Tony McAleavy has a degree in History from the University of Oxford and was formerly schools history adviser for Gloucestershire Local Education Authority. He has written many school textbooks on different history topics for Cambridge University Press, Harper-Collins and Hodder Education, and has also written extensively for English Heritage. He was for many years the academic editor of the Cambridge University Press school history list and in his current role as research director of an education charity he writes and publishes frequently on the subject of education reform.