Maria Cunningham

Maria Cunningham is Director of School Leadership at Teach First where she oversees the development and delivery of programmes for existing and aspiring leaders including NPQs, Careers Leader Training and Leading Together, which supports entire leadership teams. Maria has spent the last seven years supporting headteachers and their teams to apply evidence-based approaches to CPD and school improvement, having previously been Regional Delivery Lead at the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) and Director of Education at the Teacher Development Trust. A former primary teacher and current Chair of Governors at Highbury Fields School in London, Maria is passionate about effective professional development so that all teachers can thrive. Her articles have featured in TES, Schools Week and SecEd and in 2021 she co-authored the working paper ‘A culture of improvement: reviewing the research on teacher working conditions’.