International Council of Education Advisers: biographies

Professor Carol Campbell

Dr Carol Campbell is Associate Professor of Leadership and Educational Change and Director of the Knowledge Network for Applied Education Research (KNAER) at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. She is an Education Advisor to the Ontario Premier and Minister of Education and a member of the Premier's Highly Skilled Workforce Expert Panel.

Originally from Scotland and having completed her PhD at the University of Strathclyde, she is a currently also a member of the Scottish College for Educational Leadership (SCEL) International Advisory Board.

Dr Campbell has authored over 70 education publications. She has worked for the Ontario Ministry of Education as Senior Executive Officer for The Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat and was appointed Ontario's first Chief Research Officer for Education.

She was also Executive Executive Director of the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education in the USA and has a range of education experience in the UK, including as a Policy Advisor for the London Challenge. @CarolCampbell4

Professor Christopher Chapman

Chris Chapman is Chair of Educational Policy and Practice at the University of Glasgow where he established the Robert Owen Centre for Educational Change and is also Co-Director What Works Scotland, a three-year research and development project supporting public service reform.

Previously, he was Professor of Educational Leadership and the University of Manchester and has also held academic posts at the Universities of Nottingham and Warwick and visiting Professorships at the universities of Cyprus, Manchester and Malaya.

Chris is the Senior Academic Advisor to the Scottish Attainment Challenge, Treasurer for the International Congress for School Effectiveness and School Improvement and has served on the Inaugural Board of the Scottish College for Educational Leadership.

Professor Chapman has authored over 150 publications on improvement, effectiveness, leadership and change, consulted and advised agencies, universities and governments across a number of educational systems and continues to support school and system improvement through his research and participatory approaches that promote change. @ChrisChapmanGla

Professor Graham Donaldson

A previous recipient of the Robert Owen Prize, Graham has spent over 40 years in education and has worked in schools, universities and local and central government.

Professor Donaldson was Chief Executive of Scottish Inspectorate (HMIE) and Chief Professional Adviser on education to the Scottish Government from 2002 to 2010. Professor Donaldson authored Teaching Scotland's Future in 2010, and recently led a review of the national curriculum and assessment arrangements in Wales.

Dr Avis Glaze

The first recipient of Scotland's Robert Owen Award and one of Canada's outstanding educators, Avis Glaze has been recognised for her work in leadership development, student achievement, school and system improvement, character development and equity of outcomes for all students.

As Ontario's first Chief Student Achievement Officer and founding CEO of the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat, she has contributed to improving student achievement in schools across Canada, and has also served as Ontario's Education Commissioner and Senior Adviser to the Minister of Education.

Dr Glaze has experience at several levels of the education system, in both rural and urban areas, from working as a classroom teacher, guidance counselor, special education teacher and secondary school administrator to being a director of education on school boards.

She has extensive experience in international education, having worked with educators across the globe, including in education reform in South Africa at Nelson Mandela's request for Canadian assistance, and improvement initiatives in New Zealand. Avis has also received some 40 awards for her contributions to education. @DrAvisGlaze

Professor Andy Hargreaves

Andy Hargreaves is the Thomas More Brennan Chair in the Lynch School of Education at Boston College. Prior to this appointment, he was the co-founder and co-Director of the International Centre for Educational Change at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

He is an adviser in education to the Premier of Ontario, and also President Elect of the International Congress for School Effectiveness and School Improvement (ICSEI). Professor Hargreaves consults extensively with governments across the world, and was a member of the OECD review team that recently evaluated Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence. In 2015 he was ranked the sixth most influential university-based scholar on US education policy. @HargreavesBC

Professor Alma Harris

Director of the Institute of Educational Leadership at the University of Malaya, Malaysia. She is internationally known for her work on organisational change and development, educational leadership and school improvement, focusing particularly on improving schools in challenging circumstances.

She began her career as a secondary school teacher and has held a number of senior academic posts, including Pro-Director (Leadership) and Professor of Educational Leadership at the Institute of Education, University of London.

Dr Harris has worked with various governments and agencies around the world, supporting their school and system improvement work. Between 2009 and 2012, she was seconded to the Welsh Government as a senior policy adviser to assist with the process of system-wide reform. Dr Harris is a past President of the International Congress for School Effectiveness and School Improvement (ICSEI), and in January 2016 was awarded an honorary lifetime membership. @AlmaHarris1

Dr Pak Tee Ng

Dr Pak Tee Ng is currently Associate Professor at the National Institute of Education (NIE) in Singapore. At the NIE, he previously served as Associate Dean, Leadership Learning, and Head of the Policy and Leadership Studies Academic Group.

He did his tertiary studies in the UK and trained as a teacher at the NIE. His specialist areas include educational policy and leadership, and he is a respected contributor to the international field of educational change. He has been a visiting fellow at Cambridge University and a visiting scholar at Boston College and is a well-respected speaker on educational policy, practice and reform.

Professor Pasi Sahlberg

The second recipient of the Robert Owen Award in 2014, Pasi Sahlberg is a Finnish educator, author and scholar. He has worked as a schoolteacher, teacher educator, researcher and policy adviser in Finland and has studied education systems and reforms around the world.

His expertise includes school improvement, international education issues, classroom teaching and learning, and school leadership. He is a former Director General of the Centre for International Mobility and Cooperation (CIMO) at Finland's Ministry of Education and Culture in Helsinki, and was recently a visiting Professor of Practice at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education.

Professor Sahlberg has worked with governments and educators in Europe, Central Asia, North America, Africa and Asia-Pacific region to help them in improving education policies and implementing system-wide education reforms. He taught international education policy at the University of Helsinki and Arizona State University as a Professor of Practice and he is currently a professor of education policy at the Gonski Institute for Education, University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. @pasi_sahlberg

Dr Allison Skerrett

Dr Allison Skerrett is Associate Professor in Language and Literacy Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Her areas of teaching and research include adolescent literacy and sociocultural influences on teaching and learning, and she was awarded an Early Career Achievement Award from the Literacy Research Association in 2013. She also has a focus on multicultural education and the influence of transnationalism on teachers' practice, and young people's experience of literacy education.

Professor Edward Melhuish OBE 

Edward Melhuish is a Professor of Human Development at the University of Oxford and has been involved with research over 40 years in several countries. Examples include leading the National Evaluation of Sure Start (NESS, 2001-2012), the Effective Pre-school Primary and Secondary Education (EPPSE, 1998-2014) and Study of Early Education & Development (SEED, 2013-2021) projects. He is currently involved with longitudinal studies of several thousand children in England, China and Norway. His studies have contributed to social policy for families, early years services and education, including universal provision of pre-school for all 3 & 4 year-olds and establishing 3500 Children’s Centres, Every Child Matters and 10-Year Childcare strategies, and early education for 2-year-olds for the 40% most disadvantaged. His work involves multi-disciplinary teams investigating issues related to developing policy and practice to optimise development and well-being.  This work has influenced the lives of millions of children. He was awarded the OBE for services to social science in 2016. He has given evidence to parliamentary committees and is an advisor to research councils in Norway, Finland, Portugal, Germany, Netherlands, Australia, Korea, Canada, USA, Chile, as well as the European Commission, OECD and WHO.

Liz White

Liz White has been teaching since 1983, has been Headteacher of Calderglen High School since 2013 and Depute Head since 1999. In 2001, she was selected to be an Associate Assessor with HMIE and has been carrying out this role for the past 22 years. In 2012, Calderglen High was the first school to be recognised as sector leading in the curriculum in the HMIE’s increased expectations and also received an excellent in Meeting Learners’ Needs. Liz had key leadership of both these areas. Calderglen High continues to be recognised nationally as being at the forefront of curriculum design and innovation. In 2015-17, it was chosen to take part in a European Agency Project, focusing on “Raising Achievement in an Inclusive Setting”.   The school’s input to the project, and notably its approach to the curriculum, contributed to shaping subsequent European policy on achievement and inclusion. As Head Teacher, Liz is passionate about ensuring a dynamic, flexible, ever-changing curriculum, responsive to new and emerging needs, fit for the times and challenges young people will face. She participated in Columba 1400's Headteacher Leadership Academy in August 2019 and is currently undertaking the Excellence in Headship Stretch programme.