John Wood

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John Wood

 

CV CV John Wood

John Wood

Director and Lead Consultant, Education Development

John Wood studied Mathematics at Imperial College, London and, as a teacher of Mathematics and Computing, was involved in early development of ICT in schools first within the Advisory Unit for Computer Based Education and, subsequently, at the Open University's Institute of Educational Technology. He was active in professional associations and was founding editor of Micromath, a journal of the Association of Teachers of Mathematics.

In 1984 he joined the British Council as Senior Education Adviser for Mathematics and ICT, providing professional advice to the Council's work and to the (then) Overseas Development Agency on the preparation, implementation and monitoring of development projects/programmes. From 1988 to 1990 he worked as ODA adviser to the Ministry of Education in Jordan.

Since that time he has been involved in education development on the design and implementation of projects and programmes, developmental partnerships and evaluation. After a period as an independent consultant he joined colleagues to establish EfC.

John has worked extensively in Europe (including the UK), Africa, Asia and the Caribbean, in contracts for the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, DFID and other agencies. He has particular experience in the primary education sector in Bangladesh and the transitional economies of Central Asia and Eastern Europe. He has worked in all sectors of education from pre-school to university.

Increasingly he has specialised in monitoring and the evaluation of education development and improving the information available for performance management, transparency and accountability. Work includes: sector strategy; programme development; transparency and governance; decentralisation and school-improvement planning; information systems; the policies and practices of aid harmonisation; and re-alignment of the partnerships for development. In this context he has taken a special interest in governance within education.

He has led thematic evaluations for EfC, including: the international Joint Evaluation of External Support to Basic Education, as a country Team Leader; the Assessment of the Primary Education Development Programme in Bangladesh; the Thematic Review of Belgium's Aid to the Education and Training Sector and the Evaluation of Plan International's support to Basic Education.

He has led large multinational teams, working to build cooperation and cohesion within the team for efficiency of evidence-collection and document-production that benefits from the variety of experience and perspectives available.

Recent work includes: