2019 International Confederation of Principals Convention
Keynote Speakers
Professor Mark Bray
Mark Bray is a Distinguished Chair Professor in the Faculty of East China Normal University (ECNU), Shanghai. He is also Emeritus Professor holding the UNESCO Chair in Comparative Education at the University of Hong Kong. Between 2006 and 2010, Prof. Bray was Director in Paris of UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP). He has also taught at the Universities of Edinburgh, Papua New Guinea and London, and in secondary schools in Kenya and Nigeria. Prof. Bray has consulted and advised in over 60 countries in Europe, North America, Africa, the Caribbean, Asia, and the South Pacific.
Prof. Bray has researched and published in the domains of policy-making, financing and planning of education systems. He has become particularly known for his work on the so-called shadow education system of private supplementary tutoring. This phenomenon is especially prominent in East Asia, but is now visible throughout the world. Prof. Bray points out that out-of-school tutoring has far-reaching implications for the work of schools as well as for wider social and economic development.
Michelle Gibbings
Michelle Gibbings is a change leadership and career expert, and the author of ‘Step Up: How to Build Your Influence at Work’, and ‘Career Leap: How to Reinvent and Liberate your Career’.
Obsessed with unlocking high-impact choices to accelerate meaningful progress, Michelle is enabling a new breed of leader – one that’s fit for the future of work.
Michelle has more than twenty years’ senior executive experience across multiple industries. Building on that experience, she now works with leading-edge organisations to optimise outcomes by building the capability, capacity and conviction of their leaders to lead.
Michelle has Undergraduate Degrees in Communications and Commerce, a Masters in International Trade, Certification by the International Federation of Compliance Associations, and Chartered Manager stat
She is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a Fellow of Finsia and the Australian Institute of Managers and Leaders, and alumnus of Leadership Victoria’s Williamson Community Leadership Program. She regularly appears and writes for major national publications and media outlets.
Jack Ma
Jack founded Alibaba Group in 1999 and served as Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group from 1999 to September, 2019. He served as Chief Executive Officer of Alibaba Group from 1999 to May, 2013.
Jack currently serves as member of the Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum, president of the General Association of Zhejiang Entrepreneurs and chairman of the China Entrepreneur Club. He has been appointed by the United Nations Secretary General António Guterres as co-chair of the UN High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation since 2018.
Jack graduated from Hangzhou Normal University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English education.
Jack Ma Yun is a Chinese business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. As of August 2018, he is one of China's richest men with a net worth of US$38.6 billion, as well as one of the wealthiest people in the world. Ma's primary ideology was for an open and market driven economy. A prominent business figure, Ma is seen as a global ambassador for Chinese business and as such is frequently listed as one of the world's most powerful people by Forbes. In 2017, he was ranked 2nd in the annual "World's 50 Greatest Leaders" list by Fortune.
Dr Steve Munby
Steve Munby is a self-employed consultant and speaker on leadership and on system reform. He retired in 2017 as Chief Executive of Education Development Trust, an international education charity working in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
As CEO of Education Development Trust, he led the advisory support for the development of the new National Academy for Educational Leadership in Wales. Between 2005 and 2012, Steve was Chief Executive of the National College for School Leadership in England. As CEO, he had overall responsibility for the training and development of school principals in 22,000 state maintained schools in England and also for the training and development of Directors of Children’s Services in 150 Local Authorities.
Whilst at the National College, Steve oversaw the work on the identification and development of National Leaders of Education, the development of Teaching Schools in England and the review of the National Professional Qualification for Headship.
In 2016 he wrote a think-piece with Michael Fullan: “Inside-out and downside-up. How leading from the middle has the power to transform education systems.” Steve is also the facilitator for the Atlantic Rim Collaboratory summits (9 education systems from around the world committed to equity, excellence, well-being and social justice). He is Visiting Professor at University College London Institute for Education and is Chair of the Teaching Awards Trust in England.
Dr Vicki Phillips
Vicki Phillips serves as an Education Executive and Strategist for national and international organisations and ed-tech companies devoted to the engagement and professional learning of leaders and teachers and the design of enabling conditions and systems in which courageous leadership and high-quality teaching and learning can thrive. She is the CEO in Residence for Educurious, a founding partner of Teaching Partners, a member of the board for Enlearn and School by Design and a Senior Executive Coach – Institute for Personal Leadership.
Dr. Phillips has a strong record of reform at all levels of education – from neighborhood schools to the federal government. She has served as a teacher, leader of a nonprofit education foundation, superintendent of schools, state chief of basic and higher education and for nearly a decade as the director of K-12 education for the world’s largest foundation.
Phillips most recently served as Director of Education, College Ready, for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation where she led the work to ensure students graduate from high school ready to succeed in college, career and community and to improve the effectiveness and support of teachers. Phillips and her team sought to advance education innovations,including new school designs focused on personalized learning and high quality tech-enabled curriculum and instructional tools.
Prior to joining the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, she was superintendent of Portland Public Schools in Portland, Oregon. Earlier, Phillips served as Pennsylvania’s State Secretary of Education and as superintendent in the School District of Lancaster, PA. She previously served at the state level in her home state of Kentucky, helping to implement the sweeping changes demanded by the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990.
Born in Kentucky and raised on a small farm, Phillips was the first in her family to go to college. She holds a doctorate in international leadership and management from the University of Lincoln in England as well as three honorary doctorates. Dr. Phillips has served as a founding member of the governing council for England’s National College for School Leadership, an advisor to the Harvard Urban Superintendent’s Program and as a senior advisor/faculty for the Holdsworth Center district and school campus leadership programs.Andreas Schleicher
Andreas Schleicher is Director for Education and Skills, and Special Advisor on Education Policy to the Secretary-General at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris.
As a key member of the OECD Senior Management team, Mr. Schleicher supports the Secretary-General’s strategy to produce analysis and policy advice that advances economic growth and social progress. He promotes the work of the Directorate for Education and Skills on a global stage and fosters co-operation both within and outside the OECD. In addition to policy and country reviews, the work of the Directorate includes the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), and the development and analysis of benchmarks on the performance of education systems (INES).
Before joining the OECD, Mr. Schleicher was Director for Analysis at the International Association for Educational Achievement (IEA). He studied Physics in Germany and received a degree in Mathematics and Statistics in Australia. He is the recipient of numerous honours and awards, including the “Theodor Heuss” prize, awarded in the name of the first president of the Federal Republic of Germany for “exemplary democratic engagement”. He holds an honorary Professorship at the University of Heidelberg.
Professor Yong Zhao
Yong Zhao is a Foundation Distinguished Professor in the School of Education at the University of Kansas. He previously served as the Presidential Chair and Director of the Institute for Global and Online Education in the College of Education, University of Oregon, where he was also a Professor in the Department of Educational Measurement, Policy, and Leadership. Prior to Oregon, Yong Zhao was University Distinguished Professor at the College of Education, Michigan State University, where he also served as the founding director of the Center for Teaching and Technology, executive director of the Confucius Institute, as well as the US-China Center for Research on Educational Excellence.
His works focus on the implications of globalization and technology on education. He has published over 100 articles and 30 books.
Professor Yuan Zhenguo
Yuan Zhenguo is a well-known educationalist in China and the full professor of ECNU. He was once the deputy director of Department of Teacher Education of Ministry of Education, the deputy director of Department of Social Sciences of Ministry of Education, the director of National Institute of Education Sciences, the deputy director of the Leading Group Office for National Education System Reform and the secretary-general of National Education Advisory Committee. He is now the dean of Faculty of Education of East China Normal University, the vice president of Chinese Education Society, the deputy director of the Academic Committee of China Association of Higher Education, the deputy director of Chinese Society of Educational Development Strategy.
He once made a speech themed by “Give Priority to the Development of Education and Build a Strong Country with Rich Human Resource” at the 26thCollective Learning Meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee.
As an education theory researcher, he is committed to building a new system of pedagogy. His book Contemporary Pedagogy, which has become the national textbook in hundreds of colleges and universities and he was honored the First Award of National Textbook Award for it. He is committed to transforming and popularizing the educational scientific research achievements. His book New Educational Ideas, which has been reprinted for more than 20 times, is rated as China’s most popular bestseller in the field of educational theory. In particular, he is committed to making the scientific research serve decision-making, improving the scientific level of education decision and pioneering to have developed study on educational policy. He has published many influential works, such as Theory on Education Reform, Confrontation and Integration: One Century of World Education Reform, Educational Policy Science (the second prize of the First National Humanities and Social Sciences Research Achievements for Institutions of Higher Education), Changes of China’s Educational Policies, Bridging the Gap: A Major Proposition for China’s Educational Policy and The Great Revelation of Education Reform for Leaping Middle-Income Countries Trap, etc. The Review on China’s Educational Policies, of which he is the editor-in-chief, has been published for 15 years with widespread reputation overseas.