Margaret Julia Goodchild, Director of Illumine and Principal Consultant, is a highly experienced educational consultant and Ofsted accredited lead inspector. She has over 20 years' experience of inspecting and supporting nursery, primary, secondary and special schools and pupil referral units.

As well as providing consultancy and coaching, she is an Associate Adviser to the London Borough of Barnet, improvement partner for a number of special schools in Hertfordshire and provides regular support to individual schools in other authorities. She has wide cross-phase teaching and advisory experience - ranging from nursery, through primary, secondary and special, to further and higher education.

As a Senior Lecturer in Education at Middlesex University, she had a national role in assessment and curriculum development for pupils with SEN and EAL, as well as contributing to teacher training. She has been an External Adviser for the Performance Management of Headteachers, consultant to the Technology Colleges Trust and an Advanced Skills Teacher assessor. She is author of a number of publications for early years practitioners and parents of under fives, and has published self-evaluation materials for use in schools. She was also author of the Ofsted publication 'Inspecting Special Educational Needs from 11 to 16'. Margaret's educational experience has a strong academic basis: she has a B.A. (First Class Honours) in English Literature & History of Art, an M.A. in Modern English Literature, a Postgraduate Certificate of Education, a Diploma in Counselling, and an Advanced Diploma in Special Educational Needs.

Other highly experienced consultants support Illumine's work at times, expanding the range of services and training we are able to provide. We have a policy of using only consultants who have strong experience as OFSTED-accredited lead inspectors or who are experts in their field in order to give schools the best possible service.