He began his working life as a teacher in urban comprehensive high schools before his career in higher education.

He was elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in 2011, was Visiting Professor in Global Education Policy at East China Normal University and is an Honorary Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, of University College London and of the City and Guilds of London Institute.

Nine claims from research: a literature review for the National College of School Leadership (NCSL) 2012 Teaching and learning in the twenty-first century: what is an Institute of Education for?

Language, Ideas and Meaning in Learning about the Past (Open University Press, second edition) 1998 (with Anna Pendry, and contributions from James Arthur and Jon Davison) Professional Learning: History Teachers in the Making (Open University Press) 1996 What Is History Teaching?

Language, Ideas and Meaning in Learning about the Past (Open University Press) (reprinted 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001) 1996 (edited, with David Bridges) Consorting and collaborating in the educational market place: developing new relationships in schools and higher education (Falmer Press) He married Nicola Owen-Jones (1983) and has four daughters.