John Butcher is a Professor of Inclusive Teaching in Higher Education at the Open University, where he is Director (Access and Open). He is responsible for the university’s UK-wide Access Programme, is Deputy Director on the Open Programme and leads the Access Observatory (the OU’s research and scholarship centre for Widening Participation). He was Principal Investigator on the research projects ‘Understanding the impact of outreach on access to higher education for disadvantaged adult learners (OFFA, 2017) and ‘Shoe-horned and side-lined: Challenges for part-time learners in the new HE landscape’ (HEA, 2015).

Publications include: Developing Effective 16-19 Teaching Skills and Leading Professional Development in Education (both Routledge) as well as numerous journal articles. He is Managing Editor for the international journal Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning.