Deputy chair: Estelle Morris MP, Minister of State for Education, and a former secondary school teacher.

Vice chair: Chris Woodhead, chief inspector of schools. Former teacher, curriculum chief and local authority education officer.

Vice chair: David Hargreaves, professor of education at the University of Cambridge. Former chief inspector for the Inner London Education Authority.

Secretary: Michael Barber, head of the DFEE standards and effectiveness unit. Former dean of new initiatives at the Institute of Education, and NUT official.

Sub-Group Chairs: Valuing and Reviving the Teaching Profession: Lord Puttnam, film director and chair of Enigma Productions. Chancellor of the University of Sunderland.

Good Ideas Good Practice: Carol Adams, chief education officer, Shropshire. Former teacher-centre manager and equal opportunities inspector.

Involving the community and parents in raising standards in difficult areas: William Atkinson, head of Phoenix high school, London. He turned around the school, renaming it and taking it out of special measures within two years.

Teachers and Teaching (response to Green Paper): Janet Warwick, head, Rhyn Park school, Shropshire. Promoted arts in her school including workshops from visiting actors. Worked with the Audit Commission on the role of LEAs.

Other members: John Baker: former chairman of National Power, now retired, chair of English National Opera.

Anthea Millett: chief executive, Teacher Training Agency. A former teacher and chief inspector of schools.

Dr Nick Tate: chief executive, Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. Former teacher and lecturer.

Sue Pearson: head, Lache county junior school, Chester. Introduced phonics and a daily reading hour in her school in 1995.

Sir David Winkley: former head of Grove primary school, Birmingham. Helped set up the National Primary Centre and was a member of the Stevenson Committee which looked at IT in schools.

Carole Evans: head, Priory school, Slough. Part of task force to cut bureaucracy. The school was featured in the Government’s numeracy video and uses setting and streaming from Year 1.

David Bell: chief education officer, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Member of Audit Commission advisory group on the role of LEAs.

Chrissie Garret: assistant principal, Banbury school, Oxfordshire. Member of national advisory group for special educational needs and the National Foundation for Educational Research.

Professor Stephen Heppell: Conducts research into learning and technology at Anglia Polytechnic University. A former member of the Stevenson Committee.

Jill Keiran: deputy head, Whiteheath infant school, Middlesex. English co-ordinator for the school which starred in the Government’s literacy video.

Professor Simon Lee: chief executive, Liverpool Hope University College. Former member of the standing advisory commission on human rights and law lecturer.

Janet Major: teacher, Bungay high school, Suffolk. Author of a science textbook for low attainers at key stage 3. Formerly involved in science curriculum policy.

Professor John MacBeath: director of the Quality in Education Centre, Strathclyde University, Glasgow. Awarded an OBE for services to education.

Professor Heidi Mirza: University of Middlesex. A specialist in minority andcommunity education.

Peter Owen: schools directorate, DFEE.