About me

Two decades in education.

My career began with classroom teaching in the UK and moved into senior leadership at two of the world's leading British international schools. Since 2025 I have been Academic Director for a new education group based in Vietnam, and am building an independent advisory practice with schools and education groups.

Rob Earl

Education & career

I was educated at Colfe's School in South East London and then UCL, where I read Economics, before completing a PGCE in Business and Economics Education at the Institute of Education. My teaching career began with roles in the economics and business departments of Coulsdon College and Whitgift School. I moved into middle leadership when I joined Tiffin School as Head of Economics, and my final post in the UK was that of Head of Economics and Business at Trinity School, Croydon.

In August 2017 I transitioned into international education, moving to South Korea and joining NLCS Jeju. There, I served as Head of Sixth Form and IBDP Coordinator before being promoted to Vice Principal (Academic). I later joined the founding Senior Team at NLCS (Singapore) in the same role, and was subsequently appointed Senior Vice Principal. This included deputising for the Principal, as well as taking responsibility for all aspects of the school's academic programme, university and careers guidance, and the day-to-day running of the Senior School.

Since August 2025, I have been working as Academic Director for Millennia Education, primarily supporting the pre-launch phase of King's College Wimbledon Ho Chi Minh City, a new premium British international school. My work on the project spanned educational strategy and guiding statements, curriculum and staffing models, policy development, and senior staff recruitment and selection. I also provide advisory input at group level on commercial positioning, expansion planning, and educational programme development.

The bigger picture

Outside work, my interests tend toward things that are well made and built to last — objects that reward close attention and reflect the craft that went into creating them. I am slowly building a collection of mechanical watches, not in pursuit of a single perfect piece, but a curated set in which each has a distinct character and a specific place. The same instinct draws me to fine fountain pens and good paper, and to coffee approached with perhaps more seriousness than is strictly necessary.

Photography has been a consistent thread for many years, street and people first and foremost, though the lens tends to wander across landscape, architecture, and the occasional oddment that resists easy categorisation. A selection of favourites lives on my portfolio site, with less curated shots on Instagram. Writing runs alongside it as an occasional outlet: on education, leadership, and whatever else happens to be occupying my thinking.

I have lived and worked across South East Asia since 2017, in South Korea, Singapore, and Vietnam, and will be relocating to Budapest in August 2026. It has been a privilege to experience how differently each culture approaches life, while discovering that teenagers, somehow, are teenagers wherever you go.