Education & Young People
Dame Julia has a long-standing reputation for developing cross-sector partnerships to improve the quality of leadership and teaching in schools and inspire young people to achieve active, fulfilling lives.
Julia co-produced an independent July 2013 report to the Prime Minister setting out a vision for government, business and the voluntary and education sectors to work together to support young people between the ages of 10 and 20 to engage in social action between. The resulting Campaign for Youth Social Action, now Step Up to Serve, encourages practical action by young people in the service of others. Julia is a board member of the National Citizen Service, which enables 16- and 17-year-olds to engage in social action projects and build skills for work and life.
As chair of Teach First, Julia has pioneered efforts to address educational disadvantage by transforming exceptional graduates into effective, inspirational teachers in low-income communities across the UK. She also serves on the board of Teach for All, the international partnership that seeks to spread the experience and mission to other social entrepreneurs across the world.
A lovely video from Teach First as Julia becomes Vice Patron:
Dame Julia Cleverdon - Thank you from Teach First on Vimeo.
Julia’s education work is rooted in her early career at the Industrial Society, where she pioneered leadership programmes for deputy heads. She joined Business in the Community in 1988 to develop Compacts, the early education-business partnerships, and since then has energetically campaigned for greater engagement from business in raising the aspiration and achievement of young people.
Julia led the Business Workstream of the National Council for Education Excellence commissioned by the Prime Minister in 2008, and developed recommendations for business to help raise achievement levels in schools and colleges. She now sits on the BITC Education Leadership Team and leads the Fair Education Alliance goal on employability. She is also a trustee of the Careers and Enterprise Company and chairs the National Literacy Trust.
Julia’s passion for education started in her early career at the Industrial Society, where she and Tim Brighouse pioneered leadership programmes for deputy heads. In 1988, the Prince of Wales, following a visit to Boston, wanted to develop Compacts in the poorest communities and Julia joined Business in the Community to lead the development of these early education-business partnerships. Since then she has energetically campaigned for greater engagement from business in raising the aspiration and achievement of young people. In 2008 the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, asked her to make recommendations on business engagement and accepted her report ( recommendations) for the National Council for Education Excellence recommendations.