Fiona Johnson is director of communications for the General Teaching Council for England, the independent professional and regulatory body for school teaching in England.  The GTC is supporting the Battle of Ideas festival for a third year, as part of its programme to engage with a wide public audience on standards of teaching and learning.

Fiona has responsibility for the GTC's external profile, conference programme, web site and publications.  The GTC has a live register of more than 500,000 qualified teachers in England and exists to support high standards of teaching and learning in the public interest.  It works for children, through teachers.

The GTC was created in September 2000 as an independent regulatory and professional body for teaching; putting teaching on a par with other major professions.  Fiona joined the GTC in April 2003, from a background in public sector public relations.  Prior to joining the GTC, she was head of media relations for the British Medical Association and has also worked for the Royal College of Nursing and the National Union of Teachers.  It is a source of some personal frustration that dialogue between public service professionals is not always well developed and Fiona particularly values events like the Battle of Ideas where those attending have the opportunity to break out of professional silos and also to debate on an equal footing with sixth formers and university students.  A modern languages graduate, she has a continuing interest in the teaching of modern foreign languages and also in the public understanding of science and the future of science teaching at school and university level. She has two adult sons, graduates of the exemplary Graveney School in Tooting, south London.  Her elder son is studying for a Masters in Physics at Manchester and the younger will be studying architecture at Oxford Brookes from September 2008.