Alison Turner

Alison earned her Bachelor of Education with Honors from Didsbury Teacher Training College in Manchester in 1988 and began her career as a primary school teacher, leading English and PE before taking on two Deputy Headships in West Yorkshire schools. She took her first headship at 35, then moved back to Greater Manchester to lead a large community primary school in Rochdale.

Alison’s international career began in 2005, when she moved to Dubai as founding Primary Principal of GEMS Wellington International School, growing the school to nearly 2,000 students within six years. She then moved to Kings’ Dubai, the only school rated outstanding in every KHDA inspection, where she helped lead the expansion of the Kings’ brand into two additional schools and served as Executive Primary Principal across all three during their startup phase. In 2016, she took on a new challenge as founding Principal of a British curriculum school outside Bangkok, before joining her husband, Bill, in 2017 to run the Dubai office of Search Associates.

Today, Alison works alongside her husband, Bill, supporting educators registered with their office, helping them build strong profiles and guiding them through their job search. Having led four schools through startup or major expansion herself, three of them founding roles, she brings that same firsthand experience to the educators she works with. Alison and Bill also organize two Search Associates fairs each year, generally held in Dubai and elsewhere in the Middle East.

Alison and Bill split their time between Dubai and the UK. She has a daughter, is learning Italian and French, and stays active exploring new places whenever she can.