Karen McArdle is professor emeritus of education at the University of Aberdeen and an honorary professor at the University of Dundee, UK. She has spent a third of her working life in Australia and two-thirds in Scotland.

Alison Hurrell was a teacher of modern languages for 21 years in West Lothian, Scotland, before being seconded to reintroduce modern languages into the primary school. She then went into teacher education in Aberdeen, working with primary and secondary students and Continuing Professional Development in both sectors.

Penny Ogden has thoroughly enjoyed teaching in three very different English primary schools over a number of years. During this time, she always wanted to remain in the classroom. This included a wide variety of different management roles, which also included being part of the senior management and working as the lead practitioner.

John Forrester has over 23 years of experience working in both mainstream and special schools in England and Scotland. Between 2014 and 2020, he was the headteacher for a rural mainstream primary school and most recently the headteacher for a complex needs special school.