Where does he work?  Before starting his career as an academic, Coe was a maths teacher in a number of secondary schools and colleges. He left teaching in 1995 to study a PhD at Durham University, where he later became a research associate and lecturer. Coe is still at Durham, and is currently professor in the School of Education and dire...

University Challenge fans may remember Daisy Christodoulou: she was described as "Britain's brightest student" after her outstanding performance on the 2006-07 series, where she captained the University of Warwick's team (you can catch the final on YouTube here). Fast forward a decade and the student is now a teacher. Christodoulou initially b...

What is it?  ​It depends who you speak to. For some, homework is a way to develop students' independent learning skills and ensure they have understood – and then consolidate – work from the classroom. Others, meanwhile, contend that it's a largely pointless tradition that brings stress to young people and their families, robbing them of much-...

A specialist in the economics of education, Eric Hanushek is a Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, an American public policy think tank at Stanford University. He gained his PhD in economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1968 and now regularly writes for the Wall Street Journal. Quick facts: Nationalit...

Where does she work?  Robinson is currently a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Auckland, and academic director of its Centre for Educational Leadership. She is also a visiting professor at the London Institute of Education. She gained her PhD in clinical psychology from Harvard University in 1976. Quick facts: Nationa...