Mel Carlin is Strategic Lead for School Improvement (Secondary) and is passionate about ensuring that every young person, regardless of postcode or circumstance, receives an education that enables them to thrive. She is particularly committed to helping the most disadvantaged and hardest-to-reach pupils develop the confidence, ambition and self-belief to achieve their full potential.
After beginning her career as a History teacher in 2006, Mel developed expertise in curriculum leadership, teaching and learning and school improvement. She became a History Advanced Skills Teacher in 2012, leading local authority-wide professional development and supporting schools across the region to improve the quality of History teaching. She subsequently served as Subject Leader for History and Head of Humanities, contributing to the school's recognition as Outstanding by Ofsted. She later held leadership positions including Lead Practitioner within Abbey Trust, Assistant Principal for Teaching and Learning and Vice Principal for Quality of Education, supporting rapid improvement across a number of schools.
Alongside her wider school improvement work, Mel has become a nationally recognised advocate for oracy and the role of talk in improving learning, achievement and life chances. She has championed the development of talk-rich classrooms and supported schools to embed high-quality oracy across the curriculum. She is also the founder of the Yorkshire Oracy Hub, led by Abbey Trust, which brings together schools, researchers and practitioners to share evidence-informed practice and drive improvement in oracy education across the region.
The impact of Mel's work has been recognised nationally. It has been cited in the Parliamentary report Speak for Change (2021) and referenced in research led by the University of Oxford. She continues to work with schools, trusts and educational organisations to ensure that every young person develops the confidence, voice and communication skills needed to succeed in education and beyond.
