Writing and Speaking
Dr Bernard Trafford has a deep interest in the management of schools in the broadest sense, believing that the way in which students and staff are treated is indivisible from their intellectual, academic and pastoral development. He is a passionate advocate of democratic/open/consultative ways of running schools and is an acknowledged authority on school/student councils and children's rights in education. He has advised government on Citizenship and Participation and in 2007 co-authored (with a Swedish headteacher) a manual on the democratic governance of schools for the 46 member states of the Council of Europe.
In 1991 Bernard gained a MEd in Educational Management and Policy from Birmingham University, and in 1993 he published Sharing Power in Schools: Raising Standards. His research into, and writing about, democratic approaches to management and schooling continues: his doctoral thesis, completed in 1996, won the George Cadbury Prize for that year, and the narrative section was published in 1997 by the Educational Heretics Press as Participation, power-sharing and school improvement. What he describes as his definitive work on this theme bringing together the available research and all his experience - School councils, school democracy, school improvement: why, what, how - was published by the Secondary Heads Association (now the Association of School and College Leaders) in 2003. In January 2006 ASCL also published Bernard’s follow-up booklet Raising the student voice: a framework for effective school councils which was launched by Lord Adonis, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Schools.
The full text of Bernard’s 1996 PhD thesis is available as a download by clicking here. (This is an 8Mb Document, It may take a few minutes to download) (This requires Adobe Acrobat Reader available here).
Bernard has written or contributed to several other books and academic journals on education, democracy and leadership. Recent titles include:
'Wow and for ever' in The personal touch Clough, J, Dalton, I and Trafford, B, Association of School and College Leaders (2006)
‘Big Six: new entry, new way of learning’ in Trafford, B (ed), i ²=Independent and innovative: examples of innovation in HMC schools John Catt Educational Ltd (2006)
Democratic governance of schools, Bäckman, E and Trafford, B, Council of Europe Publishing (2007)
‘Staff’ in Richardson, N and Despontin, B (eds) HEADS – Essays in leadership in changing times, John Catt Educational (2007)
‘Democratic Schools: towards a definition’ in Arthur, J, Davies, I, and Hahn, C (eds), The Sage Handbook of Education for Citizenship and Democracy , Sage Publishing (2008)
(For a full list of Bernard’s published work, click here)
Bernard was an early member of the International Advisory Board for the journal Education for Democracy, launched in February 2005. He has been a regular contributor to Headlines, the Journal of the Secondary Heads Association (now the Association of School and College Leaders) and, from 2005, its replacement The Leader: click here to see a list of articles. Since March 2007 he has been writing a monthly Leadership column for SecEd, the weekly journal for secondary education and, since 2008, for CRONER-i Independent Education e-Newsletter.
Bernard is in demand as a speaker and trainer. Recent courses and papers include:
Creative leadership in independent schools Chester, December 2003, Wolverhampton May 2005 and May, June 2006/2007 and HMC Heads’ Induction Courses 2008.
Creativity or survival: can heads be creative under pressure? Heads Association of Scotland (HAS) Conference, Cumbernauld, November 2007
Every Child Matters: the student voice ASCL/MAPS course (with Lois Canessa, School Councils UK London Secondary School Councils Action research Project) (January/June 2007 and 2008)
Raising the student voice: making school democracy more effective Seminar/conference paper at International Confederation of Principals Convention, Auckland NZ, April 2007
For a full list, click here.