Who's in the hotseat?

Sir Cyril Taylor, chairman of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT), talks about his role

For two decades, Sir Cyril Taylor, chairman of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) has been at the heart of educational policy-making. He spoke to Teachers about his work and life.

What led you to devote most of your working life to education?
My personal interest stems from my very good fortune at having had a number of extraordinarily good teachers myself. I spent the first six years of my life in the Congo, where my parents were missionaries. So, when I arrived in England, I spoke no English. One teacher in Halifax, I remember, taught me how to read and, later, a great history teacher at grammar school inspired me to go to Cambridge.

What are the key elements in the specialist school formula that have driven improvement?
It's an earned status, where schools set their own targets of achievement, and are held accountable to them. The other crucial thing is the networking opportunities, which enable language colleges to get together, for example, across the country. Before, schools could network only locally.

What's your view about the balance in schools between computers and books?
Electronic whiteboards are important, but you've got to have books, too. We are arguing that every secondary school should have a proper library with 10 books per child, a qualified librarian, and half an hour a day supervised, silent reading.

How important is the move towards vocational diplomas in secondary schools?
It's hugely important, because at the moment, out of 600,000 children in every year group, maybe 75,000 are leaving school at 16 with virtually no skills. But most of them know at 14 if they want to become an electrician or a plumber, and they should be able to start working towards that at that age. And I don't think we are going to able to maintain our standard of living and prosperity if we don't educate virtually every child in the country to a requisite degree of skill to fulfil an economically viable role.

But it's a tight timetable isn't it?
Yes, it's tight, but we have to make it work. There's no choice. And we must get the message across, particularly to children in socially deprived areas, that if you get a real skill you're going to get a good job. This is where the specialist schools' sponsors can be a big help.

Words: Steve McCormack Illustration: Peter James Field

Biography

Sir Cyril Taylor was born in Yorkshire in 1935. After National Service, he studied for a history degree at Cambridge and an MBA at Harvard, which led to his first job, a brand manager for Proctor & Gamble in the USA. In 1964, he established the American Institute for Foreign Study, which includes the Camp America programme, and, in 1987, first became involved in the English education system, as chairman of the body that introduced City Technology Colleges. This became the Specialist Schools Trust, and acquired responsibility for Academies in 2005. In parallel, Sir Cyril has been an unpaid adviser to 10 successive Education Secretaries.

This content was published in May 2007 and may not reflect current policy