Sociology of education; social theory and education; critical theories of race, class and education; antiracist education; Black intellectual and educational movements; educational inequalities and education policy; widening participation; further and higher education; sociologies of work-related learning; case study research; documentary research.

Paul Warmington is one of the UK's leading scholars in the sociology of race and education. Paul joined the Department of Education Studies in 2017. Prior to this, he taught and researched at the University of Birmingham (2004-2016), where he was a founder member of the Centre for Research in Race and Education, and the University of Nottingham (2000-2003). Before entering academia, he had lengthy careers in antiracist publishing and in further education.

Paul was one of the first UK academics to explore Critical Race Theory, combining it with wider traditions in Black Atlantic thought. His writing on Black British intellectual and educational movements has been internationally influential. He has also written and researched on shifts in the coverage of race equality in UK education policy; Black/ white achievement gaps; tensions in understandings of race and class in social research; BAME students in further and vocational education.

Paul has formed networks of race-critical academics across the UK, has extensive links with community stakeholders and with US scholars. He has presented frequently at the American Educational Research Association conference and is one of the very few UK academics to have been invited to speak at Morehouse College, one of the USA's oldest historically black liberal arts colleges. Paul's work has been covered in The Guardian, Times Education Supplement and The Voice. He has contributed to BBC1's landmark documentary Subnormal, on the historical scandal of the placing of Black children in ESN schools during the 1960s and 70s. He was recently invited to speak at the LSE and at the Open University on education, Critical Race Theory and the black radical tradition.

Paul is a longstanding member of the editorial boards of the journals Educational Review and Race, Ethnicity and Education. He is a member of the University of Warwick's Race Equality Task Force and its Tackling Racial Inequality staff development group. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Research

Paul's research has been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, British Academy, HEFCE and the Society for Educational Studies. Major studies include Race, Racism & Education: inequality, resilience & reform in policy and practice (Society for Educational Studies); Race, Education and Intersectionality: getting the balance right (Society for Educational Studies).

Paul has also researched on widening participation in H.E.; news media coverage of exam results; the uses of documentary film as a data source in educational research; cultural-historical activity theory; interprofessional and interdisciplinary work in children's services; sociologies of education and work. He has recently developed pilot research on the experiences of BAME students in vocational and work-related education, and on post-Black Lives Matter innovations in Black Atlantic scholarship.

Publications

Paul's most recent publication is the four-volume series, Critical Race Theory in Education: Major Themes in Education, Vol 1-4 (Routledge, 2018), co-edited with leading US and UK scholars: Adrienne Dixson, David Gillborn, Gloria Ladson-Billings, Laurence Parker and Nicola Rollock.

Paul is author of Black British Intellectuals and Education: multiculturalism's hidden history (Routledge, 2014); co-author of Improving Interprofessional Collaborations: multi-agency working for children's wellbeing (Routledge, 2009) and Interagency Collaboration: a review of the literature (LIW, 2005). He also co-edited Atlantic Crossings: international dialogues in Critical Race Theory (HEA/CSAP, 2011). He has co-edited special issues of the Journal of Vocational Education and Training ('Race, Ethnicity and Vocational Education and Training') and Paedagogica Historica ('Education in Motion: Documentary Film and Educational').

Paul has published papers in world-leading journals including: Educational Theory; Race, Ethnicity and Education; Ethnic and Racial Studies; British Educational Research Journal; Oxford Review of Education; Educational Review. For full details of Paul's publications, see 'Publications' page.

Education

Paul holds a BA (Hons) English and European Literature from the University of Essex, a PGCE (Secondary, English and Drama) from the University of Warwick and a PhD in Education from the University of Birmingham.

Doctoral Supervision

Matthew Edwards: Young people's lived experiences of music education, PhD full-time, co-supervised with Dr Rachel Turner-King.

Paul Martin: The effectiveness of outreach programmes which aim to widen participation in higher education, PhD part-time, co-supervised with Prof Emma Smith.
Sarah Emmerson: Impact of school based ITE on whole school improvement, EdD part-time.
Milena Cuccurullo: Re-writing education policy with philosophical translation, PhD part-time, ESRC funded, co-supervised with Dr Emma Williams.
Marta Ulanicka: Widening participation in higher education in UK and Poland, PhD full-time, co-supervised with Prof Emma Smith.