Marcelo is an Assistant Professor in Primary Education in the Department of Education and Social Work at the University of Sussex and he is Course Leader for the Masters in Education Course and teaches on the BA Primary and Early Years Course (BAPEYE) with QTS for which he also acts as the recruitment lead.

Marcelo is Departmental lead for the visiting Bolashak Scholars who join us every year from Kazakhstan. Marcelo is also the University of Sussex Representative on the UK-Uzbekistan Education Forum and the External Examiner for the BA in Primary Education Course with QTS for the University of Durham.

Marcelo is the author of ‘The Joy of Not Knowing’ (Routledge, 2021; China Youth Press, Chinese Translation, 2024) and 'Start Thinking' (Imaginative Minds, 2005) and he is a former research scientist and Primary School Headteacher.

Marcelo has recently worked on behalf of UNICEF alongside policy makers, educators and textbook writers, drawing on the philosophy that underpins The Joy of Not Knowing approach, to help the Ministry of Education in Uzbekistan to introduce a reformed Primary and Secondary National Curriculum. Marcelo also works for Coram Life Education, the children’s charity, runs courses, acts as an advisor to a number of schools and educational organisations and speaks regularly at national and international events on the principles that underpin the Joy of Not Knowing’s philosophy of education and educational leadership.

Marcelo has published widely in the fields of creative, critical, multilingual, multicultural and philosophical thinking and learning in the classroom. Marcelo is a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Education (APPG) and of the Steering Committee of the International Academic Forum (IAFOR) organisation. Marcelo also works closely with the EDGE Foundation and acts as the Chair of the Global Empathy Conference Annual Conferences, an initiative led by Virtual School Australia.

Marcelo's work and contributions were recognised in 2019 when he was named as a Founding Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching and in 2023 when he was awarded Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy.