➡ Where: University of Manchester
➡ Date: Friday 30th January 2026
➡ Time: 12.00pm – 4.30pm (UK time)
We invite you to the next event from the Critical Education Policy and Leadership Studies (CEPaLS) RIG entitled, ‘Warwick Mansell on 25 years of academy scepticism: Where are we now and where are we heading?’.
This will take place in the Ellen Wilkinson Building, Room C5.1, at the University of Manchester.
In this meeting, freelance journalist, Warwick Mansell, will present his analysis of academy policy in England, followed by a discussion with participants.
The event will start with lunch and conclude with a CEPaLS business meeting. We hope you can join us.
Please note, this event is free to BELMAS members and £5.00 for non-members. To ensure you receive your free ticket, please log in on the BELMAS website before booking.
If you pay the non-member fee to attend and then become a BELMAS Member within a month of the event taking place, please let us know and we will refund the £5 fee.
Registration will close at midnight (UK) on Friday 23rd January 2026.
Warwick Mansell
Founder of Education Uncovered
Biography
Warwick started his career in education journalism back in 1997, when forced by an editor into covering schools and the local universities two years into his career at the Cambridge Evening News. From 1999 he then spent nine years as a reporter at the Times Educational Supplement, covering most areas of schools policymaking, before going freelance in 2009. He has been a regular contributor to the Guardian and Observer newspapers, and wrote the Guardian’s education diary from 2012 to 2017.
In October 2017, wanting to track education policymaking in more detail and its interaction with controversies on the ground, he set up Education Uncovered. More than eight years, and hundreds of articles, later, it is still chronicling what can be concerning goings-on, often in and around the academies policy.
His book Education by Numbers: the Tyranny of Testing, which charts the side-effects of results pressures on schools, was published by Politico’s in 2007. He was also co-author of the book the New Political Economy of Teacher Education: the Enterprise Narrative and the Shadow State, published by Policy Press in 2004.
He was shortlisted for the Guardian/Private Eye Paul Foot Award for investigative journalism in 2008, for his work on testing in schools.
Joining instructions will be sent out the day before the event, so please keep an eye on your inbox for these. We look forward to seeing you at the event!
