Paul Ashwin
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paulashwin.bsky.social
Paul Ashwin
@paulashwin.bsky.social

I teach and research about higher education

Education 61%
Political science 28%
Pinned
Delighted my article 'The definition of educational quality in a quasi-marketised HE system: stumbling towards a knowledge crisis' is now published open access www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... & even happier it's part of a brilliant special issue edited by @jo-annebaird.bsky.social & Gemma Moss
The definition of educational quality in a quasi-marketised higher education system: stumbling towards a knowledge crisis
In this article, I examine the definition of educational quality in the English higher education system. I examine three phases in the measurement of educational quality, each prompted by the repor...
www.tandfonline.com

There's still time to register for this webinar about our online part-time PhD programme in higher education on Wednesday 26th November 17.00-18.00 (UK time).
The programme for the #SocMedHE25 conference at Lancaster University on Tuesday 16 December 2025 is now available. socmedhe25.wordpress.com/2025/07/16/p.... Register by 5 Dec registration.lancaster.ac.uk/Registration...
Programme
Please note that the programme is provisional and may be subject to minor changes before the conference.Programme outline: TimeDurationTitle09:0030-minRegistration09:3015-minWelcome and housekeepin…
socmedhe25.wordpress.com
We're very happy to share the conference programme - you can view the range of exciting topics we'll be discussing here: socmedhe25.wordpress.com/2025/07/16/p...
If you would like to join us on Dec 16th in Lancaster, registration is open - *closes 5th Dec*: socmedhe25.wordpress.com/2025/10/03/r...
#SocMedHE25
Video made with Biteable. The World's Simplest Video Maker
biteable.com

Reposted by Paul Ashwin

Free online seminar – all welcome.
Corridor Cultures: Transforming school cultures of gender and sexuality in partnership with students, teachers, and school leaders.
Dr Victoria Rawlings, University of Sydney.
Wednesday 26th November, 4.30-6pm (UK time).
Corridor Cultures: Transforming school cultures of gender and sexuality in partnership with students, teachers, and school leaders, Wednesday 26 November, 4:30pm - Lancaster University
'Corridor Cultures: Transforming school cultures of gender and sexuality in partnership with students, teachers, and school leaders'. Dr Victoria Rawlings, University of Sydney. Free online seminar. ...
www.lancaster.ac.uk

Reposted by Paul Ashwin

Here's a piece by Emily Gray and me in University World News about our recent article on university staff experiences of gender-related violence in Australia and England: www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?sto...

There's a link in the piece to the full article, which is available open access.
Gender-related campus violence is a problem for staff too
Research on sexual violence in universities tends to focus on students, but a study across two countries – England and Australia – shows that staf...
www.universityworldnews.com

Reposted by Paul Ashwin

As we discussed, there has been a lot of progress on promoting #inclusion in many ways but nowhere near enough. Even those with the best of intentions face countermanding pressures ranging from sectoral hierarchies and poor governance to insufficient resourcing and knowledge sharing.
2/2
Was part of a panel with @rhordosy.bsky.social , @mannymadriaga.bsky.social and @soniailie.bsky.social as @srhe.bsky.social network convenors talking about wider widening participation dynamics for Cambridge Faculty of Education's new THRiVE research group.
www.educ.cam.ac.uk/research/gro...
1/2

Reposted by Carolyn Jackson

Really enjoyed contributing to the @wonkhe.bsky.social Festival of HE panel on knowledge & skills with Gemma Marsh, Tony Moss and @debbiemcvitty.bsky.social. Heartened by the panel's shared pragmatic commitment to making education meaningfully accessible to a diverse a range of students.
We're looking for a Lecturer in Technology Enhanced Learning to contribute to our PhD in E-Research and TEL for 12 months. Please share: hr-jobs.lancs.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...
Job Opportunity at Lancaster University: Lecturer in Technology Enhanced Learning
Lecturer in Technology Enhanced Learning in the School of Social Sciences, Lancaster University (Temporary one-year post).The School of Social Sciences seeks to appoint a full-time Lecturer in Technol...
hr-jobs.lancs.ac.uk
Great to see my article with Emily M. Gray is now published open access.
Gender-related violence in Australian and UK universities
We analyse interview data from two projects undertaken in Australia and England to explore gender-related violence (GRV) and its impact on university staff. This focus is novel and important as mos...
doi.org

Reposted by Carolyn Jackson

Quoted on the danger of putting too much weight on TEF judgements by using them to allocate resources because it will completely undermine the TEF's already limited validity as a measure of educational quality in this @timeshighered.bsky.social piece www.timeshighereducation.com/depth/tef-so...
Is the TEF a solution that has finally found a problem?
The Teaching Excellence Framework’s reliance on existing outcomes and satisfaction data, as proxies for teaching quality, has always invited criticism. But with the OfS now proposing to use it to asse...
www.timeshighereducation.com

Congratulations Richard!
Nobody is more surprised than me that I'll be a keynote speaker for the Emerging Researchers' Group at the European Educational Research Association Conference in Tampere in August 2026.

(Conference submissions open from the 1st of December, by the way.)

eera-ecer.de/conferences/...
Keynote Speakers | EERA
eera-ecer.de
Delighted to have this paper out in Disability & Society on autistic students' & graduates' experiences of negotiating diagnoses / identities whilst at university.
Important insights for other autistic ppl at uni + staff and peers. It's #openaccess via link: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Reposted by Carolyn Jackson

Interested in studying a fully online, part-time PhD in higher education? I will be hosting an applicant webinar for our HEREE programme from 17.00-18.00 (UK time) on Wed 26th November on Zoom. Register here: www.lancaster.ac.uk/social-scien...
PhD Higher Education: Research Evaluation and Enhancement Applicant Webinar - 26th November 2025, Wednesday 26 November, 5:00pm - Lancaster University
Interested in applying for our fully online PhD Higher Education: Research Evaluation and Enhancement in October 2026? Join one of our monthly online webinars. You will have the opportunity to hear mo...
www.lancaster.ac.uk

As ever, thoughtful analysis from my colleague @ddubdrahcir.bsky.social
I took a deeper look at the HEPI/Kaplan Soft Power "Index".

To me what it isn't saying - what is effectively being taken for granted - is far more important and interesting than what it purportedly tells us (which is of very little real value).

ddubdrahcir.wordpress.com/2025/11/05/s...
Soft Power Rankings? What the…?
World leading, or not…? Something caught my eye online recently – the publication of the “HEPI/Kaplan Soft Power Index” (LINK). I clicked on it out of curiosity and almost instantly wished I …
ddubdrahcir.wordpress.com
I took a deeper look at the HEPI/Kaplan Soft Power "Index".

To me what it isn't saying - what is effectively being taken for granted - is far more important and interesting than what it purportedly tells us (which is of very little real value).

ddubdrahcir.wordpress.com/2025/11/05/s...
Soft Power Rankings? What the…?
World leading, or not…? Something caught my eye online recently – the publication of the “HEPI/Kaplan Soft Power Index” (LINK). I clicked on it out of curiosity and almost instantly wished I …
ddubdrahcir.wordpress.com

Let me know whether you end up regretting it Paul.

For those interested (anyone?), it was the work for the Oxford Review of Education article that led me to write a @wonkhe.bsky.social blog on the way that the Office for Students has ventriloquised the student interest: wonkhe.com/blogs/ventri...

Reposted by Paul Ashwin

The "knowledge infrastructure crisis" paper is part of this special issue on various "knowledge crises" and "democratic deficits" in contemporary education -all of it just published together in Oxford Review of Education www.tandfonline.com/toc/core20/5...
Oxford Review of Education
Special Issue: Knowledge crises and democratic deficit in education. Guest Edited by Gemma Moss and Jo-Anne Baird. Volume 51, Issue 6 of Oxford Review of Education
www.tandfonline.com
New paper just out on how changing sociotechnical systems of knowledge production and access - platforms, the cloud, AI - pose profound challenges to educational practice and research doi.org/10.1080/0305...
Knowledge infrastructure crisis: digital democratic deficits and alternative designs for education
The production and circulation of knowledge in education increasingly depends on large-scale digital infrastructures. In this article we provide a critical review of the transformation of the conte...
doi.org
I'm looking forward to being part of a panel at the launch event of the Language Education Technology Research Group tomorrow.

The Future of Technology in Language Education
Wednesday 29 October, 2025
13:30-15:00

www.lancaster.ac.uk/confucius-in...
The Future of Technology in Language Education, Wednesday 29 October, 1:30pm - Lancaster University
All welcome to join 'The Future of Technology in Language Education' event. This event will launch the Language Education Technology Research Group.
www.lancaster.ac.uk

Reposted by Carolyn Jackson

There is still time to register for this applicant webinar this Thursday for our part-time fully online PhD in Higher Education. I look forward to seeing you there.

Reposted by Paul Ashwin

Reposted by Carolyn Jackson

me, @profstevenjones.bsky.social and others on the dangers of the Skills White Paper proposals for measuring and assuring the quality of education offered by HE institutions: www.timeshighereducation.com/news/risk-st...
Risk of ‘standardisation’ as ministers mull progression measures
Universities would look to ‘game’ new metric for testing learning gain, critics warn, with external examination defended as ‘best we’ve got’
www.timeshighereducation.com
🎓 New publication alert 📢

Open access in British Educational Research Journal:

"System failure? Exploring the interplay of fear of failure, competition, cooperation and sense of belonging in education in England and Flanders" with @carolynjackson.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1002/berj...
<em>British Educational Research Journal</em> | BERA Journal | Wiley Online Library
Fear of failure is damaging in a host of ways yet is rife in many schools. Drawing on self-worth theory, we explore whether fear of academic failure is higher in education systems with features that ...
doi.org
Excited to announce that the #SocMedHE25 keynote speaker will be @andytattersall! Andy will be speaking on '#AcademicTwitter Is Dead — What Died, What Survived, What’s Next?'. For more info, including the CFP and registration, see the website at: socmedhe25.wordpress.com/2025/07/15/k...
Keynote speaker
We are excited to announce that Andy Tattersall will be the keynote speaker at the conference!  #AcademicTwitter Is Dead — What Died, What Survived, What’s Next X was once the number one place for …
socmedhe25.wordpress.com

Reposted by Carolyn Jackson

Quoted as questioning “the wisdom of positioning a direct link between HE and the labour market,” over which HE has no control; instead universities "offer students... ways of engaging with the world that allow them to make use of the knowledge they’ve studied, to engage with the world in a new way"
Universities have long trumpeted graduates' employment advantages. But as the jobs market dries up, this could come back to bite them, writes @julietterowsell.bsky.social (feat @profstevenjones.bsky.social @paulashwin.bsky.social) www.timeshighereducation.com/news/faith-u...
www.timeshighereducation.com

Reposted by Paul Ashwin

Universities have long trumpeted graduates' employment advantages. But as the jobs market dries up, this could come back to bite them, writes @julietterowsell.bsky.social (feat @profstevenjones.bsky.social @paulashwin.bsky.social) www.timeshighereducation.com/news/faith-u...
www.timeshighereducation.com