Dave Whitaker
Leadership Through Kindness - Relational Practice - Alternative Provision
There are some Associates who are of significant importance to Independent Thinking, not just for being fantastic speakers and nice people, but for being living proof of what we believe in when it comes to educating some of our most vulnerable children.
Dave Whitaker is one of them.
As a former Executive Principal of a number of special schools, alternative provisions and PRUs, Dave is now Director of Learning for the Wellspring Academy Trust with its 29 schools across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.
As well as supporting these schools in his executive role, Dave also leads 'Positive Regard', the trust’s behaviour outreach and training arm. What's more, with previous roles that include having been a National Leader of Education for over ten years providing support for SEMH special schools, PRUs and Alternative Provision regionally and nationally, it is easy to see why Dave is such an important Associate for Independent Thinking when it comes to his insights around behaviour and supporting children from some of the UK's most challenging backgrounds.
Working with incredibly vulnerable children and young people from KS1 to KS5 who are presenting with a whole range of social and emotional difficulties, Dave’s innovative work shows the power of care, love, support and, in his own words, ‘battering them with kindness’.
"Schools work best when adults believe in children and children believe they believe in them."
Dave Whitaker
Recent titles include:
- The 'Kindness Principle' in Action
- Unconditional Positive Regard and What it Means for Practice
- Behaviour - There is Always Another Way
At the heart of all of his work is the principle of ‘unconditional positive regard’, a concept pioneered by the seminal psychologist Carl Rogers. Regardless of their actions - and their actions can be quite extreme at times as you may well imagine – Dave and his team of committed professionals will never lose sight of the human being in front of them.
Nor will they lose hope in their ability to make better choices and change their lives for the better. Working in this way has caused Dave and his schools to be the subject of national attention, featured on national television as well as in the TES and The Guardian.
Such an approach is, in so many ways the antidote to the current state-sanctioned ‘zero tolerance’ approaches to behaviour, where ‘no excuses’ is an excuse to exclude some of our most vulnerable children, creating a direct pipeline to drugs, gangs, crime and prison.
Or worse.
Despite a ridiculously busy schedule running schools in a sector that has been equally ridiculously underfunded, Dave has still found time to be one of the founder members of the Headteachers’ Roundtable campaign group and is a contributor to a number of our collaborative books including The Working Class, as well as writing his own best-seller, the appropriately titled The Kindness Principle.
For a compassionate, entertaining and honest look at leadership at the sharp end of current policies and practices when it comes to the education of vulnerable children – and education done the right way – then Dave Whitaker is the speaker you need.
Dave Whitaker In His Own Words
“WE BELIEVE EVERY CHILD DESERVES THE VERY BEST CARE, ATTENTION,
SUPPORT, GUIDANCE AND DARE I SAY IT, LOVE, WE CAN GIVE THEM
AS CARING PROFESSIONALS” - THERE IS ANOTHER WAY
To make an enquiry about booking Dave please give us a call on +44 (0)1267 211432 or fill in the Booking Enquiry form.
If you have a date in mind that will help too.
We'll then get back to you reassuringly quickly for a free, no-obligation chat to explore your needs in more detail.
We look forward to hearing from you.
- Dave has been with Independent Thinking since October 2012
- He is a talented musician and is in band with Hywel Roberts called Vest and Pants
- You'll find him in our Leadership and Teaching and Learning topic areas
- You can watch Dave in conversation with Julie Rees and Ian Gilbert in 2020 here
- You may also want to consider Vic Goddard or Hywel Roberts
Enjoy a free no-obligation chat.
Make a booking. Haggle a bit.
Give us a call on +44 (0)1267 211432 or drop us a line at learn@independentthinking.co.uk.
We promise to get back to you reassuringly quickly.