Geoff Whitty, director emeritus of the UCL Institute of Education, has died.

In a tribute posted on its website, the IoE said he passed away peacefully on Friday.

Professor Whitty began a 50-year association with the IoE when he commenced teacher training at the institute in 1968.

Born in 1946, he was educated at Latymer Upper School, London, and graduated from St John’s College, Cambridge.

Following his time as a temporary teacher in Chiswick, he completed his PGCE at the IoE and went on to teach in Hounslow and Crawley.

From there he moved to the University of Bath as a teacher trainer,  and subsequently held academic posts at the OU, King’s College London, Bristol Polytechnic, Goldsmiths College and the IoE.

He served as the IoE’s director from 2000 to 2010, before going on to posts at the universities of Bath, Bath Spa, and Newcastle, Australia.

His academic work looked at how pupils from different backgrounds needed different approaches if they were to engage with education equally.

He also made a contribution to ideas on education about sex, sexuality and HIV.

The IoE said he would be “remembered for the kind of leader he was - principled, loyal, utterly committed to the IoE and its staff, demanding of the best from colleagues, and in the process always generous, inclusive, fair”.