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My wife, Julia Fiehn, who has died aged 77, was an educationist and author.

She worked at the Inner London Education Authority (Ilea), where she created innovative learning materials used throughout the capital, and went on to be an industry coordinator, developing projects between schools and local businesses.

Later Julia spent a number of years at the School Curriculum Industry Partnership (part of the Centre for Education & Industry at the University of Warwick) as regional director for the south, where she co-authored many learning packs (games and simulations) that were sponsored by companies. For many years she also delivered active learning courses in Sweden for teachers and careers counsellors.

Born in Shillingstone, Dorset, to Christine (nee Bartlett) and Denis Pope, manager of a dairy, Julia attended Blandford grammar school and then studied sociology at Reading University. After working as a researcher for the London School of Economics, she trained as a teacher at Goldsmiths College, London, and joined Starcross school (now Elizabeth Garrett Anderson) in Islington, where she taught sociology from 1973 until 1984.

During a two-year secondment to the University of Oxford, Julia wrote a dissertation on political education that helped her secure the post of advisory teacher for political education at Ilea in 1986, before moving on to the School Curriculum Industry Partnership in 1988.

In 2001 Julia was seconded from Warwick to be project manager for the Post-16 Citizenship Development Programme, part of the Learning & Skills Development Agency, where she worked with Sir Bernard Crick and led on delivering his and the government’s vision for citizenship education in England. She was also the co-author of a series of citizenship textbooks published by John Murray.

Julia had a sharp, analytical mind with a capacity for argument and debate. Her passion was engaging students in democratic participation.

She was married in 1970 to Terry Fiehn, with whom she had two sons, Jack and Robert. They divorced in 2003, but remained good friends. She and I were married the following year.

Julia enjoyed cooking, walking, birding, reading, theatre, and travel. Between 2004 and 2014 she loved entertaining friends at our villa in Provence. In 2005 she and I settled in Twickenham, south-west London, where she volunteered for local community groups including Talking Newspapers, the Pope’s Grotto Preservation Trust and the Strawberry Hill Residents’ Association.

She is survived by me, Jack and Robert, and by seven grandchildren.