Professor David Hopkins

Professor David Hopkins is currently Chair of Educational Leadership at the University of Bolton, as well as being Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Education, University College London and the University of Nottingham. David is passionately committed to improving the quality of education for all and has worked at the intersection of policy, research and practice for over forty years. Among a range of educational roles, he has been Chief Adviser to three Secretary of States on School Standards in the UK, Dean of Education at the University of Nottingham, a secondary school teacher, Outward Bound Instructor and consults internationally on school and system reform.


Despite two new knees, he still practices occasionally as an International Mountain Guide; over the years he has led 12 expeditions to the Greater ranges and was one of the ten British Mountain Guides to first receive the UIAGM carnet in 1978.

David completed his school improvement trilogy with the publication of Exploding the Myths of School Reform in 2013; the previous books being School Improvement for Real (2001) and Every School a Great School (2007). He was recently ranked as the 16th most influential educator in the world by the American based Global Gurus organization. His latest book - Unleashing Greatness - will be published in Spring 2024.

Copyright © David Hopkins 2024