At school he was a failure wanting to write poetry and fiction rather than passing exams. But he realized he needed qualifications to make a living while writing. Teaching seemed a good idea because of what he imagined were long holidays. By the time he had a first degree he needed a Masters to become a teacher and by the time he received his Masters, he realized that teaching wouldn't give him the time to write. He had, by now, taught for six years in inner London schools and knew how tough teaching is. He also wanted to understand why so many inner city kids were angry, so he did a Ph.D.,receiving his Doctorate from the University of Canterbury (NZ). This was at the height of the neo-Liberal revolution in New Zealand and the desire to write poetry full time was abandoned for a struggle against the neo-Liberal revolution in New Zealand and the desire to write poetry full time was abandoned for a struggle against the commodification of education. As Bertold Brecht put it before the second world war, 'at a time like this it is almost a crime to write poetry'. He was Professor of Education at Victoria University of Wellington (NZ) before moving to Bath. He has written co-authored and co-edited ten books and many academic papers.

His major work is on global labor markets and their effects on education. With Phil Brown and David Ashton he published The Global Auction: The Broken Promises of Education, Jobs and Income (2011) which raises fundamental questions about the nature and rhetoric of the knowledge economy. Rather than a technicist notion of a knowledge economy, the authors argue we should be viewing current developments as being driven by knowledge capitalism which has radically different effects from those claimed for the knowledge economy.

His most recent edited collection is Education for the Knowledge Economy? Critical Perspectives (Routledge) with colleagues at Bath, Michael Young, Harry Daniels, Maria Balarnin and John Lowe. The notion of the knowledge economy has been the ‘elephant in the room’ in educational discourse, being accepted uncritically by policy makers and many academics. In this volume criticisms are voiced as to the connections between education and ‘the knowledge economy’ by many leading sociologists. It is clear that current efforts to raise standards and improve equality of opportunity through education in the United States and England, will fail, in part because of the way the links between education and the labor market have been misconceived.

Hugh is also Editor-in-Chief of Routledge's Journal of Education and Work.