Innovative surgeon appointed trustee of new teaching body

University innovator Professor Jonathan Shepherd is one of 13 founding trustees of the new College of Teaching

Professor Jonathan Shepherd has led a ‘quiet revolution’ to establish independent self-regulated professional bodies that drive up standards and knowledge.

Jonathan has been involved in the creation of the College of Teaching from an early stage. He was instrumental in the development of the College of Policing and the Probation Institute, the new independent bodies for these professions, and brings expertise to the development of the new college.

Professor Shepherd said: “My work over the past decade has focused on the role of professional bodies in raising standards and, most recently, I have been privileged to be much involved in setting up the new independent bodies for policing and probation. We have the opportunity with the College of Teaching to put the lessons from this process – and indeed from centuries of experience from the medical Royal Colleges – into practice.”

A maxillofacial surgeon who heads up Cardiff University’s Violence Research Group, Professor Shepherd has led pioneering research to change the way UK Government works - from policing, health and social care to education and ageing – as part of the Cabinet Office ‘What Works Network.’

He is the sole academic among the 13 College of Teaching trustees. He will be joined by five classroom teachers, three head teachers and four non-teaching professionals who will oversee the establishment of the college and encourage teachers to back it.

News of Professor Shepherd’s appointment has been covered in the Times Educational Supplement.