Skip to main content
David James

Professor David James

Professor of Sociology of Education

School of Social Sciences

Email
JamesDR2@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 29208 70930
Campuses
Glamorgan Building, Room 0.66 Glamorgan Building, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3WA

Overview


I am a Professor of Sociology of Education in the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University.  

  • A distinguished track record as a social science researcher and teacher.
  • Awarded the Learned Society of Wales Hugh Owen Medal 2022 for outstanding educational research. See https://www.learnedsociety.wales/lsws-six-new-medallists-give-insight-into-wales-exciting-research-culture/
  • Chair of UK 2021 Research Excellence Framework Sub-Panel 23 (Education)
  • From 2014 to mid-2023, Editor and Chair of the Executive Editors of a leading international journal, the British Journal of Sociology of Education ( http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cbse20/current#.Vdr-1LxViko)
  • From 2011 to 2019, founding Director of the ESRC Wales Doctoral Training Partnership (a consortium led by Cardiff University which also includes the universities of Aberystwyth, Bangor, Cardiff Metropolitan, Gloucestershire and Swansea - www.walesdtp.ac.uk).  
  • Member of ESRC Peer Review College.
  • Up to 2017, elected member of the Council of the British Education Research Association (BERA) and Chair of BERA's Membership and Engagement Committee.  
  • Served on the Education Sub-panel for the 2014 REF (Research Excellence Framework) and chaired an international panel assessing the quality of educational research for the Estonian Ministry of Education in 2013.

My research interests encompass governance, teaching, learning, assessment, lifelong learning and the education-work relationship across a range of settings, with a particular focus on the connections between educational processes and social inequalities. I am interested in the extent to which educational policy shapes these things, and also in methodological and theoretical questions about how they may best be approached and understood. I have published widely on these topics for academic, policy and practitioner audiences.

Publication

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2000

1999

1998

1995

Articles

Book sections

Books

Monographs

teaching_resource

  • James, D., Bathmaker, A. and Waller, R. 2010. Inspiring learning [teacher resource]. Published jointly by Bristol City, Bath & North East Somerset, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Councils. - teaching_resource

Research

Overview

I have directed many research projects, evaluations and consultancies for a range of funders and clients, including the ESRC, UK and foreign government departments and agencies, local authorities, charities, universities, colleges and schools, all to time and within budget.

I co-designed and co-directed the ESRC project 'Transforming Learning Cultures in Further Education' (2001-2005) and the ESRC project 'Identities, Education and the White Urban Middle Classes' (2005-2007). The first of these is still the only independent, large-scale study of learning in the English FE sector. I also co-directed an ESRC seminar series on 'New directions in learning and skills in England, Scotland and Wales' (2008-2010) and was part of the core team for a policy-focused seminar series on FE and Skills across the four countries of the UK (2017-2018). I carried out (with Prof Lorna Unwin) a policy-focused study commissioned by the Minister, of high quality vocational programmes in Further Education in Wales - see http://ppiw.org.uk/files/2016/01/PPIW-Report-Fostering-High-Quality-Further-Education-in-Wales.pdf

I co-directed the recently-completed ESRC Research Project Processes and Practices of Governing in Further Education Colleges in the UK (2018-2021) https://fe-governing.stir.ac.uk/

I recently led a research project funded by the Welsh Government entitled Pandemic-related assessment innovations: implications for teacher education. The study concluded in Spring 2021. The team included researchers from University of Cardiff and Cardiff Metropolitan University and involved colleagues in schools that are part of the Cardiff ITE Partnership. The report can be seen at:  https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/148030/ 

The central theme in my research is the relationship between education and social inequalities.  I have investigated and written on a range of topics including:

lifelong learning policy and practice

student experience and mature studentship

learning cultures, professionalism and policy in Further Education

governance and governing in FE

assessment, especially in Further and Higher Education

secondary school choice, white middle class identity and urban schooling

curriculum innovation, creative teaching, creativity and professionalism

lifelong learning and work-related learning

factors in GCSE attainment in secondary education

policy and practice in FE across the countries of the UK

the social theory of Bourdieu (though my work also draws on many other theoretical sources).

Whilst most of my research work has been qualitative, I use quantitative and mixed methods as well, depending on the nature of the research questions.

I was editior and advisory group chair for the Academy of Social Sciences booklet Making the Case No. 12: Education. This was launched at the House of Commons in December 2016 at an event hosted by Neil Camichael MP, chair of the Education Select Committee. The booklet is available at https://www.acss.org.uk/mtc-12-education/ See also https://authorservices.taylorandfrancis.com/making-the-case/  A short Academy video can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9ENtH9o6zs&feature=youtu.be

Current research

I am currently part of the team for Digital Futures of Work, an international research programme on reimagining jobs, skills and education for a digital age, funded by the Singapore Government and led by Prof Phil Brown (2019-2023). https://digitalfuturesofwork.com/  

Teaching

I have taught a wide range of social science topics across sociology and psychology, at every level from pre-GCSE to Doctoral. Main areas include research methodology, learning and assessment in further and higher education, the sociology of post-compulsory education, the social theory of Bourdieu, social equality and inequality, psychological and cultural theories of learning.

See my session for UK ESRC Doctoral students entitled How to get clear about method, methodology, epistemology and ontology, once and for all. This has been adopted by the UK Open University and RMIT in Melbourne, amongst others. It is on You Tube, with over 150,000 views. See it here: ESRC Conference: Methods session

 

External examining

I've examined over 55 Doctoral theses, mostly as external examiner, in around 30 different universities in the UK and abroad. I am also an experienced external examiner for taught programmes in other universities. In 2018 I completed a four-year term of office as external examiner for the MEd/MPhil programme in the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge.

Biography

My early biography helps to explain why I am a sociologist of education.  Following some heavily social class-framed expectations and pedagogy in my primary school, my 11+ result took me into a non-selective Secondary Modern school. This turned out to provide an excellent and rounded education which sparked my interest and curiosity and led to good examination results. However, the much more prestigious 'sixth form' I then went on to attend was educationally poor in comparison, and I left with very modest A level results and a general disillusionment about my capabilities.

A series of short-term jobs in factories and on farms followed, then a job in local government in London, in clerical and administrative roles.  In the same period I was attempting to make a living as a rock musician. It was a fellow musician (Dave Pask, singer with Mark Knopfler's band Cafe Racers) that drew my attention to sociology and I attended his evening class at the local College of Further Education, gaining a good examination result. This led to a decision to leave my job when I was offered a place at Bristol University, and I became a 'mature' student (though I was only in my early 20s when I went there!). I did very well in my degree, and this made me question yet further ideas like the 'heritability' of intelligence and the ideological grip such ideas have on some parts of education.

After graduating I went on to complete a Further Education teaching qualification and taught in FE colleges in London, Bath and Gloucester.  In 1989 I took up a post in the (then) Bristol Polytechnic and completed a part-time PhD (entitled Mature Studentship in Higher Education) by 1996. I continued to work at the University of the West of England, Bristol, setting up and co-directing a research centre, and was promoted to Professor in 2004. I took up my current post at Cardiff in 2011.

Qualifications & fellowships

  • 1981  BSc Hons (1st Class) Social Science, University of Bristol
  • 1982  Certificate in Education (FE) [Distinction], Garnett College, London
  • 1996 PhD – ‘Mature Studentship in Higher Education’, University of the West of England, Bristol (Ext. Examiner Prof R Burgess)
  • 2001 onwards - Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA) (and prior equivalents)
  • 2010 onwards - Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (FRSA)
  • 2015 Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS)

Career overview

  • 1975-1978 Executive Officer, Greater London Council
  • 1982-1987 Lecturer in Sociology and Psychology, City of Bath College of Further Education
  • 1987-89 Lecturer 2/Senior Lecturer in Staff Development, GLOSCAT
  • 1989-91 Senior Lecturer in Education Policy Studies (temp.) Bristol Polytechnic
  • 1991-97 Senior Lecturer in Continuing Education, UWE, Bristol
  • 1997-2000 Principal Lecturer, UWE, Bristol
  • 2000-04 Reader, Faculty of Education, UWE, Bristol
  • 2004-11 Professor, Faculty of Education, UWE, Bristol
  • 2011-19 Professor, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University and Director, ESRC Wales Doctoral Training Centre/Partnership
  • 2019- Professor of Sociology of Education, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University

Honours and awards

  • 2022: Awarded the Hugh Owen Medal for outstanding educational research by the Learned Society of Wales.
  • 2012: Winner of book prize from The Society for Educational Studies for White Middle Class Identities and Urban Schooling (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011 & 2013) (with Reay and Crozier)
  • 2012: Winner (with Colley and others) of the best Annual Conference symposium at the Annual Conference of the British Educational Research Association, on Radical Theory for Radical Times.  Award included acceptance of symposium at the 2013 American Educational Research Association conference in San Francisco and funding to participate.
  • 2006: Winner (with Grenfell and others) of the best Annual Conference symposium at the Annual Conference of the British Educational Research Association, on Exploring the use and usefulness of Bourdieu’s theory of practice for educational research. Award included acceptance of symposium for the 2007 American Educational Research Association conference in Chicago and funding to participate.

Professional memberships

  • Fellow of Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS)
  • Fellow of Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (FRSA)
  • Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
  • Member of British Sociological Association (BSA)
  • Member of American Educational Research Association (AERA)
  • Member of British Educational Research Association (BERA)

Supervisions

Doctoral Supervision

I currently supervise six Doctoral students. I have supervised 24 Doctoral students to successful completion.

I am interested in supervising Doctorates that link to my research interests across the sociology of education. Indicative topics include:

  • Further Education
  • The nature of professional knowledge in educational settings
  • Assessment regimes and practices
  • Learning cultures
  • Social class and educational trajectories
  • Vocational and work-related learning
  • The education/work relationship
  • Marketisation and 'choice' in education
  • Student experience
  • Policy and practice.

Social class, gender, racialisation and ethnicity are important lenses. I am also interested in Bourdieu and developments/critiques of Bourdieu around educational questions.