
Jonathan Simons
Director of Policy and Advocacy, Varkey Foundation
Jonathan is the newly appointed Director at the not-for-profit organisation established to improve the standards of education for underprivileged children throughout the world. He was formerly Head of the Education Unit at Policy Exchange, where he directed research on all aspects of education including Early Years, schools, skills and HE. Previously Jonathan worked at Serco Group, where he was Director of Strategy in the company’s specialist education practice. Prior to that, he was Head of Open Public Services in the Cabinet Office, and Head of Education in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit in the administrations of both Gordon Brown and David Cameron. Outside of work Jonathan is the Chair of Governors and Co-Founder of Greenwich Free School, and a Trustee of Reach4 Multi Academy Trust. He writes a weekly column for the TES newspaper on politics and education policy.

Related Posts & Publications


Watching the Watchmen: The future of school inspections in England
by Jonathan Simons | Mar 17, 2014
Read Publication Unreliable lesson observations that normally last less than twenty minutes should be ditched in all routine school inspections as part of a radical set of reforms needed to improve the way schools are inspected in England. Watching the Watchmen finds...
Reversing the ‘Widget Effect’: The introduction of performance-related pay for all teachers in English schools
by Jonathan Simons | Jan 3, 2014
Read Publication The introduction of Performance-Related Pay (PRP) into schools in England can improve teaching and learning but it must be fair, transparent and reward real excellence. The best performing teachers could be paid as much as £70,000 a year within a much...
The future of school leadership and the role of non teachers – what does the NHS teach us?
by Jonathan Simons | Nov 14, 2016
Last week, Future Leaders, Teach First and Teaching Leaders jointly released a study into the possible supply and demand for school leaders until 2022. The headline conclusion is that across the leadership cohort: defined as assistant head, deputy head, headteacher or...
The Future Outlook for Primary Schools
by Jonathan Simons | Jun 8, 2016
In 1997, 67% of children attained a Level 4 in English and 62% in maths. Eighteen years later, 89% of children reached the expected standard in reading, 87% in writing, and 87% in maths. This is a story of a sector which has improved significantly over a time period...Support Us
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