Chris Watkins 
is a reader in education at the University of London Institute of Education, and an independent project leader with schools. He has been a maths teacher in a large secondary school, a teacher in charge of a unit for pupils whose effect on school was sometimes disruptive, and a trained school counsellor.
In 1999 he founded the MA in Effective Learning and since that time has been involved in projects with a range of schools and local authorities on learning about learning, effective learning, classroom learning, teachers' learning and school learning. This work culminates in the idea of classrooms as learning communities.
Since 2005 he has been an independent consultant and project leader with a range of schools, mainly in the London area, but also with key local authorities beyond London.Web page: http://chriswatkins.net