Emeritus Professor 

Stephen Ward is Emeritus Professor of Education, Bath Spa University, formerly Dean of the School of Education. From 1969 in Leeds he taught in primary and secondary schools and taught English as an additional language to newly-migrant children. He joined Bath College of Education in 1980 as a Senior Lecturer in Teaching Studies, engaging mainly in the education and training of primary school teachers, but also ran inservice courses for practising teachers on anti-racism in education.

In 1999 he became the first subject leader for the new Education Studies degrees, one of the first in non-teacher training programmes in Education Studies. Along with leaders of new degrees in other universities he was a founding member of the British Education Studies Association in 2005. His doctoral thesis in 2006 on the nature university knowledge traced the different approaches to the new Education Studies subject in ten universities.

On becoming the Dean of Education in 2006 he led the University’s PGCE courses to an Ofsted rating of ‘Outstanding’ in 2011. In 2004 with School of Education colleagues he edited one of the first textbooks on Education Studies, A Student’s Guide to Education Studies (Routledge, 2004). Its fourth edition has been recently published.

He is the editor of the Routledge Education Studies Series which currently includes eleven volumes on a variety of topics. He is also the editor of a new series for Routledge: Critical Studies in Education. He welcomes suggestion for new book titles to be included in either series.

Now retired he enjoys keeping contact with colleagues through the BESA executive and working as the copy editor for the two BESA journals: EducationalFutures and Transformations.

Academic qualifications

  • Certificate in Education (University of Birmingham)
  • Bachelor of Education Degree: English and Education (University of Warwick) 
  • Post experience Certificates in Reading Development and Methods of Educational Enquiry (Open University)
  • Master of Education (University of Leeds)
  • PhD (University of the West of England).

Professional memberships

  • British Education Studies Association (BESA).

Other external roles

  • Member of the British Education Studies Association Executive and copy editor for the Association's journals, EducationalFutures and Transformations
  • Examining for doctoral awards.