Peps Mccrea is an award-winning teacher educator, designer and author. He is Director of Education at Steplab and author of the ultraconcise High Impact Teaching series. Peps has three Masters degrees, Fellowships from the Young Academy and University of Brighton, and lots of distracting tattoos. Visit pepsmccrea.com for more.
Longer bio
For part of my week, I’m Director of Education at Steplab, which is an online platform that helps school implement instructional coaching and in doing so: supercharge their teaching. For the rest of my week, I work on Evidence Snacks, write ultraconcise books for teachers (see below), compose instructional threads on Twitter, and hang out with my lively young kids and incredible wife (author of the ace Making Every Maths Lesson Count and Head of Curriculum at Oak National) in Brighton, UK.
In the past, I’ve been a Dean at Ambition Institute, where I oversaw the design of our programmes for teachers and teacher educators (eg. Masters in Expert Teaching, Teacher Education Fellows, and Early Career Teachers), a Senior Lecturer in Teacher Education at Brighton University, and teacher and leader at various schools. For more, check out this profile interview in SchoolsWeek.
Career highlights
Roles
- Founder // Evidence Snacks [2023-]
- Director of Education // Steplab [2021-]
- Dean of Learning Design // Ambition Institute [2016-2023]
- Advisor // Department for Education [2013-]
- External Examiner // Open University [2012]
- Senior Lecturer in Teacher Education // University of Brighton [2009-16]
- Head of Math(s) // Falmer High School [2007-09]
- Lead Practitioner // Peacehaven Community School [2003-07]
Publications
- Developing Expert Teaching: What expertise is, and how to develop it (in ourselves and in others) [book, 2023]
- The Beginner’s Guide to Instructional Coaching [paper, 2022]
- Motivated Teaching: Harnessing the science of motivation to boost attention and effort in the classroom [book, 2020]
- Learning: What is it, and how might we catalyse it? [paper, 2018]
- Expert Teaching: What is it, and how might we develop it? [paper, 2018]
- Memorable Teaching: Leveraging memory to build deep and durable learning in the classroom [book, 2017]
- Lean Lesson Planning: A practical guide to doing less and achieving more in the classroom [book, 2015]
Projects
- Steplab // Professional learning platform for teachers and school leaders [2020-]
- Early Career Teachers // 2-year programme for new teachers [2020-]
- Masters in Expert Teaching // 2-year programme for proficient teachers [2017-2023]
- Numeracy Ready // Numeracy skills practice site for teachers [2013-20]
- Staffrm // Online professional learning community for teachers [2014-16]
Honours
- MRes Educational Research // University of Brighton [2014]
- Fellowship Award // The Young Academy [2014]
- Fellowship Award // University of Brighton [2013]
- Inspirational Tutor Award // Excellence Awards [2012]
- MA Educational Leadership // University of Sussex [2006]
- Fasttrack Teaching scholarship // National College of School Leadership [2004]
- PGCE Mathematics Education // University of Brighton [2003]
- MEng Mechanical Engineering // University of Bath [2002]
Select interviews
- Podcast with Ollie Lovell about Developing Expert Teaching [2023]
- Podcast with Craig Barton about evidence informed teaching [2023]
- Podcast with TES [2022]
- Interview with Education HQ [2022]
- Profile in Schools Week [2021]
- Podcast with Ollie Lovell about Motivated Teaching [2021]
- Podcast with Craig Barton about Motivated Teaching [2020]
- Podcast with Craig Barton About Memorable Teaching [2017]