Dr Laura Day Ashley

Dr Laura Day Ashley

School of Education
Associate Professor of Education
Sustainability Lead for the College of Social Sciences

Contact details

Address
School of Education
University 麻豆精选
Edgbaston, Birmingham
B15 2TT, United Kingdom

Laura joined the School of Education in 2011 after completing a Birmingham Research Fellowship. Prior to that she worked as a member of a team on a large-scale research programme, the National Evaluation of the Children's Fund (DfES) at the University 麻豆精选. She joined the University 麻豆精选 from the University of Oxford where she held an ESRC research studentship and ESRC postdoctoral fellowship.

Qualifications

  • DPhil Educational Studies (University of Oxford). 
  • MSc Educational Research Methods (University of Oxford).
  • MA Social Anthropology (University of St. Andrews).

Teaching

Laura teaches on undergraduate and postgraduate courses. She is Year 3 Tutor for the BA in Education and leads the Schooling: A Social and Cultural History module. She is a tutor on the Practitioner Inquiry in Education Masters module and contributes to the International Studies in Education programme.

Postgraduate supervision

Laura Day Ashley supervises dissertations of Masters International Studies in Education and PhD students. She welcomes expressions of interest from prospective PhD students in the following areas:

  • The private sector/privatisation, including ‘low fee’ private schools in developing countries.
  • Education and marketisation, including academies and free schools.
  • Other forms of non-state schools including NGOs, charitable and philanthropic schools.
  • Non-formal education (including alternative schools, home schooling, indigenous forms of education, peer education and theatre-in-education).
  • History of progressive and child-centred education. 

Research

A key area of expertise is the study of the private sector and non-state actors in education, particularly in developing countries, and Laura has published, edited a collection and reviewed articles and books in this field. Recently she led a multi-disciplinary research team in a rigorous review of the evidence on: (2014, DFID). In this video she talks about the key findings of the review.  

Other current research (British Academy) historically investigates Indian influences on progressive education in Britain in the early 20th century. This historical interest grew from doctoral and postdoctoral research (ESRC) in contemporary India into 'private school outreach ' - private schools that provide educational outreach programmes for children who are out-of-school.

Other work has focused on alternative and informal / non-formal practices in education; a particular interest has been how such practices might enable marginal and mainstream communities to come together in educational settings. Examples of this type of work include a study of peer education for street children in Kolkata, and the use of Forum theatre to explore issues around homelessness and refuge in London secondary schools.

Other activities

Laura Day Ashley has been invited to deliver keynote papers at prestigious national and international conferences and seminars, which she also regularly attends to present her ongoing work. She also regularly reviews books and articles for peer-reviewed academic journals.

Publications

Highlight publications

Coe, R, Waring, M, Hedges, L & Day Ashley, L (eds) 2021, . 3 edn, SAGE Publications. <>

Day-Ashley, L 2017, in SJ Ball (ed.), Sociology of Education II. Major Themes in Education Series, Routledge.

Day-Ashley, L 2012, '', Comparative Education, vol. 49, no. 2, pp. 206-225.

Day-Ashley, L 2006, '', Compare, vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 481-496.

Day-Ashley, L 2005, '', International Journal of Educational Development, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 133-144.

Recent publications

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Day-Ashley, L 2017, . in R Coe, M Waring, LV Hedges & J Arthur (eds), Research Methodologies and Methods in Education. 2nd edn, SAGE Publications.

Day-Ashley, L 2017, . in RJ Coe, M Waring, LV Hedges & J Arthur (eds), Research Methodologies and Methods in Education. 2nd edn, SAGE Publications.

Chapter

Day Ashley, L 2021, . in R Coe, M Waring, LV Hedges & L Day Ashley (eds), Research Methods and Methodologies in Education. 3 edn, SAGE Publications, London, pp. 135-143. <>

Day Ashley, L 2021, . in R Coe, M Waring, LV Hedges & L Day Ashley (eds), Research Methods and Methodologies. 3 edn, SAGE Publications, London, pp. 33-42. <>

Day-Ashley, L 2015, . in Commonwealth Eduction Partnerships 2014/15. Commonwealth Secretariat / Nexus Strategic Partnerships, London/Cambridge.

Commissioned report

Day Ashley, L, Skinner, R, Meyer, A & Perry, T 2020, . Save the Children. <>

Day-Ashley, L & Wales, J 2015, . Education Rigorous Literature Review, DFID. <>

Wales, J, Aslam, M, Hine, S, Rawal, S, Wild, L, Day-Ashley, L, Batley, R, Mcloughlin, C, Nicolai , S & Rose, P 2015, . Education Rigorous Literature Review, DFID. <>

Paper

Day Ashley, L, Gaur, K, Ainslie, R & Skinner, R 2019, '', Paper presented at UKFIET, Oxford, United Kingdom, 17/09/19 - 19/09/19.

Day Ashley, L & Skinner, R 2019, '', Paper presented at UKFIET, Oxford, United Kingdom, 17/09/19 - 19/09/19.

Day Ashley, L & Sriprakash, A 2018, '', Paper presented at British Association for Comparative and International Education (BAICE), 12/09/18 - 14/09/18.

Day-Ashley, L 2016, '', Paper presented at BAICE 2016: Achieving equity and quality in learning: Comparative perspectives, Nottingham, United Kingdom, 11/09/16 - 14/09/16.

Day-Ashley, L & Wales, J 2015, '', Paper presented at UKFIET, Oxford, United Kingdom, 9/09/15.

Web publication/site

Day Ashley, L, , 2020, Web publication/site. <>

Day Ashley, L, , 2019, Web publication/site. <>

Expertise

Research on non-state education and private schools in developing countries funded by the Department for International Development, UK (DFID) is cited in DFID Education Policy 2018 and has informed Save the Children's Global Policy Position on User Fees in Education and Private Schools.