Geoff is a former Director of the Institute of Education, University of London and offers experience of both theory and practice of leadership and management, especially in education and related professional fields.
He has led evaluations of the implementation of major education reforms and has assisted universities, schools and local authorities in building capacity for improvement. His academic background is in history and sociology, and his current research includes studies of the interface between schools and higher education and of the practice of international policy borrowing.
Geoff’s book (with others) Education and the Middle Class won the Society for Educational Studies book prize in 2004. In 2009, he was awarded the Lady Plowden Memorial Prize for outstanding services to education and he recently received a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
Geoff is a specialist advisor to the House of Commons Select Committee for Education and a member of the General Teaching Council for England and the Board of Ofsted. He has held visiting appointments in the USA, New Zealand and China and is currently an Honorary Professor at Beijing Normal University.