I edit infed.org – the encyclopaedia of pedagogy and informal education. Formerly the Rank Foundation Research Fellow and Tutor at the YMCA George Williams College (1992-2013), London, I was also a visiting professor in community education at the University of Strathclyde.
Among my books are Creators not Consumers (1980, 1982), Developing Youth Work (1988), Local Education (1994), Informal Education (1996, 1999, 2005 with Tony Jeffs), The Art of Helping Others (2008, with Heather Smith), Youth Work Practice (2010, edited with Tony Jeffs), Journeying Together (2011, edited with Alan Rogers) and Youth Work and Faith (2015, edited with Naomi Stanton and Tom Wylie). [Click for a full listing]. I am currently working on a new book with Tony Jeffs that explores the need to re-imagine education.
Educated at the Cavendish School, Hemel Hempstead and Lancaster University (Furness College), I undertook my doctorate at Goldsmiths, University of London.
I have worked in careers advice, youth and community work, and education projects. The first of these was a Department of Education and Science (DES) developmental project focused on political education and based at the National Association of Youth Clubs (1978-81).
A second DES project took me to the YMCA National College. It involved joining a team to build a new distance learning programme focused on the professional training of youth and community workers. I left thirty-nine years later! Major reductions in government support for community learning and development, as well as for work with young people, meant the programme and the College were headed for closure.
Other activities have included chairing the Two Towers tenants’ cooperative in Bermondsey (which managed the tower blocks pictured above). I have also been the chair of the Community and Youth Worker’s Union (now part of Unite), served on the editorial board of Youth and Policy and been a Resident Friend at Westminster Quaker Meeting House.
Since 2019, I have lived in South Ronaldsay (part of the Orkney Islands) and am involved in developing a community-led affordable rental cohousing initiative (Hope Cohousing). It will be the first such development in the UK.
For more about South Ronaldsay, visit: Exploring South Ronaldsay.
Opening photograph by Richard Hills
updated: July 19, 2025