I began my working life on regional papers, and trained on the Nuneaton Evening Tribune, before moving to the Coventry Evening Telegraph and not long after to the Birmingham Post. It was on the Birmingham Post, in 1991, that I drifted into education reporting, believing it to be a stop-gap until something more exciting came along!

In 1995, I moved to London and began freelancing on the Times Education Supplement, the Mail on Sunday and the Sunday Telegraph. In the eight years that followed I was employed as Education Correspondent on the London Evening Standard, Daily Express and Daily Mirror. During this time I occasionally took part in live radio phone-ins.

I took voluntary redundancy from the Times Education Correspondent in August 2006, having worked there for three years in a variety of roles, including reporter, assistant news editor and commissioning editor. While on the TES, I occasionally participated in the Careerwise slot, on TeachersTV.

Currently, I work as a Freelance Journalist and Writer on a variety of mainstream and specialist newspapers and publications, specialising in education, children's services and all manner of social affairs issues.

In the past two years, my work has appeared in The Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and the New Statesman, among others. I write regularly for The Guardian, SecEd, Times Educational Supplement, Make the Grade - the journal of the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors - Practical Pre-School, Fundraising for Schools as well as the magazines of some of teaching unions. One of my roles on The Guardian has been to commission special supplements.

I have a regular education column in the Sunday Express Magazine, called 'Please Miss'.

I have also written articles, reports, pamphlets and publicity material for a number of organisations, including the National Foundation for Educational Research; National Strategies; the Teaching Awards Trust; the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority;  the National College for School Leadership; the Association for School and College Leaders and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers.