Dr Andrew Wilkins
Staff details
Andrew Wilkins is Reader in Education Policy and Director of Research in the Department of Educational Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London. He is a policy sociologist with research interests in education policy, comparative education, and education governance.
Academic qualifications
- BA Sociology, University of Leeds 2003
- MRes Social Science Research Methods, Goldsmiths, University of London 2005
- PhD Social Policy, Open University 2009
Teaching and Supervision
Research interests
Andrew’s books include Keywords in Education Policy Research: A Conceptual Toolbox (with Steven Courtney and Nelli Piattoeva, Policy Press 2023), Policy Foundations of Education (Bloomsbury 2022), Education Governance and Social Theory: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Research (with Antonio Olmedo, Bloomsbury 2018), and Modernising School Governance: Corporate Planning and Expert Handling in State Education (Routledge 2016).
Andrew has been invited to speak at events in India, Spain, China, Hong Kong, Sweden, Scotland, Slovakia, and France. He has also been invited to peer review for 40+ journals and is an assessor for Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS), the Australian Research Council (ARC), and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). He has published in various international peer-reviewed journals including Journal of Education Policy, Critical Social Policy, Critical Policy Studies, Globalisation, Societies and Education, and Journal of Educational Administration and History.
Andrew is Associate Regional Editor (Europe) for Journal of Education Policy and serves on the editorial board for British Journal of Sociology of Education, Critical Studies in Education and The Australian Educational Researcher, among other journals and book series. He is co-convenor (with Brad Gobby, Rita Nikolai and Amanda U. Potterton) of Education Policy Futures (EPF). EPF is a global research forum dedicated to fostering debate and collaboration among educators and researchers interested in the geopolitics of education policy futures.
Andrew is external examiner to the taught programme MSc in Education, Public Policy and Equity at the University of Glasgow. Andrew is also responsible for leadership in the Department of Educational Studies at Goldsmiths which includes Coordinator for the Consortium for the Humanities and the Arts South-East England (CHASE), Chair of the Ethics Committee and Convenor for the Writing Group.
Publications and research outputs
Article
Keddie, Amanda; MacDonald, Katrina; Blackmore, Jill; Boyask, Ruth; Fitzgerald, Scott; Gavin, Mihajla; Heffernan, Amanda; Hursh, David; McGrath-Champ, Susan; Møller, Jorunn; O’Neill, John; Parding, Karolina; Salokangas, Maija; Skerritt, Craig; Stacey, Meghan; Thomson, Pat; Wilkins, Andrew; Wilson, Rachel; Wylie, Cathy and Yoon, Ee‑Seu. 2022. What needs to happen for school autonomy to be mobilised to create more equitable public schools and systems of education? Australian Educational Researcher, ISSN 0311-6999
Wilkins, Andrew and Gobby, Brad. 2022. Objects and subjects of risk: A governmentality approach to education governance. Globalisation, Societies and Education, ISSN 1476-7724
Wilkins, Andrew. 2021. Book review of Reframing Education as a Public and Common Good: Enhancing Democratic Governance by Rita Locatelli. Journal of Education Policy, 36(1), pp. 155-158. ISSN 0268-0939
Wilkins, Andrew. 2020. Book review of The Handbook of Global Education Policy by K. Mundy, A. Green, B. Lingard, and A. Verger (eds). Journal of Education Policy, 35(2), pp. 284-286. ISSN 0268-0939
Wilkins, Andrew. 2019. The processual life of neoliberalisation: Permutations of value systems and normative commitments in a co-operative trust setting. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 23(11), pp. 1180-1195. ISSN 1360-3116
Wilkins, Andrew; Collet-Sabé, Jordi; Gobby, Brad and Hangartner, Judith. 2019. Translations of new public management: a decentred approach to school governance in four OECD countries. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 17(2), pp. 147-160. ISSN 1476-7724
Wilkins, Andrew. 2017. Rescaling the local: multi-academy trusts, private monopoly and statecraft in England. Journal of Educational Administration and History, 49(2), pp. 171-185. ISSN 0022-0620
Olmedo, Antonio and Wilkins, Andrew. 2017. Governing through parents: a genealogical enquiry of education policy and the construction of neoliberal subjectivities in England. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 38(4), pp. 573-589. ISSN 0159-6306
Wilkins, Andrew. 2017. Book review of Through a glass darkly: The social science look at the neoliberal university by Margaret Thornton (ed.). Journal of Education Policy, 32(3), pp. 386-387. ISSN 0268-0939
Wilkins, Andrew. 2015. Book review of STEM strategies: student ambassadors and equality in higher education by Clare Gartland. Journal of Education Policy, 30(5), pp. 747-748. ISSN 0268-0939
Wilkins, Andrew and Burke, Penny Jane. 2015. Widening participation in higher education: the role of professional and social class identities and commitments. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 36(3), pp. 434-452. ISSN 0142-5692
Wilkins, Andrew. 2015. Professionalizing school governance: the disciplinary effects of school autonomy and inspection on the changing role of school governors. Journal of Education Policy, 30(2), pp. 182-200. ISSN 0268-0939
Olmedo, Antonio and Wilkins, Andrew. 2014. Gobernar la educación a través de los padrespolítica educativa y construcción de subjetividades neoliberales en Inglaterra. (Governing education through parents: education policy and the construction of neoliberal subjectivities in England). Profesorado, 18(2), pp. 99-116. ISSN 1138-414X
Wilkins, Andrew. 2013. Book review of Social Theory and Education Research by Mark Murphy (ed.). Social Theory Applied,
Wilkins, Andrew. 2013. Book review of Local Democracy, Civic Engagement and Community: From New Labour to the Big Society by Hugh Atkinson. LSE Review of Books,
Wilkins, Andrew. 2013. Shades of Freire: Exorcising the spectre haunting pedagogy. Journal of Pedagogy, 3(1), pp. 11-12.
Wilkins, Andrew. 2013. Libertarian paternalism: Policy and everyday translations of the rational and the affective. Critical Policy Studies, 7(4), pp. 395-406. ISSN 1946-0171
Wilkins, Andrew. 2012. Pedagogy of the Consumer: The Politics of Neo-liberal Welfare Reform. Journal of Pedagogy, 3(2), pp. 161-173.
Wilkins, Andrew. 2012. Public battles and private takeovers: Academies and the politics of educational governance. Journal of Pedagogy, 3(1), pp. 11-29.
Wilkins, Andrew. 2012. Commodifying diversity: Education and governance in the era of neoliberalism. Human Affairs, 22(2), pp. 122-130. ISSN 1210-3055
Wilkins, Andrew. 2012. The spectre of neoliberalism: pedagogy, gender and the construction of learner identities. Critical Studies in Education, 53(2), pp. 197-201. ISSN 1750-8487
Wilkins, Andrew. 2012. Push and pull in the classroom: Competition, gender and the neoliberal subject. Gender and Education, 24(7), pp. 765-768. ISSN 0954-0253
Wilkins, Andrew. 2012. School choice and the commodification of education: A visual approach to school brochures and websites. Critical Social Policy, 32(1), pp. 69-86. ISSN 0261-0183
Wilkins, Andrew. 2011. Community and School Choice: Geographies of Care and Responsibility. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 21(1), pp. 1-13. ISSN 1052-9284
Wilkins, Andrew. 2011. School choice, consumerism and the ethical strand in talk. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 32(2), pp. 357-370. ISSN 0159-6306
Wilkins, Andrew. 2010. Citizens and/or consumers: mutations in the construction of concepts and practices of school choice. Journal of Education Policy, 25(2), pp. 171-189. ISSN 0268-0939
Book
Wilkins, Andrew; Courtney, Steven J. and Piattoeva, Nelli. 2024. Keywords in education policy research: A conceptual toolbox. Bristol: Policy Press. ISBN 9781447360100
Wilkins, Andrew. 2016. Modernising School Governance: Corporate planning and expert handling in state education. Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN 9780815360674
Book Section
Wilkins, Andrew; Collet-Sabé, Jordi; Esper, Tomás; Gobby, Brad and Grimaldi, Emiliano. 2023. Assembling New Public Management: Actors, networks and projects. In: Derek Brent Edwards; Antoni Verger; Keita Takayama and Marcia McKenzie, eds. Researching Global Education Policy: Diverse Approaches to Policy Movement. Bristol: Policy Press.
Wilkins, Andrew. 2023. Publics in education: Thinking with Gunter on plurality, democracy and local reasoning. In: Tanya Fitzgerald and Steven, J. Courtney, eds. Critical education policy and leadership studies: The intellectual contributions of Helen M. Gunter. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature.
Wilkins, Andrew. 2023. Mapping the field: Education policy research and theory. In: Andrew Wilkins, ed. Policy Foundations of Education. London: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781350171138
Wilkins, Andrew. 2023. Introduction. In: Andrew Wilkins, ed. Policy Foundations of Education. London: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781350171138
Wilkins, Andrew. 2022. Academisation and the law of ‘attraction’: An ethnographic study of relays, connective strategies and regulated participation. In: Christy Kulz; Kirsty Morrin and Ruth McGinity, eds. Inside the English Education Lab: Critical Ethnographic Perspectives on the Academies Experiment. Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp. 35-59. ISBN 9781526145383
Wilkins, Andrew. 2021. Deconstructing governance: Perspectives in post-positivist thinking. In: Michael A. Peters and Richard Heraud, eds. Encyclopedia of Educational Innovation. Singapore: Springer. ISBN 9789811322624
Wilkins, Andrew and Gobby, Brad. 2021. Governance and educational leadership. In: Steven Courtney; Helen Gunter; Richard Niesche and Tina Trujillo, eds. Understanding educational leadership: Critical perspectives and approaches. London: Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 309-322. ISBN 9781350081833
Wilkins, Andrew. 2020. Neoliberalism, citizenship and education: A policy discourse analysis. In: Andrew Peterson; Garth Stahl and Hannah Soong, eds. The Palgrave Handbook of Citizenship and Education. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9783319678276
Wilkins, Andrew. 2019. Technologies in rational self-management: Interventions in the ‘responsibilisation’ of school governors. In: Julie Allan; Valerie Harwood and Clara Rübner Jørgensen, eds. World Yearbook of Education 2020: Schooling Governance. Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN 9781138362635
Wilkins, Andrew. 2019. Wither democracy? The rise of epistocracy and monopoly in school governance. In: Stewart Riddle and Michael W. Apple, eds. Re-imagining Education for Democracy. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 142-155. ISBN 9780367197124
Wilkins, Andrew. 2018. Assembling schools as organisations: On the limits and contradictions of neoliberalism. In: Michael Connolly; David H. Eddy-Spicer; Chris James and Sharon D. Kruse, eds. The SAGE Handbook of School Organization. London: SAGE, pp. 509-523. ISBN 9781526420664
Wilkins, Andrew and Olmedo, Antonio. 2018. Conceptualising education governance: Framings, perspectives and theories. In: Andrew Wilkins and Antonio Olmedo, eds. Education governance and social theory: Interdisciplinary approaches to research. London: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781350040083
Wilkins, Andrew. 2017. Creating expert publics: A governmentality approach to school governance under neoliberalism. In: Steven J Courtney; Ruth McGinity and Helen Gunter, eds. Educational Leadership: Theorising Professional Practice in Neoliberal Times. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 97-110. ISBN 9780367202170
Wilkins, Andrew. 2017. The business of governorship: Corporate elitism in public education. In: Helen M. Gunter; David Hall and Michael W. Apple, eds. Corporate Elites and the Reform of Public Education. Bristol: Policy Press, pp. 161-176. ISBN 9781447326809
Wilkins, Andrew. 2016. Gobernanza escolar y la lógica de la política neoliberal. ¿Qué puede hacer la democracia? In: Jordi Collet and Antoni Tort, eds. La gobernanza escolar democrática. Madrid: Morata, pp. 84-100. ISBN 9788471127846
Wilkins, Andrew. 2014. Affective Labour and Neoliberal Fantasies: The Gendered and Moral Economy of School Choice in England. In: Melinda Vandenbeld Giles, ed. Mothering in the Age of Neoliberalism. Bradford, Ontario: Demeter Press, pp. 265-282. ISBN 9781927335284
Edited Book
Wilkins, Andrew, ed. 2023. Policy Foundations of Education. London: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781350171138
Wilkins, Andrew and Olmedo, Antonio, eds. 2018. Education Governance and Social Theory: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Research. London: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781350040083
Further profile content
Featured publications
2023:
Keywords in education policy research: A conceptual toolbox
Bristol: Policy Press
2023:
Assembling New Public Management: Actors, networks and projects
In: Derek Brent Edwards; Antoni Verger; Keita Takayama and Marcia McKenzie, eds. Researching Global Education Policy: Diverse Approaches to Policy Movement. Bristol: Policy Press
2023:
Publics in education: Thinking with Gunter on plurality, democracy and local reasoning
In: Tanya Fitzgerald and Steven, J. Courtney, eds. Critical education policy and leadership studies: The intellectual contributions of Helen M. Gunter. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature
2022:
Objects and subjects of risk: A governmentality approach to education governance
Globalisation, Societies and Education
2022:
Academisation and the law of ‘attraction’: An ethnographic study of relays, connective strategies and regulated participation
In: Christy Kulz; Kirsty Morrin and Ruth McGinity, eds. Inside the English Education Lab: Critical Ethnographic Perspectives on the Academies Experiment. Manchester: Manchester University Press
