Ian Menter, president of the British Educational Research Association and director of professional programmes at the University of Oxford, has said that a teacher education system based on ‘ideologies or prejudices’ will hinder those wanting to improve standards. He made the comments in a presentation to the Westminster Education Forum on using academic research and pupil data in education. He added that creating a successful system where research is embedded in practice would be dependent on growing ‘strong alliances’ based on ‘shared commitment to educational improvement for all children and young people’.