Education Studies News and Events

The Department of Education Studies is delighted to celebrate the achievements of two of our alumni who have been recognised in the King’s New Year Honours 2026 for their exceptional contributions to education and public service.

Professor Jacquelyn Bridget Dunne, who completed her MA in Education and Industry with the former Institute of Education, has been awarded an MBE for services to Higher Education. Now Vice-Chancellor of Birmingham Newman University, Professor Dunne has built a distinguished career championing access, opportunity, and innovation in the sector.

Ian Todd, a graduate of the PG Diploma in Educational Assessment, has been awarded an OBE for Parliamentary and Public Service. As Chief Secretary and Head of the Public Service for the St Helena Government, he has played a central role in public sector leadership and governance.

We are immensely proud to see that two of our education alumni have had their contributions recognised nationally. Their honours highlight the impact of education professionals whose careers have been shaped, in part, by their time at Warwick.

We warmly congratulate Professor Dunne and Ian Todd on their achievements.

More details are available here: https://warwick.ac.uk/alumni/alumni-news/news/new_years_honours_2026/

We’re proud to share that Dr Katie Compton and Dr Tom Perry have both received Best Presentation Awards at the prestigious BERA Conference 2025, recognised by Special Interest Groups (SIGs) for their outstanding contributions to educational research.

Dr Katie Compton was honoured for her presentation: “Improving Prosocial Behaviour in the Primary Classroom Through a School-Based Mindfulness Programme”

Dr Tom Perry, alongside collaborators Clara Jorgenson and Laurence Lessard-Phillips from the University of Birmingham, received the award for:
“Pupil School Mobility – preliminary findings from a mixed-methods study into mobility types, pathways and implications for education”

These awards highlight the impactful and innovative work being carried out by Warwick academics in shaping the future of education.

Learn more about the awards: BERA SIG Best Presentation Awards 2025Link opens in a new window

Dr. Abdullah Sahin, from the Department of Education Studies, delivered a keynote paper titled “How to Facilitate Research-Informed Transformative Change within the Pedagogical Culture of Modern Islamic Schools? A Perspective from Warwick” at the 4th International Conference of the Global Association of Islamic Schools (GAIS), held in Colombo, Sri Lanka (4–8 October 2025).

The event brought together around 400 delegates from 28 countries to explore innovation and collaboration in faith-based education. During the conference, Dr. Sahin was presented with GAIS’s Research Excellence Award, recognising his publications for their “theoretical creativity and empirical rigour in advancing the study of faith-ethos schooling in the modern world.”

This achievement highlights the international impact of Dr. Sahin’s research and the Department’s commitment to advancing educational practice through scholarly excellence.

A new paper by Assistant Professor Emma Langley has been published in the Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities.

Titled "Father Involvement in the Lives of Their Children With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in the UK", the article examines the roles fathers play at different stages of their children's lives.

The article is one of the outputs from Dr Langley's study which explored the role of fathers raising children with IDD at different life stagesLink opens in a new window (funded by the Research Development Fund 2021/22).

 Read the full article here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jar.70091Link opens in a new window

We’re delighted to share that new research by Education Studies PhD student Cat Jones has been published in the Educational Review, a leading journal. The study explores how well teachers in England are prepared to support parental engagement in children’s learning. Based on a national survey of 1,782 teachers, the research reveals significant gaps in training and highlights the need for improved support to help teachers effectively engage parents. The paper is co-authored by Warwick Professor Olympia Palikara and Dr Vassilis Sideropoulos from UCL IoE.

Cat also recently published a related paper in the British Educational Research Journal, alongside Warwick PGR student Luke Jackson and University of Cambridge academic Pallavi Banerjee. This second paper examines gaps in parental engagement policy in England.

The findings from both have important implications for teacher education, school leadership, and policy, offering clear guidance on how to enhance parental engagement and ultimately improve educational outcomes for children.

Read the full open access articles here:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00131911.2025.2506802

https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/berj.4175Link opens in a new window