Partington was born in Oldham, Lancashire. He attended Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Middleton, and then read history in the  University of Bristol, where he gained Upper Second Class Honours in the Special B.A. Degree in History. After National Service in the Royal Air Force he gained the Post Graduate Certificate in Education in the University of London Institute of Education. Later academic awards included the Academic Diploma in Education (with Distinction and Special Commendation) of the University of London, Master of Education in University of Bristol, Upper Second Class Honours in B.Sc. (Sociology) in University of London (as an External Student), and Ph.D. in Politics in the University of Adelaide.In England Partington was Head of the History Department in Glendale Grammar School, Wood Green, London, N.22, Head of the History Department and Head of Senior School in  Twyford Comprehensive School, Acton, London, W.3, Senior Lecturer in History, Doncaster College of Education, Headmaster, Bungay Modern School, Suffolk, Senior Lecturer in Education, Coventry College of Education (now the Department of Education of the University of Warwick) and Head of Educational Advisory Services in the London Borough of Waltham Forest.

 
After marriage, he and his Australian wife, Dawn, came to Adelaide, as a Senior Lecturer in Education in Flinders University of South Australia, where he is still a Visiting Scholar. After retirement from teaching in Flinders University, he spent two years as Senior Lecturer in Education in the University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji.  He has also been Visiting Professor of Education in the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Visiting Master, King's School, Canterbury and Visiting Fellow, Vanderbilt University of Tennessee (Washington Outpost,  Educational Excellence Network). His part-time appointments and offices in voluntary organisations include Examinerships in History and in Economic History for  Associated Examining Board for the General Certificate of Education (Ordinary and Advanced Levels), Chief Examinership in History of the East Anglian Board for the Certificate of Secondary Education, Membership of the Governing Council and the Examinations Committee of the Middlesex Regional Examination Board for the Certificate of Secondary Education, Membership of the History Subject Committee of  Public Examinations Board of South Australia, Assessor to the Australian Schools' Commission Innovations Grants Committee, Membership of the Advisory Board of the Social Affairs Unit, London, and  International Adviser to  The History Teacher  (organ of The Society for  History Education, U.S.A.) and to  the International Journal of Social Education.

 Within the National Union of Teachers of England and Wales, he was Treasurer and President of the Middlesex Secondary Association, Secretary of the Acton and Ealing Associations, and President of the Middlesex County Association. He was Secretary of the Teachers’ Committee for Nuclear Disarmament. In Australia he was Foundation President of The English in Australia (South Australia).

He has been a Consultant to the Inquiry into Teacher Education in South Australia (Gilding Committee), to the Education Forum of Business Round Table of New Zealand on Social Studies  in the New Zealand Curriculum, and on Teacher Education in New Zealand and to the Institute of Economic Affairs, :London, on Teacher Education and Training in England and Wales.He has twice been awarded the George Watson Prize for the best essay on a political subject published in Australia.

In 2002 he was appointed to the Panel of Experte entrusted with preparing a Discussion Paper for the 2003 South Australian Constitutional Convention.