Teach First CEO awarded Honorary Doctorate

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Teach First CEO awarded Honorary Doctorate

Bath Spa University has awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Education to Russell Hobby CBE, CEO of education charity Teach First.

The ceremony took place at The Forum in Bath on Monday 30 January and Russell joined around 350 Bath Spa University students who graduated from Bath Business School, the School of Writing, Publishing and Humanities, the School of Music and Performing Arts, the School of Sciences, Bath School of Art, Film and Media, Bath School of Design and the School of Education.

Each year the University confers honorary awards to individuals who have made a notable and sustained contribution to their academic fields or profession, to society, or to the University. All Bath Spa staff, with input from students, can propose potential recipients of honorary awards, and nominees are approved by the University's Board of Governors.

Professor Kyriaki Anagnostopoulou, NTF, FHEA, EdD, Bath Spa University Head of School of Education and Professor of Higher Education said: "We are absolutely delighted to honour Russell Hobby CBE with our highest award in recognition of his contributions and lifelong commitment to the teaching profession. Russell has been the voice of teachers nationally, and an advocate for high quality education for all children, irrespective of who they are, where they come from or the circumstances in which they find themselves. Russell personifies the social justice values of his organisation, and we are very proud of Bath Spa University’s longstanding relationship with Teach First. His personal values are closely aligned to our belief that education has the power to positively change the world, and we are delighted to welcome him now as an honorary member of our academic community."

Bath Spa is a university partner of Teach First. On accepting the Honorary Doctorate, Russell Hobby said:

"I am truly grateful for the kind award of this honorary doctorate. Our university partners have played a key role throughout Teach First’s history, supporting our recruits to become the best teachers and leaders they can be and challenging us to provide the best possible start to their careers. Teaching blends art, craft and science; it is an intellectually demanding profession that requires theory, reflection and study, blended with practice and pragmatism. All of us at Teach First are grateful to our university partners and look forward to continued collaboration long into the future.”

Teach First is a registered education charity, which is fighting to make our education system work for every child. Backing the schools facing the toughest challenges, the charity finds and trains teachers, develops their leadership teams and plugs them into networks of diverse expertise and opportunities to create real change.

Since 2016, Bath Spa University has been successfully supporting Teach First to deliver Initial Teacher Training to thousands of new teachers in schools in disadvantaged communities to power up young people’s futures.

Teach First works with people and organisations who share their vision that no child’s educational success should be limited by their background.

Russell Hobby joined Teach First as CEO in September 2017, building on more than 15 years of developing and promoting leadership in schools. Prior to joining Teach First, Russell was General Secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT).