Education Studies News and Events

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

A new research paper, led by Professor Emma Smith has recently been published. The study compares findings from two national surveys of education researchers - one from 2002 and another from 2022, that was led by colleagues in Education Studies. It examines how the types of research methods used have shifted over the past two decades and places these trends within broader debates about purpose, quality, and methodology in the field.

The study reveals that education researchers today report using fewer research methods than their counterparts twenty years ago. It also highlights an increasing divide between those who use numeric approaches and those who rely on non-numeric methods.

Read the full article below

Smith, E., Gorard, S., Morris, R., Perry, T., & Pilgrim‐Brown, J. (2025). Then and now: Twenty years of Education research methods use in the United Kingdom - Smith - British Educational Research Journal - Wiley Online LibraryLink opens in a new window

We are proud to share that Abdullah recently delivered a keynote paper at the biennial international conference of the Global Association of Western Muslim School Directors, held in the Netherlands from 18–20 April.

Abdullah’s keynote paper, “Rethinking the Civic Ethos of Faith-Embedded School Leadership in an Increasingly Polarized, Uncertain Post-Secular Western World”, was warmly received by over 100 delegates from diverse educational contexts within the Western Muslim diaspora.

In recognition of his contribution, Abdullah was elected to lead and coordinate the post-conference research agenda developed by the delegates, helping to shape future scholarship in this important field.