Product reviews for Unfinished Business

Unfinished Business is an inspirational read that I would recommend to anyone working in school or post-school education. It celebrates the life of Tim Brighouse, a widely respected and influential leader in UK education. When he died unexpectedly in 2023, three of his closest colleagues combined forces to create a tribute highlighting his legacy and shining a light on what it is an education system needs to do in order to be truly inclusive for all children and young people. 

Tim was a man of great ideas, action and results. He started as a classroom teacher and began his leadership journey as a Deputy Head at the age of 24. He later served as Chief Education Officer for Oxfordshire and Birmingham, and was appointed Schools Commissioner for London in 2003. At the age of 82, in 2022, he and Mick Waters published the book About Our Schools: Improving on Previous Best, regarded by many as a seminal work examining fifty years of English education policy. 
Unfinished Business is packed full of thoughtful contributions from more than 60 individuals who knew Tim or were inspired by his work. The first part of the book serves as a tribute to him; the second part as a call to action on education policy, leadership and accountability, learning and teaching, and school improvement, as well as inclusion, diversity and equity. Although primarily based on the English schooling system (given that education policy is devolved to governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), the chapters from writers who are education experts in the devolved nations show that Tim’s approaches, beliefs and innovations were equally as relevant there.
The book includes insights from educators, former government ministers and others who regard Tim as a thought-leader in school education. They offer reflections on how we can address unfinished business arising from Tim's legacy. Reviewing such a rich collection of essays in less than a thousand words was a challenge, and I have focused on three areas that Tim believed were necessary in order for education to work for everyone.
1. Vision and values – In her contribution Julia Cleverdon talks about Tim’s call for a long-term vision for education, one with a “clearly articulated moral belief and purpose” which he believed professionals involved in schooling would respond to enthusiastically. 
Tim believed that schools should be engines of social mobility, fuelled by optimism and hope, focused on success for all and improving on previous best. Through the Keys to Success initiative in London’s schools, he showed that designing education for those at the margins leads to improvement across the board.
Writing about the values-based principles so important to Tim, Bridget Knight asks us to consider what education is for, what kind of people we want to grow. Bill Lucas challenges us to imagine a world where schools develop head, heart and hands in equal measure. Teaching young people to think and feel were regarded by Tim as important as teaching them to know. Authors in the book conclude that the skills essential to thrive in the world of AI are less about consuming knowledge and more about embracing human skills that will help young people navigate an ever-changing world. 
2. Leadership and belief in teachers – Maggie Farrar notes that Tim, a giant amongst education leaders, never participated in any formal leadership development programmes. He preferred to read widely, be deeply curious, and debate ideas with as many people as possible. Many of the authors highlighted Tim’s relentless focus on the ‘why’, holding firm to your values and regular reflection to build on previous best. Tim inspired all those around him to work together towards shared educational principles.
Leona Cruddas reminds us that Tim believed we should regard crises as the norm and complexity as fun – good advice in this volatile, uncertain and complex period of world history. His advice about how to do this well was through ensuring ongoing engagement with school educators and leaders, pupils and their families, and local partners about the school’s vision and values. He had a deep respect for teachers and everyone who worked in schools.
As for inspiring and keeping young people motivated, Tim reminded us of the basics -- that everyone in the classroom is a person looking for safety, connection, belonging and challenge. As noted by Rachel Sylvester, for Tim, the secret of great teaching was about being human. 
3. Improve on previous best – There are many references throughout the book to Tim’s ask of school teachers and leaders that they build on their previous best. Believing that the best ideas come from teachers, he ensured that they had opportunities to share their practice and learn from others. He demonstrated that a focus on care and empathy was not contradictory to improving performance and equipping school leaders and teachers to use data effectively. David Cameron described Tim as “the romantic who used the data, the statistician who could inspire with passion, the researcher who encouraged dreams.”
While there are few specific references to trauma and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in the book’s 60+ chapters, many of the contributors spoke of Tim’s unwavering commitment to education for all and to designing a system that can achieve this. As education leader in London, he framed the language on the lowest attaining schools positively, as ‘keys to success’, arguing that if we could crack under-achievement in these schools, we could crack it anywhere. 
Finding, supporting and sharing the good ideas and practices he came across, Tim demonstrated that a focus on breaking the link between deprivation and under-achievement was not only possible but that it led to improved educational outcomes for all. He clearly demonstrated this in London, and Mel Ainscow writes of it working at a national level, with Finland’s high educational outcomes linked to progress of lowest performing students. I personally saw this at a local level, in my role as Principal of West Lothian College, when improved outcomes for all our students came as a result of our having adopting a trauma-informed approach that led to above average success for students facing the most barriers.
Unfinished Business really is an inspirational read. Everyone working in education would benefit from reading it. We need to ensure that Tim's legacy continues to play a role in future debates about education.