Gulbanu (Gee) Kader is an award-winning International Independent Education Consultant with over 27 years of experience transforming schools and developing leaders. Her work is rooted in a simple but powerful truth drawn from her own life: education changes everything. Growing up in a disadvantaged household with immigrant parents, education was the key that lifted her out of poverty. That experience is not a footnote in her story; it is the engine behind everything she does. Every child gets one chance at school. Gee has never forgotten that, and it drives the relentless ambition, moral purpose, and no-excuses approach she brings to every school she works with.

Nationally recognised in the top two for Executive Leader of the Year at the National Muslim Teachers’ Awards 2026 and nominated for the Novi Awards 2026 for the Education/Academic Leader of the Year, Gee brings a rare combination of sector authority and lived experience to every platform she steps onto. She has been featured on the Islam Channel to celebrate her leadership journey in education and has appeared on education podcasts including the SECEd Podcast advising those who are new to school leadership and UnBoxEd UAE, speaking candidly about sustainable leadership and what it really takes to improve outcomes for all young people.

The results Gee has secured speak for themselves. Her headship at Rushey Mead Academy delivered an Outstanding Ofsted judgement and national recognition as the best school in Leicester and Leicestershire, acknowledged by the Minister of State for Schools. As Executive Director across a multi-academy trust, she oversaw five large secondary schools, moving schools from Inadequate to Good and supporting two to achieve Outstanding. She also played a pivotal role in securing an Outstanding judgement for the Leicester and Leicestershire Secondary SCITT. She has received royal recognition at Buckingham Palace for her contribution to education and has been formally recognised by the Department for Education, including through her membership of the DfE Headteacher Reference Group, where she contributed directly to the shaping of national education policy.

Today, Gee works as an independent consultant supporting schools nationally and internationally and with the DfE’s RISE (Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence) team. She is a current Ofsted Inspector with over 15 years of inspection experience, an ASCL Educational Consultant, a Multi-Academy Trust Reviewer for Challenge Partners, and an experienced Trustee and Chair of Education Committee in a MAT and a guest speaker for BAME leaders and women across education. She delivers bespoke high-impact CPD and training to all layers of the profession from headteachers and senior leaders to classroom teachers across the UK and internationally, and coaches and mentors leaders through programmes such as ‘Women in Leadership’ ‘South Asian Educators Network’ and charities such as ‘The Collective’ programmes.

Gee is distinctive in her approach. It is not just what she knows but it is how she works. Those she has supported describe her as someone who combines forensic analytical rigour with genuine warmth, challenge with care, and high expectations with the practical support to meet them. In recent training surveys, 100% of participants said they would recommend her sessions to others.

What Gee Offers

Every school is different. Gee’s work begins not with a template but with a conversation and a genuine effort to understand the specific context, culture, and priorities of the setting before any support is designed. Whether you need a single keynote or a sustained improvement partnership, everything is built around what the school actually needs. It is not a one-size-fits all model.

Keynotes for Conferences and Leadership Events:

Gee speaks from hard-won, senior-level experience. Having led and supported a spectrum of schools from Inadequate to Outstanding and navigated the full complexity of executive leadership, she brings an authenticity to the platform that resonates across every audience. Her keynotes draw on personal story, honest reflection, and a clarity of purpose that comes from someone who has lived the challenges she describes. From sustainable leadership to equity and representation, every session leaves audiences with something to think about, something to feel, and something to do. “A vibrant, energetic and inspiring leader. Her actions are transformational.”

Whole-School and Trust-wide CPD & INSET:

Gee designs and delivers CPD and INSET that is genuinely bespoke that is built around the school’s improvement priorities, not off the shelf. She works across the full range of topics that matter most to school improvement: quality assurance, curriculum leadership, SEND inclusion, assessment design, raising achievement, and data-informed leadership. Crucially, she works at every level of the profession in the same setting from classroom teachers to headteachers, ensuring that learning is coherent, connected, and consistent across your whole staff body. Participants consistently describe her delivery as practical, focused, and immediately usable. “Her bespoke support is exceptional as it moves practice forward in a meaningful and sustainable way.”

School Improvement Partner & Strategic Review Support:

Drawing on 15 years of Ofsted inspection experience and a track record of supporting schools at every stage, from category to Outstanding, Gee provides School Improvement Partner services that are rigorous, forensic, and genuinely supportive. She works alongside senior leaders to evaluate accurately, prioritise sharply, and build improvement plans that are ambitious but achievable. “Gee is an exceptional analyst. She quickly and accurately assesses strengths and weaknesses and develops highly effective priority action planning to support schools in their transformation.”

Women in Leadership – Speaking & Coaching:

As a Muslim woman who has reached the highest levels of educational leadership, Gee understands the particular weight of navigating systems that were not always designed with her in mind. She speaks about this with honesty, purpose, and the kind of authority that only lived experience brings. Her webinars and keynotes for audiences including WomenEd, WomenEd MENA, Women in Leadership Programme and University of Birmingham (Dubai), she consistently draws responses from women who describe finally feeling seen and heard. She also offers individual mentoring and coaching for women at any stage of their leadership journey.

Leadership Coaching & Mentoring:

Gee offers one-to-one coaching and mentoring for leaders at all levels. Her coaching is grounded in the same values that have defined her career: high expectations, honest challenge, and genuine investment in the person in front of her. Whether supporting a newly appointed headteacher through the complexity of their first year or working with an aspiring leader to build their strategic confidence, Gee’s mentoring is practical, personalised, and purposeful.

Specialist Areas

School Improvement & Quality Assurance | Curriculum Leadership & SEND Inclusion | Women in Leadership & Representation | Sustainable Leadership | Data-Informed Leadership | Ofsted Framework in Practice | Leadership Development at All Levels