A former London school teacher, John Furlong, is an Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Oxford. He has been President of the British Educational Research Association and is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.  Since 2015, he has been Vice President of the British and Foreign School Society, one of Britain's oldest educational charities, which supports  equal educational opportunities for children and young people around the world. 

John has written and edited 20 books and over 100 articles, chapters and reports. ‘Islands’ is his first non-academic book. In 2017 he was awarded the OBE for services to educational research and advice to government.  He is married with two sons and five grandchildren; he lives and works in Wales.