Andy Hargreaves grew up in a working class community in the small Lancashire textile and engineering town of Accrington in England – famous for its legendary football club, Accrington Stanley. Andy went to school at Spring Hill Primary School where the teacher in his last year, Mary Hindle, was one of his greatest sources of inspiration to become an educator. The youngest of three brothers, Andy was the first in his extended family history to move on to higher education – studying sociology at Sheffield University.

Professor Hargreaves qualified for and went on to teach primary school before studying for (and some years later) completing his Ph.D. thesis in Sociology at the University of Leeds in England. He then lectured in a number of English universities including Oxford until in 1987 he moved to the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education in Canada, where he co-founded and directed the International Center for Educational Change. From 2000-2002, he was also Professor of Educational Leadership and Change at the University of Nottingham in England.

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