Summary

David Hopkins is Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Education, University of London where until recently he held the inaugural HSBC iNet Chair of International Leadership. He is on the Board of Trustees for Outward Bound, holds visiting professorships at the Catholic University of Santiago, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Universities of Edinburgh, Melbourne and Wales, and consults internationally on school reform. Between 2002 and 2005 he served three Secretary of States as the Chief Adviser on School Standards at the then Department for Education and Skills and as Director of the Standards and Effectiveness Unit where he succeeded Sir Michael Barber. Prior to that, between 1996 and 2001, David was variously Professor of Education, Chair of the School of Education and Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Nottingham where he is now also Professor Emeritus. Whilst at Nottingham he was a member of the team that secured the location of the National College for School Leadership on the University's Jubilee Campus; he was subsequently appointed to the College's Governing Council and chaired its first Think Tank. In December 1999 he was appointed by the Secretary of State to Chair the Leicester City Partnership Board and as such was responsible for the 'modernisation' of the Local Education Authority. David previously worked as an instructor and programme director with Outward Bound, a schoolteacher and university lecturer, and was for eleven years a tutor at the University of Cambridge Institute of Education. His PhD on 'Organisational Change in Faculties of Education' was from Simon Fraser University, Canada.

David is committed to improving the quality of education for all, and the action orientation of his work is characterised by an integration of policy, research, and practice. His professional interests are in the areas of learning and adventure, teacher and school development, leadership, educational change and policy implementation. He is a long time consultant to the OECD on issues of policy innovation, school improvement and teacher quality, as well as to the World Health Organisation, the SOROS Foundation, the Aga Khan Foundation and the Inter-American Development Bank on the themes of education reform and school development. He has lectured and consulted in some two dozen countries on these topics. He has directed or co-directed numerous research projects including the DES School Development Plans, the ESRC 'Mapping the Process of Change in Schools', the ESRC 'Improving Schools' and the DCSF 'Leadership and Learning' projects. David also initiated the 'Improving Quality of Education for All' (IQEA) school improvement network, and the 'Success for All' (SFA) literacy programme in England.

David has published over thirty books on educational issues. Among them are: Personal Growth through Adventure (Fulton, 1993, with Roger Putnam); The International Handbook of Educational Change (Kluwer, 1998, edited with Andy Hargreaves, Michael Fullan and Anne Lieberman); School Improvement For Real (Routledge/Falmer, 2001); Improving the Quality of Education for All (Second Edition, Fulton, 2002); Every School a Great School (Open University Press/McGraw Hill, 2007); Models of Learning - Tools for Teaching (Third Edition, Open University Press, 2008, with Bruce Joyce and Emily Calhoun) and A Teacher's Guide to Classroom Research (Fourth Edition, Open University Press, 2008).

Mountaineering is David's other passion and he has led twelve expeditions to the world's great mountain ranges. He was one of the ten British Mountain Guides to first receive the International Mountain Guides (UIAGM) carnet in 1978 and was the inaugural Chair of the Mountain Guides Professional Standards Committee. In recent years, he has led a number of expeditions to Nepal in support of charities for those with disabilities. Amongst them was MacIntyre's 'An Everest to Climb' expedition where four mentally disabled mountaineers, together with MacIntyre's Patron The Duchess of York, reached the summit of Pokalde (5800m). Most recently, in April 2004 he guided a group from MacIntyre to the North Col of Everest (7028m) which he reached with his son Jeroen, then age 15.

David lives in London, England and Argentiere-Mont Blanc, France: he is blessed by being the father of three fabulous children Jeroen (20), Jessica (17) and Dylan (16).