Professor Julie Allan

Professor Julie Allan

School of Education
Professor of Equity and Inclusion

Contact details

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

Julie Allan is Professor of Equity and Inclusion and was formerly the Head of the School of Education. Her work encompasses inclusive education, disability studies and children’s rights and is both empirical and theoretical. She has a particular interest in educational theory and the insights offered through poststructural and social capital analyses. Julie has been advisor to the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly and the Dutch and Queensland Governments and has worked extensively with the Council of Europe.

Julie is an Honorary Network Member of the European Educational Research Association (EERA).

Qualifications

  • PhD (Stirling)
  • BEd (Moray House, Edinburgh)

Teaching

Postgraduate supervision

Julie is currently supervising doctoral students working on the kinaesthetic in education, curriculum and creativity, parent-teacher consultation and FE cultures.

Prospective doctoral students working in inclusion, disability and children’s rights would be particularly welcome, as would those with a focus on other aspects of education but who wish to engage with educational theory.

Publications

Recent publications

Book

Allan, J & Peruzzo, F 2023, Students, teachers, families, and a socially just education: Rewriting the grammar of schooling to unsettle identities. Education Studies, Lived Places Publishing, New York. <https://livedplacespublishing.com/book/isbn/9781915271778>

Article

Allan, J, Bagger, A, Andersson, AL, Andersson Norrie, I, Bertilsdotter Rosqvist, H, Dahl, IA, Engren, J, Tolgfors, S, Karlsson, J, Nakeva von Mentzer, C, Wåger, J, Yourston, H & österborg Wiklund, S 2025, 'Including all: the contribution of a diverse research community', Research Papers in Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2025.2522073

Jørgensen, CR & Allan, J 2025, 'Our school: our space–inclusion and young people’s experiences of space within an English secondary free school', International Journal of Inclusive Education, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 154-174. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2022.2073059

Allan, J & Harwood, V 2024, 'Approaching the self: alternative perspectives of selfwork in education', International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 399-422. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2023.2233922

Nieminen, JH, Bagger, A & Allan, J 2023, 'Discourses of risk and hope in research on mathematical learning difficulties', Educational Studies in Mathematics, vol. 112, no. 2, pp. 337-357. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-022-10204-x

Allan, J 2023, 'Inclusion: how far have we come and how far can we go?', Education Inquiry. https://doi.org/10.1080/20004508.2023.2264059

Osterborg, S, Bertilsdotter Rosquvist, H, Bagger, A & Allan, J 2023, 'Waiting for discovery and support? Divergent subjectivities in the Swedish education landscape', European Journal of Inclusive Education, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 15-29. https://doi.org/10.7146/ejie.v1i1.135517

Allan, J & Omarova, T 2022, 'Disability and inclusion in Kazakhstan', Disability and Society, vol. 37, no. 7, pp. 1067-1084. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2020.1867073

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Jørgensen, CR & Allan, J 2022, Free schools, inclusion and social capital of children with special educational needs and disabilities. in C Kulz, K Morrin & R McGinity (eds), Inside the English Education Lab: Critical Qualitative and Ethnographic Perspectives on the Academies Experiment. Manchester University Press, Manchester, pp. 89-108. https://doi.org/10.7765/9781526145390.00012

Chapter

Peruzzo, F & Allan, J 2024, Decolonising Inclusive Education: New Approaches for Disability Education Policy and Practices. in T Chataika & D Goodley (eds), The Routledge Handbook of Postcolonial Disability Studies. 1st edn, Routledge International Handbooks, Routledge, pp. 213-228. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003310709-23

Allan, J & Peruzzo, F 2024, Extreme Exclusion in the Time of COVID-19: Questioning 'the Normal' and Rethinking the Future of Inclusive Education in England. in B Hamre & L Villadsen (eds), Islands of Extreme Exclusion: Studies on Global Practices of Isolation, Punishment, and Education of the Unwanted. Studies in Inclusive Education, vol. 52, Brill, pp. 203-222. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004688520_011

Allan, J 2022, Challenges and dilemmas in inclusive education: What we can learn from children. in J Banks (ed.), The Inclusion Dialogue: Debating Issues, Challenges and Tension with Global Experts. 1st edn, Routledge, pp. 23-35. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003263425-3

Allan, J 2022, Disability Studies, Disability Arts and Students' Perspectives: New Critical Tools for Inclusive Education. in B Amrhein & S Naraian (eds), Reading Inclusion Divergently: Articulations from Around the World. International Perspectives on Inclusive Education, vol. 19, Emerald Publishing Limited, pp. 63-74. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-363620220000019005

Allan, J 2022, Foucault and his acolytes: Discourse, power and ethics. in M Murphy (ed.), Social Theory and Education Research: Understanding Foucault, Habermas, Bourdieu and Derrida. 2nd edn, Routledge, pp. 47-64. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003156550-5

Editorial

Peruzzo, F, Joiko, S, Allan, J & Rojas, MT 2023, 'Other sociologies of education: providing critical perspectives from the Global South and North', British Journal of Sociology of Education, vol. 44. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2023.2296008

View all publications in research portal

Expertise

Education

Disability in education and special educational needs; all aspects of diversity and education policy.

Policy experience

Expert adviser to Council of Europe on educational policy; organised several European ministerial conferences and high level meetings relating to educational policy; adviser to the Scottish Parliament on special educational needs; adviser to the Welsh Assembly on special educational needs; adviser to the Queensland Government on education and inclusion.

Other information: School Governor.