Sir Michael Barber opened the session by asking whether or not we can learn from worldwide experiences of turning establishments and systems around. Are there common lessons and are there major differences?

Paul Pastorek

Paul Pastorek worked for NASA before getting involved with the school system in Louisiana, USA. When asked why he left NASA to take on a failing school system, he replied that he didn't know the magnitude of the problem he was getting into.

He was originally brought into NASA to use his private sector contracting knowledge on the space agency's problems after the Columbia space shuttle disaster. NASA had to cope with a much higher assumption of risk than any other organisation - there was a 1 in 80 chance of a shuttle disaster, the kind of risk that needs to be managed in extraordinary ways. Unfortunately, Nasa was only going through the motions.

The first (and most difficult) step in Pastorek's quest to turn NASA around was getting the organisation to accept the truth that it was complacent and to learn to accept the frailty of its own capabilitites.

After hurricane Katrina, Pastorek was engaged to turn around the school system in Louisiana, to which he applied the lessons he had learned at NASA. The community in Louisiana was in denial about the school system and as a volunteer pre-Katrina, Pastorek found it difficult to get people energised. It was not until after the storm that it bacame clear to everyone what was happening - the experience of the better enviroment in schools outside New Orleans led them to demand something different for themselves. The crisis helped people to focus on the problems.

When asked what he did next, Pastorek mentioned the importance of driving forward with sheer determination on one hand and on the other, the need to nuture people who are struggling to understand. Vision and purpose is important but it is key to gather enough people together who will suspend disbelief for a period of time to give you space to operate.

Dina Martin

Dina Martin is head of Firs Hill Community Primary School, which has a high percentage of Pakistani families. She visited the Kashmiri part of Pakistan to see what she could learn and found children sitting in terrible conditions for five and a half hours just to get an education. Seeing this, she realised the view of education in the UK was totally wrong.

Consequently, she worked much more closely with families. The visit encouraged better relationships in the school community. All the Pakistani parents understood was formal learning, which was their first-hand experience in Pakistan. They couldn't understand the homework which was being set and the majority of work children were doing in school. However, now Martin had been to Pakistan, they felt they could better relate to her.

Ben Levin

Professor Ben Levin finds himself going back to big challenges in the Canadian government. Successive governments have wanted to do really important things, so it has been impossible for him to say no to requests for help. There was an environment of poor morale, strikes and working to rule amongst teachers, so Levin set up 'partnership table' meetings which brought all stakeholders together to discuss all major decisions.

It took two years to turn the situation around - he set demanding targets and realised that you don't get change by attacking teachers. He built on good practice and used a more collaborative approach but people still felt pressure.

After hearing these fascinating stories, the audience were also asked to contribute. There were accounts of employing people from the community to work with parents and Dexter Hutt Ninestyles in Birmingham added that leadership has to add value - if changes don't take place at a faster rate, what are you needed for? He added that most people are far more capable than they think they are.

If you show faith in people, they will rise to challenges - they will flap their wings and fly.

Kevin Mulryne