Who the schools adjudicators are

Adjudicators are public appointees of the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families.  There is a Chief Adjudicator, Dr Philip Hunter and 9 others. All are independent from the Department for Children, Schools and Families, and from each other. They work alone in considering a referral to them unless the Chief Adjudicator assigns a particular case or set of cases to a panel of two or more adjudicators.  In which case, the panel will consider the case(s) together.

Adjudicators come under the supervision of the Council on Tribunals whose Framework of Standards for Tribunals state that judicial officers should:

• reach independent decisions within the law,
• their conduct should be fair, open and impartial, and
• procedures should be in place to ensure that any conflict of interest should be identified and avoided.

Adjudicators cannot take cases in local authorities where they have worked during the last ten years or where they currently live.  Also, in general adjudicators will not act where they have previously worked closely with individuals involved in the case or for any other reason they feel their objectivity might be compromised.  These factors are taken into account when the Chief Adjudicator invites a particular adjudicator to take a case. A short synopsis of the professional careers of adjudicators is given below.

Adjudicators are appointed for their ability to act impartially, independently and objectively taking account of the case presented by each party, the evidence presented to support that case and any general guidance issued by the Secretary of State.  At the start of a case all parties are given the opportunity to raise an objection to the choice of the adjudicator if they have good reason to do so.  Such objections are considered seriously by the Chief Adjudicator and the adjudicator concerned.

June Brown
Formerly Assistant Director of Planning at the Funding Agency for Schools. Formerly regional assistant at the Further Education Funding Council and senior lecturer at Leeds Metropolitan University.Also a Parliamentary Ombudsman.

Dr Ruth Eade
For six years Director of Education for Diocese of Exeter, working in partnership with three Local Authorities. Some time Chairman of Devon Schools Organisation Commitee. Doctorial examiner for the International Management Centre; Honorary Fellow of University of Bristol and Fellow of University of Gloucestershire; published writer; education consultant. Previous professional posts include teaching at home and abroad; teacher trainer; university tutor/lecturer; adviser to schools and governors. Voluntary work experience includes the Magistracy; school governance/dirctorship; chairmanship of a teenage drug and homelessness project.

Sir Philip Hunter CBE
Visiting Professor of Education at Keele University. Formerly Chief Education Officer at Staffordshire LEA and Deputy Chief Education Officer at the former Inner London Education Authority. A Civil Servant (DES and the Civil Service College) for ten years, including posts as Principal Private Secretary to Shirley Williams and Mark Carlisle. Six years lecturing and research at the University of Khartoum and at the Agricultural Research Council in Cambridge.

Canon Richard Lindley
Formerly Director of Education for the Birmingham and Winchester Church of England Dioceses. He has significant experience of school organisation and admissions dispute resolution, including chairing and membership of School Organisation Committees and Admissions Forums. He undertakes work for Hampshire County Council in the admissions field.

Dr Peter Matthews OBE
Currently an International Education Consultant and is a visiting professor at the Institute of Education, University of London. He is a former HMI and worked for Ofsted as a Senior Consultant for evaluation and strategic planning and Head of Inspection Quality. He was also a Chief Education Adviser for Northumberland.

Alan Parker
Started his career in the voluntary sector, working with students from abroad and then moved into local government in the 1980s. He worked in the education section of the Association of County Councils and as Principal Officer for Colleges with Surrey County Council. He joined the Association of Metropolitan Authorities in 1990 and became Education Officer in 1992. In 1997 he became the Director of Education for the London Borough of Ealing. From 1990 he was an active member of the Association of Chief Education Officers and the Society of Education Officers, and was its President when it became the Confederation of Education Service Managers (ConfEd)in 2002. He was also an advisor to the National Employers Organisation for School Teachers and has served on a number of national advisory and working groups on various aspects of education law and policy. Alan combines his role as a Schools Adjudicator with consultancy in education policy and management, mainly for clients in central and local government. He is a board member and Trustee of the National Foundation for Education Research (NFER) and has published widely.

Dr Elizabeth Passmore OBE
Currently an education consultant. After a career as a science teacher she became a science specialist HMI who went on to lead teams of HMI specialist curriculum advisers. She was head of Ofsted's School Improvement Division for six years from its inception in 1993 and then became Director of Inspection until her retirementin 2003. In this final post she was responsible for all aspects of the inspection of schools and LEAs, including the follow up, and for Ofsted's research and international work.

John Simpson
John has been a Director of Education in two contrasting local authorities - London Borough of Brent and North Somerset Council. From 2000 to May 2007 he served as Tribal Group's Director of Education. During this period John led Tribal's 3 year strategic partnership with Swindon Borough Council following an intervention by the Secretary of State. He is a former teacher, governor, inspector and associate of the International School Improvement and Effectiveness Centre at the London Institute of Education. He is a qualified mediator who was the founding Chair of the West of England LSC

David Taylor
Currently an educational consultant, with particular interests - at home and abroad - in inspection, school leadership and teacher education. He was a HMI and Director of Inspection at Ofsted until 2004, latterly with responsibilities covering Ofsted's inspection of schools, colleges, LEAs and teacher education.