Founder and Managing Director, Dragonfly Training

Stephen Chapman is the Managing Director of Dragonfly Training and has delivered training courses in over 400 schools in the UK and internationally - with excellent feedback from them all. His work with colleagues has taken him to Monaco, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Cyprus, Thailand, Kuwait, Qatar and Dubai, and in close collaboration with major educational organisations including The GDST, IAPS, COBIS and NABSS.

Steve studied at the Universities of Liverpool and Cambridge and taught at schools in Kenya, the Caribbean, the USA, London and Wales. Many of his ground breaking ideas have subsequently been backed up by global evidence, and in his role has been in charge of the content of Dragonfly’s courses, he mixes existing best practice with constantly evolving new ideas.

Steve was specially selected as a member of the Richmond Borough School Improvement Task Force due to the success his department had with exam results and the number of those opting for the subject at GCSE.

His typically practical book on education - 'Improving Classroom Performance' - has received superb reviews and his totally practical approach to teaching and learning is based upon what he believes works, not ticking boxes or putting buzzwords together.

In 2016 Steve received Wales’ highest teaching accolade of ‘Sector Leading Practice’ for his work within extended and creative writing.

BTD Expert Teacher Trainer

After taking over as Head of English in an underperforming school in Copenhagen, Jakob raised attainment to meet national average in two years and exceeded national average in four. Aside from being a teacher of ESOL and Danish, he has extensive experience in Religious Education.

As a top-ranking specialist in Cooperative Learning, Jakob has spearheaded a number of initiatives, including one of the biggest and most successful SSIF projects in the short history of that program. Beyond measurable attainment, he has demonstrated that Cooperative Learning can impact such diverse fields as school ethos, oracy, student engagement, widening participation, and civic engagement.

His most recent focus is on how Cooperative Learning can forge cohesion in Multi-Academy Trusts while embracing diversity between schools. He has worked as a trainer and consultant since 2006 and delivered a range of tailored courses to thousands of teachers across Europe and the Middle East.

Jakob is not only an expert teacher trainer, but also holds a degree in psychotherapy from Biodynamic International and is currently working to extend his consulting to promote co-creative learning to the public and private sector in partnership with David Gurteen, the world's leading expert in the field.

His first book in English, ‘The Beginner’s Guide to Cooperative Learning’ , describes the miraculous turnaround of Stalham Academy from lost cause to top-500 in results, co-written with the former school leader.

BTD Expert Teacher Trainer

Steve Garnett is a highly experienced provider of Inset to teachers. He has delivered to over 20,000 teachers in over 40 countries around the world from South America, North Africa, Europe, Middle East, Far East and Australia.

He provides dynamic, interactive and engaging sessions to teachers and is always focused on the real-world application of teaching ideas to real classrooms. Teachers regularly describe the training as ‘inspirational’.

He is also an award nominated author for two of his books. His latest one ‘Cognitive Load Theory: A handbook for teachers’ was nominated in the Best in Education category at the recent Independent Book Awards.

The world’s leading authority and its founding theorist Emeritus Professor John Sweller described the book as ‘a brilliant exposition of instructional design principles. I recommend it in the strongest possible terms’.

This book positions Steve as a leading authority on the practical application of CLT principles into the classroom.

Director of International, CAVC

Alun is the International Director at Cardiff and Vale College. His role is focussed on the development and execution of the CAVC International strategy. This strategy includes: growing student numbers studying in our CAVC Colleges in the UK and China, and more widely in key markets; building brand awareness overseas; attracting new business to CAVC with particular reference to TVET and skills; and helping internationalise the College group.

Alun originally trained as an accountant before working as an Executive Officer in the Civil Service in the Office of Fair Trading. Entering University as a mature student and subsequently worked as a Lecturer in Further Education in South Wales and Aberystwyth University. Alun then moved to the South Coast in the UK to help establish the Department of Sports Science at the University of Portsmouth in 1995. Here, Alun worked as an academic, including a 10 year period as Head of Department, until 2009.

Alun has led an International pathway College for Navitas, in partnership with the University of Portsmouth, in part to develop his commercial acumen and broaden his experience, perspectives and skill sets in the international setting.

Subsequently Alun became Executive General Manager of the Navitas University Partnership Division for Europe before moving to his current role as International Director at Cardiff and Vale College. His overriding philosophy is that developing a productive workplace culture is the ultimate priority of any leader. Outside of work he try's and keep fit, enjoys cycling, learning Welsh and reading.