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Michael Barber (educationist)

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Sir
Michael Barber
Sir Michael Barber, 2017
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]

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 latest 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

[edit]

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

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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

[edit]

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

Pakistan

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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  • Instruction to Deliver[19]
  • Deliverology 101: A Field Guide for Educational Leaders[28]
  • How the world’s best-performing schools come out on top[30]
  • How the world’s most improved school systems keep getting better[29]
  • Oceans of Innovation[34]
  • An Avalanche is Coming: Higher Education and the Revolution Ahead[35]
  • The Incomplete Guide to Delivering Learning Outcomes[36]
  • Asking More: The Path to Efficacy[37]
  • The Public Sector: Managing the Unmanageable (Contributor)[38]
  • Deliverology in Practice[39]
  • How to Run a Government: So that Citizens Benefit and Taxpayers Don’t go Crazy[9]
  • Accomplishment - How to Achieve Ambitious and Challenging Things[10]

References

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  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. ^ a b c "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. ^ a b 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. ^ a b 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. ^ a b "Board of Directors". U.S. Education Delivery Institute. 2015. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  19. ^ a b 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. ^ a b Barber, Michael; Moffit, Andy; Kihn, Paul (2015). Deliverology 101: A Field Guide For Educational Leaders. ISBN 978-1412989503.
  29. ^ a b Mourshed, Mona; Chijioke, Chinezi; Barber, Michael (November 2010). "How the world's most improved school systems keep getting better". McKinsey on Society. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  30. ^ a b Barber, Michael; Mourshed, Mona (September 2007). "How the world's best-performing schools come out on top". McKinsey on Society. 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
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Preceded by Chancellor of the
University of Exeter
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