work involves supporting the professional development of head teachers and promoting teacher research on lesson development.

From 1998 to 2002 Charles was the Director of the Teaching and Learning Research Programme of the Economic and Social Research Council, the largest coordinated programme of social research ever mounted in the UK. Prior to that, he was Deputy Vice-Chancellor in the University of Exeter and also the Director of the School of Education.

Earlier in his working life he taught school science for ten years (1963-1973). Since then he has been a university researcher focusing on classroom learning. He has published extensively in the field of teaching and learning, and was editor of the British Journal of Educational Psychology for five years. Recent publications include ‘Numeracy and Beyond’ (2000) (with Martin Hughes), ‘Teaching and Learning’ (2002) (with Richard Fox), and a report of a research review conducted for the DfES entitled ‘The impact of parental involvement on pupil achievement’. This is available on the DfES website as Research Report No. 433 (2003). Professor Desforges was awarded an OBE in 2004 for services to education.

Sheena is a qualified educational psychologist and a registered health psychologist. The first eleven years of her post-doctoral career were spent in academic research working on large scale research initiatives in health and education, principally the ESRC Economic Life Initiative, the World Values Survey, the British Social Attitudes Survey, and the Youth Cohort Study of England and Wales.   

Sheena subsequently became a Project Manager for the European Commission where she designed and implemented quality standards procedures for companies participating in collaborative international initiatives, oversaw quality assurance and was responsible for co-ordinating and scheduling the partners’ deliverables and for progress reports for the EC.  

Following this Sheena became Research Manager at Relate Head Office where she provided annual organisational statistics to the CEO for the annual review and set up an in-house research department. Sheena initiated a new Research Forum to provide a locus for discussing the research needs of centres and to provide centres with basic training in research and evaluation methods, worked closely with the Media and Communications team and set up a joint Information Group which allowed Communications to have fast, easy access to the latest facts and figures and enabled more rapid response to inquiries from the press and other external sources.

To improve client services and make research accessible, relevant and responsive to current issues Sheena publishes regular updates in Relate’s newsletter. She also designed a new client record system, provided consultancy to Centres wishing to undertake research and advised on the evaluation of Relate’s new relationship education programme.  

Following Sheena’s interest in applying psychology to practice she completed professional training, then held posts as educational psychologist and senior practitioner psychologist in Warwickshire and Leicester. In Leicester Sheena became part of the multi agency BEST Plus (Behaviour and Education Support Team) initiative which took on the most challenging cases before moving to Coventry as Head of Service for its TAMHS (Targeted Mental Health in Schools) team. TAMHS provided schools with a new tier 2 mental health service delivered in the community. The work involved developing systems for reviewing young people’s mental wellbeing, setting up interventions, providing schools staff with training, and working with health, social care and CAMHS partners to create a new care pathway. TAMHS also worked closely with the police to look at how best to provide mental health support to young offenders, and with the local authority to develop a Risky Behaviours and Healthy Relationships intervention.  

Since 2018 Sheena has been in private practice, her professional qualifications are MA, MSc, DEA, PhD, AFBPsS; Chartered Psychologist.

Sheena is the Chair (West Midlands) of the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH)..

Suneta is an experienced Interim Head Teacher, adept at working within challenging school contexts. She is particularly skilled at maintaining staff morale whilst improving standards. Suneta has over 25 years of experience working in varying contexts of Primary Schools, including working as a headteacher, deputy head, school improvement partner, inclusion leader and SENDCo. She is a multi-award-winning coach, well-being Consultant and a DfE approved trainer for senior mental health leads.

Suneta leads an evidence-based approach to change management in which she skilfully and sensitively creates turning points for individuals, groups and whole school organisations which ultimately results in improvements. 

Her areas of expertise include:

•        School Improvement – specialising in auditing and action planning
•        1:1 Coaching for HTs/SLT
•        Whole school SEND improvement strategy advice, consultation & implementation 
•        Comprehensive knowledge of SEND law and the application of the SEND statutory framework
•        Whole school wellbeing & mental health strategy advice & consultation
•        Mediation, conflict/resolution & SEND
•        Group coaching (including facilitation of Action Learning Sets)
•        Reflective supervision 

Delivery of effective training and development is a key feature of Suneeta’s whole system approach and the cornerstone of her successful impact.

Suneta is a proud mum of three wonderful teenagers, which includes one child with significant and profound learning difficulties. She is passionate about education and inclusion for all.