Helping you think. Helping you deliver.
Working with you to design and deliver better outcomes for children and young people
Commenting on Improving Education Policy Together
“Cooperative, iterative, and long-term: that’s what the authors of this fascinating book would like to see much more of in the world of education policymaking, and so say all of us! It is absolutely no surprise that my ex-colleague Gareth - along with Nansi - have written something so thoughtful, engaging and practical.”
Jonathan Slater, Former Permanent Secretary at the UK Department for Education
I'm Gareth Conyard. I’ve been involved with education policy since 2003 when I joined the Department for Education as a civil servant. Over 19 years in government I worked across different policy areas - from early years to higher education, from local implementation through to international and multilateral funding (at the Department for International Development), as a solo operator or leading teams of over 100. And since 2022 I’ve experienced what it is like outside government, leading a national charity dedicated to supporting the professional development of schools and teachers. I understand how it works from all sides.
As well as thinking and writing about education policy and strategy, I help organisations and people by:
Strategic thinking. Whether you're responding to government or trying to influence it, I help you work out what you want to achieve and how to make the case.
Making it deliverable. Good ideas fail in the gap between announcement and implementation. I help you build plans that account for budgets, timelines and the people who have to make them work.
Knowing if it worked. I help you design evaluation into your work from the start, so you learn as you go and can show what changed.
I take on a small number of projects each year, alongside my writing and trustee work. If you think I can help, get in touch.
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TES Interview - April 2026
Read my reflections on what the White Paper means for teacher training and the wider sector
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Schools Week Profile - September 2025
My profile in Schools Week
Featured Blog:
“The Military-Industrial complex – the eliding of power and influence between the armed forces, politics, and industry – fed a process of military spending that became impossible to resist. It was fuelled by a revolving door between government, the Pentagon, and the private sector, funding political campaigns to give primacy to a specific worldview. At its worst, this became a form of regulatory or producer capture, where the aim of government policy and spend was about servicing the needs of the defence industry rather than the American people, supported by a political climate that denied there could be any distinction. Those who opposed spending were portrayed as unserious – communists or naïve pacifists.
Eisenhower was of course the epitome of this process – an undeniably heroic general who oversaw a massive growth in US military spending as he moved from the army into the Whitehouse. But he also saw and named the risks.
Could it be helpful to consider whether we are facing something similar in the schools policy space? An Education-Accountability complex that sees an eliding between the sector, government, and education industry?”