Professor Clare Brooks appointed Head of Faculty from October 2026
Professor Clare Brooks has been appointed the next Head of the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge. She will succeed the current Head, Professor Hilary Cremin, in October 2026.
Clare brings a wealth of experience to the role. Before joining Cambridge as Professor of Education in 2023, she spent 23 years at the Institute of Education, University College London, where she held numerous leadership positions. These included Pro-Director for Education (providing strategic leadership for the Institute’s entire education portfolio); Head of the Department of Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment; Vice-Dean international (co-ordinating international relationships and partnerships); and Head of Initial Teacher Education (ITE).
Originally from a working-class community in Bristol, Clare studied geography as an undergraduate, then became a geography teacher. Before her academic career, she spent eight years teaching at a state school in Hackney, and a year teaching in Phoenix, Arizona.
At Cambridge, Clare has been heavily involved in Faculty teaching at all levels and led the redevelopment of the part-time Doctor of Education (EdD) programme for professionals. She also founded and leads the Curriculum, Pedagogy and Professional Learning research group.
This reflects her research interest in the education and professional development of teachers and in excellence in teaching and teacher education. Much of Clare’s recent scholarship makes the case both for resisting reductive, one-size-fits-all approaches to teaching, and for stronger and clearer articulations of what a more flexible and nuanced approach might involve. She has also emphasised the ‘spatial’ dimensions of teaching and education, especially the need to ensure that teaching and learning opportunities and resources are fairly distributed across different communities.
Education is about much more than teaching and learning: it is deeply social.
“It is a real honour to be appointed Head of the Faculty of Education,” Clare said. “Education systems around the world are facing some formidable challenges at the moment, and we have a real opportunity to respond constructively and champion education as a force for positive social change. Under Hilary’s leadership, the Faculty has already strengthened its capacity to do exactly that, and I am looking forward to supporting and building on that work in the years ahead.”
A central part of Clare’s role will involve ensuring that the Faculty operates in partnership with a wider community of universities, schools, organisations and public bodies in fulfilment of the University’s commitment to serve wider society.
"Education is about much more than teaching and learning: it is deeply social," she said. “It can flatten hierarchies, resolve inequities and create opportunities, whether through the education of excellent teachers here in the UK, or research-informed work with communities around the world.”
“We are not a lone voice making that case, but part of a much wider ecosystem. I am particularly excited to be in a position where I can do more to support the conversations and collaborations that will ensure the Faculty continues to play its part in that collective effort.”