I’m passionate about the people who make education work: teachers, mentors, school leaders, teacher educators and the communities that support them. My career has been dedicated to strengthening the conditions in which teachers develop, thrive and stay in the profession.

I am delighted to be joining La Trobe University as Associate Professor of Educational Change and Impact. This role brings together the strands of work that have shaped my career: teacher development, mentoring, instructional coaching, professional learning, school-university partnerships and system improvement. It offers an exciting opportunity to work at the intersection of research, policy and practice, with a particular focus on how educational change can be designed, implemented and evaluated in ways that improve outcomes for teachers, schools and young people.

As an expert in teacher mentoring, teacher agency, instructional coaching, professional development at scale and teacher retention, I have always been interested in how good ideas travel into practice without losing their substance. My work at La Trobe will build on this, focusing on educational change that is evidence-informed, context-sensitive and rooted in meaningful impact.

I bring to this role my experience as Director of Professional Development at a multi-academy trust, working across 11 schools, and as Professor of Teacher Mentoring and Coaching at Academica University of Applied Sciences. This combination of system leadership, academic work and school-based practice has given me a distinctive perspective on how sustainable teacher development can be designed, implemented and evaluated across complex educational systems.

I have assessed National Professional Qualifications, advised the Department for Education as an ITT Quality Advisor, and sit on The Teaching Commission, contributing to national work on recruiting, developing and retaining excellent teachers.

Before moving into system leadership and higher education, I taught English in the state sector for 20 years. That experience continues to ground all my work in the realities of classrooms, schools and the profession.

I have written ten education books, contributed to more than 30 edited volumes, published peer-reviewed articles, and helped shape national guidance in England and Australia.

At the heart of my work is a commitment to building strong, evidence-informed partnerships between schools, universities and systems. My move to La Trobe marks an exciting next chapter: supporting educational change that is ambitious, humane and sustainable.