Mel Blackburn has worked for Local Authorities in Manchester, Oldham and Stockport as a qualified teacher and Headteacher. Over a period of ten years she managed Stockport's Learning Support Service with seventy specialist teaching staff, deployed across the primary and secondary mainstream sectors.

Her particular skills lie in

(a) operational management of education establishments and integrated services,

(b) mediation and advocacy for parents, children and young people, whose readiness for learning may be different in some way, especially children with learning disabilities and special educational needs,

(c) capacity building and facilitating teachers, teaching assistants and other professionals to enhance their own performance in a wide variety of settings.

Mel holds post-graduate qualifications in teaching children and young people with special educational needs, dyslexia, as well as speech and communication difficulties. She is an AMBDA specialist, a lifetime member of the National Association of Headteachers and a member of the Association of Northern Mediators.