Carl Parsons BSc Hons Sociology, PGCE, PhD

Visiting Professor, Social Inclusion Studies

Background

Carl Parsons is a Visiting Professor of Social Inclusion Studies in the School of Education at the University of Greenwich. He has a BSc Sociology (LSE, 1969), PGCE (p/t University of London, 1971) and PhD (University of Leeds, 1981)

He joined the University in 2010 as a Visiting Professor, supervising research student dissertations, contributing to research developments and bids and directing research and evaluation projects.

Previously, at Canterbury Christ Church University, he led the Post Graduate Certificate in Education (Primary), the MEd as well as developing a modular EdD. He established and directed of the Evaluation Unit which had contracts locally and nationally for the Technical and Vocational Education Initiative, Health Education, head teacher training, the cost of school exclusions, peer mentoring in secondary schools.

His areas of interest are: evaluation, project design, school exclusion, attainment statistics and ethnicity, gender and deprivation.

Posts held previously:

  • 1981-2009, Senior Lecturer/Principal Lecturer/Professor [from 1998], Canterbury Christ Church University
  • 1978-82 and 1988-93, Open University University Course Tutor (p/t):
  • 1976-81, Research Fellow, University of Sussex
  • 1974-76, Research Assistant, Sheffield City Polytechnic, Sheffield
  • 1971-74, Evening Tutor (p/t), Blantyre House Detention Centre, Goudhurst and Aldington, Kent
  • 1970-74, Teacher, Tenterden/Ashford, Kent

Education studies

Responsibilities within the university
  • Visiting Professor of Social Inclusion Studies, School of Education
  • Supervising postgraduate research student dissertations
  • Conducting evaluation studies
  • Research

Recognition
  • Doctoral Thesis Examiner at the Universities of Anglia Ruskin, Brunel, East Anglia, Edinburgh, Greenwich, London, Nottingham, Oxford, Sheffield, Southampton, Sussex.
  • DfE advisory group on school exclusions pilot (2011-12)
  • Office of the Children's Commissioner for England advisory group on school exclusions
  • Committee involvement: Reclaiming Education; Reclaiming Schools; Campaign for State Education (CASE)
  • Member of the British Educational Research Association (BERA)
  • Editorial Board of Educational Review
  • Trustee of the Coastal Academies Trust [Kent] and Inaura School [Somerset]

Research / Scholarly interests

Carl's interests include research on ethnicity, deprivation and educational attainment. He has monitored and written on school exclusions for over 20 years.

He is a research user of the Department for Education's National Pupil Database and is working on two national cohorts of 500,000 pupils, focussing particularly on ethnicity and attainment. Currently (2018), he is working with others exploring the Pakistani heritage experience of education in England.

Key funded projects

    • 2014-15, UK Youth/Cabinet Office: Evaluation of the UK Youth, Starbucks social action journey programme
    • 2012, UK Youth: Evaluation of the UK Youth, eco-health project (for adults with mental health problems)
    • 2011, Dandelion: Evaluation of Dandelion Time (Family therapy project)
    • 2010-11, Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) Technology Strategy Board (TSB): Developing the family and young people support work of Community Empowerment Network (CEN)
    • 2010-11, Medway Borough Council: Evaluation of Medway Family Intervention Project (FIP)
    • 2008 Esmée Fairbairn Foundation: Promoting Strategic Alternatives to Exclusions from School
    • 2005- 2007 EU Social Fund Interreg Project: Inter-agency partnership for improving inclusion of 'at risk' young people (with Professor Pam Maras, University of Greenwich and Professor Danielle Zay, Charles de Gaulle Université, Lille 3
    • 2015 Analysis of Birmingham longitudinal attainment and ethnicity data
    • 2017/18 Analysis of two longitudinal cohorts from National Pupil Database

Recent publications

Parsons, C. (2019) Social justice, race and class in education in England: competing perspectives, Cambridge Journal of Education, 49.3, pp. 309-327

Parsons, C. and Thompson, T. (2017) Ethnicity, disadvantage and other variables in the analysis of Birmingham longitudinal school attainment datasets, Educational Review, 69.5, pp. 577-99

Parsons, C. (2016) Ethnicity, gender, deprivation and low educational attainment in England – political arithmetic, ideological stances and the deficient society. Education, Citizenship and Social Justice, 11 pp. 160-83

Parsons, C. (2013) Challenged school – challenged society: stacking the odds against the poor. Educational Review, 65.3, pp. 267-283

Parsons, C. (2012) Schooling the Estate kids. Rotterdam: Sense.

Parsons, C. (2011) Strategic alternatives to exclusion form school. Stoke: Trentham Books.

Parsons, C. (2010) Achieving zero Permanent exclusions from school, social justice and economy. FORUM for Promoting 3-19 Education, 52.3, pp. 395-404.