Sir Peter A. Newsam is an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 educationist.

Newsam was born at Gloucester

Gloucester

Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....

 and educated at the Dragon School

Dragon School

The Dragon School is a British coeducational, preparatory school in the city of Oxford, founded in 1877 as the Oxford Preparatory School, or OPS. It is primarily known as a boarding school, although it also takes day pupils...

 and Clifton College

Clifton College

Clifton College is a co-educational independent school in Clifton, Bristol, England, founded in 1862. In its early years it was notable for emphasising science in the curriculum, and for being less concerned with social elitism, e.g. by admitting day-boys on equal terms and providing a dedicated...

. He then went to Queen's College, Oxford where he read Philosophy, Politics and Economics. He became a teacher, including a spell at the Dragon School from 1956 to 1958.

Newam was chief education officer for the Inner London Education Authority

Inner London Education Authority

The Inner London Education Authority was the education authority for the 12 inner London boroughs from 1965 until its abolition in 1990.-History:...

 from 1975 to 1981 and chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality

Commission for Racial Equality

The Commission for Racial Equality was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom which aimed to tackle racial discrimination and promote racial equality. Its work has been merged into the new Equality and Human Rights Commission.-History:...

 from 1981 to 1985. From 1989 to 1994, he was Director of the Institute of Education

Institute of Education

The Institute of Education is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom specialised in postgraduate study and research in the field of education and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It is the largest education research body in the United Kingdom, with...

, University of London

University of London

-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...

, where he helped lead the building of an extension which now houses the Newsam Library. He later served as Chief Schools Adjudicator from 1999 to 2002.

Newsam authored the biography of Alec Clegg

Alec Clegg

Sir Alexander Bradshaw Clegg, also known as Alec Clegg became the innovative Chief Education Officer of the West Riding of Yorkshire County Council for whom he worked from 1945 to 1974.Clegg, the son of a Derbyshire schoolmaster, attended Long Eaton Grammar School, Bootham School in York...

 in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. He served on the Runnymede Trust

Runnymede Trust

The Runnymede Trust is a leading pro-multiculturalism think tank., Its aim is to generate intelligence for a "multi-ethnic" Britain through research, network building and policy engagement...

's Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain.