Growing Together Spotlight - Conor Lilley

Conor joined Aldridge Education’s Growing Together team this year, bringing with him 12 years of experience working in secondary education. Having initially trained as an English teacher, he held a range of curriculum and departmental roles before moving into teaching and learning leadership.

Most recently, Conor worked as a Senior Lead Practitioner serving as an Assistant Principal with responsibility for Teaching and Learning. He is an accredited Lead Practitioner, a qualified leadership coach and has extensive experience designing and delivering professional development, instructional coaching and evidence-informed school improvement.

Conor has also led a large school-centred initial teacher training programme across the South of England, overseeing more than 140 trainees and directly mentoring over 20 initial trainee teachers in the same year. Supporting teachers at every stage of their development has been a consistent thread throughout his career.

Here, we find out more about Conor, what attracted him to Aldridge and his passion for helping teachers develop their practice.

What attracted you to Aldridge Education and the Growing Together Team?

For me, what really attracted me was the emphasis on “Growing Together.” Not just because it’s the name of the team, but it was clear that when I was researching this role these values were embedded in everything that they do. I’ve always believed that the best professional development happens when people feel they’re part of a shared vision and a shared mission; rather than development being simply “done” to them. Additionally, the opportunity to work across different schools was something that really appealed to me, having spent 12 years in education I was mostly leading in a single school, so to be able to travel to a plethora of schools, learn from what is already working well and help colleagues develop their practice was incredibly attractive. Being able to have that impact beyond one school and across a trust is something that excites me.

What are you most looking forward to in your role?

I’m most looking forward to working with colleagues across the trust and getting into the different schools. I'm a bit of a teaching and learning geek, so having a job where I get to spend a significant amount of my time thinking and talking about how we can better at teaching is an exciting prospect. Additionally, I’m looking forward to be able to focus more of time on professional development: designing and delivering training, coaching colleagues and thinking carefully about how we turn evidence and ideas into

things that genuinely make a difference in classrooms. This year I am also covering the SCITT provision for Aldridge, and having many years working with ITTs, it is something I am genuinely thrilled about being able to continue to do.

What experience or skills are you bringing with you?

At the time of writing, I am in my thirteenth year in education. The first twelve years of my career were spent working in schools, having initially trained as an English teacher. During that time, I held a wide range of curriculum and departmental roles before moving into teaching and learning leadership positions. Most recently, I worked as a Senior Lead Practitioner and served as an Assistant Principal with responsibility for Teaching and Learning. As an accredited Lead Practitioner, I am qualified in leadership coaching using the T-GROW model and have extensive experience delivering professional development, including training on instructional coaching approaches commonly used across schools. One of the most transformative experiences of my career was leading a large SCITT across the South of England. In that role, I was responsible for overseeing more than 140 trainees and directly mentoring over 20 early career teachers. Supporting the development of teachers has been a consistent thread throughout my career, whether through coaching, professional development, mentoring, or instructional leadership.

I’ve also spent a great deal of time thinking about curriculum design, particularly at secondary level, and exploring how research and evidence can be translated into practical classroom strategies that genuinely improve teaching and learning. I think one of my key strengths is being able to take complex ideas and make them clear, actionable and useful for teachers. I am passionate about helping educators develop their practice and supporting them to make a meaningful difference for the pupils they teach. What motivates me most is helping teachers grow in confidence and expertise, and I'm looking forward to supporting the next generation of educators through my new role.

What does great professional development mean to you?

For me, great professional development must result in something changing. It shouldn’t just be an interesting hour where everyone leaves with lots of ideas. The best professional development has a clear purpose, is rooted in what we know about effective teaching and gives people the opportunity to practice, receive feedback and revisit their learning over time. It also needs to respect teachers as professionals. That means understanding their context and helping them make manageable, meaningful improvements to their practice rather than overwhelming them with the next new initiative. One thing I’m particularly interested in, is to see what happens after the training session. That’s often where professional development either succeeds or disappears.

What area of education are you most passionate about?

Teacher development. Without a question. Great teaching has an enormous impact on pupils, but becoming a great teacher isn’t something happens simply through experience. I’m fascinated by how teachers develop expertise – how we build strong habits, how coaching can accelerate development and how schools create cultures where people are comfortable practising, receiving feedback and continuing to improve. I also love curriculum, particularly English, so I suspect I’ll never completely stop being an English teacher at heart.

What would colleagues be surprised to learn is one of your strengths?

I’d probably say coaching sport. I competed in and coached Taekwon-Do for years, and I think a surprising amount of what I learned about coaching athletes has influenced how I think about developing teachers – particularly around practice, feedback and breaking complex skills down into manageable steps – I think this probably lends itself to me being good at throwing myself into something, I tend to go all in. Whether that’s a new sport, a new area of teaching or even a completely unnecessary new hobby.