David Egan is Professor of Education at Cardiff Metropolitan University. For 13 years at the start of his career he was a teacher and school leader in two highly disadvantaged schools in the South Wales valleys. His subsequent career has been in teacher education and educational research and at various points he has been seconded to the Welsh Government to act as an adviser to politicians and civil servants. He continues to believe that if devolution of power to Wales is to succeed, that much greater focus needs to be placed upon education and in particular on breaking the link between poverty and lower educational outcomes.