On 30th November, we celebrated the life and legacy of Professor John West-Burnham, who sadly passed away just a year ago. Over many decades, John contributed immeasurably to education, putting community, compassion, and ethical leadership at the heart of all his thinking and teaching.
Chaired by Professor Dame Alison Peacock, this special symposium included reflections from many of John’s colleagues and friends, led by Maggie Farrar CBE, Professor Mick Waters, and Clare Flintoff, CEO of the Asset Trust, which John helped establish and chaired for many years.
Leadership, positivity, and collective vision
For Clare Flintoff, what stood out most about John was something all those who knew him would have experienced – his sense of moral purpose and the imperative to develop, nurture, and champion the individual learner. In his role as Asset Trust’s Chair – as in everything he did – he exemplified a culture of positivity and emphasised the importance of creating spaces where everyone could thrive.
Clare also reflected on John’s relentless positivity for the vision of a better future, which he believed could only be achieved through a shared shift in thinking. He had the unique ability to see how a group of schools could do more together than they could alone, and invested much time in open discussions to that end, inviting everyone to contribute. Because all teachers are leaders.
And leadership is exactly where John’s lasting legacy at the Trust is most evident: in its non-hierarchical democratic structures and person-centred approaches. He envisioned the kind of schools where leaders, teachers, pupils, parents, communities, volunteers, and businesses come together to share the responsibility of shaping the next generation. He also wanted these different parties to nurture agency in young people. Children know what good leadership looks like – they told us in a moving introductory video. It is not about power and control but trust, compassion for others, equity, joy, and hope.
A legacy of possibility
Maggie Farrar explored similar themes. She recalled the days when she and John worked on ‘Better Together’ seminars. Much like at Asset Trust, these brought families, schools, and other agencies together to improve young lives, while influencing community leadership and extended schools work at the then National College of School Leadership. John, as she put it: “taught us that families and communities are assets to be treasured and worked with, not problems to be solved.”
His holy trinity of principles, purpose, and people as a pathway to a better education system, Maggie said, was elegant in its simplicity and profound in its depth of thought. Without his wisdom, the government of the day’s Every Child Matters agenda would have also looked very different. His input helped shape the idea of integrated teams around each child, including health and social care, education, local voluntary-based community organisations, businesses, and, of course, families. But beyond all that, he inspired others to be the best they could be. His real legacy, she said, is one of possibility.
Building belief in hope
Finally, Professor Mick Waters once again shared John’s belief in the idea of empowering young people to have agency. As he explained, if shallow learning is where we merely deliver instruction, and deep learning offers something far much more substantial, for John, there was a greater concept still – ‘profound learning’ – something that takes children into new arenas where they start to realise what they can be in life, rather than simply becoming what adults tell them.
Mick reflected on how John understood, long before it became common practice, the importance of giving young people agency over their education and opportunities. It’s exactly why he encouraged Schools of Tomorrow to engage with teenagers and primary school children, allowing them to influence the system both in and beyond school.
Once again, the common theme of collaboration emerged, too. As Mick reflected, one of John’s last written pieces asked if schools can change the world. The answer? Not on their own. But if they work together with each other, with families and communities? Absolutely. For John, that was the point of schools – to help make the world a better place. When things were dire, John wanted to build a belief in the hope that they could get better, and according to Mick, he did everything he did because he was hoping to help do that, just a bit.
Honouring John’s legacy
Asked what practical things we could ask of politicians to honour John’s memory, the panellists did not equivocate. First, we must focus on longer-term thinking. This means moving beyond political cycles and constant tweaks to the system, instead creating a stable, agreed-upon education strategy. Second, we must shift towards a lateral, trust-based accountability system that fosters professional responsibility, freeing teachers from constant interference. Finally, we need to continue the broader conversation about what schools are really for. Because they are not about passing exams. They are about providing profound, long-lasting experiences that resonate with young people throughout their lives.
Members of the symposium expressed a strong wish to build, individually but al collectively on the momentum and feeling clearly present that evening. A range of ideas and possibilities were put forward, including:
- Establish a foundation to take forward his thinking and ideas:
- Hold an annual lecture
- Support school-based research into key themes
- Develop mentoring from within 'the JWB community' to schools starting research to ensure they had a firm foundation
- Awards for teachers. young people, leaders who are 'doing things differently' by leading innovation
- Support 'transformational learning'
- Connect disengaged students to the right people
- Create opportunities for young people who don't have them
- Support scholarships to universities
Anyone who wants to explore these ideas further and see if one or more of them could be practical is invited to join an online conversation with others who share that interest. To find out more or register interest, please email Malcolm Groves at malcolm@schoolsoftomorrow.org.
While it is impossible to sum up a lifetime of sector-changing work in a single symposium, let alone to summarise it here, one thing is clear – the best thing any of us can do in John’s memory is to place values and purpose at the heart of action. If we can perpetuate John’s spirit of hope, collaboration, and empowerment we can help achieve his dream of a brighter future for all children and young people.