John Howlett

Biography

Biography

I received my MA in History and my M. Phil and PhD in Educational History from the University of Cambridge where I was also a Research and Teaching Assistant.
I was appointed to the staff at the University of Keele in September 2011 and commenced my post Jan 1st, 2012.

Research and scholarship

Research and scholarship

My research interest areas cover

• History of Education
• Progressive Education
• Comparative Education
• Victorian and Twentieth Century Poetry

I have two broad areas of academic interest. In the main, I am an historian of education and have published widely in the field. I am, in addition, one of the country’s leading editors of Victorian and twentieth century poetry and have produced, to date, ten scholarly editions with more in press.

As of 2024 I am Editor of the War Poetry Review journal and Chairman of the War Poets Association.

Teaching

Teaching

I have taught on a wide range of modules since my time at Keele including:

Undergraduate Modules

• EDU – 10030: Back to the Future: Issues in the History of Schooling (Module Leader)
• EDU - 10030: Education in Britain: Past, Present and Future (Module Leader)
• EDU - 20022: Comparative Issues in British and US Education (Module Leader)
• EDU - 20020: Research Strategies and Methods in Education (Module Leader)
• EDU - 20023: Play, Power and Pedagogy (Module Leader)
• EDU - 20024: Education Matters: Contemporary Issues and Debates in Education (Module Leader)
• EDU – 20029: Education Placement (Module Leader)
• EDU – 20031: Progressive Education and its Discontents (Module Creator and Leader)
• EDU - 10029: Childhood Policy and Education (Former Co-convener)
• EDU – 20021: Issues in Public Education (Contributor)
• EDU – 30071: Independent Research Project (Contributor and dissertation supervisor)

Professional Doctorate Modules

• EDU – 40016: Prof Doc: Introduction to Theories and Methods as a Reflective Practitioner-Researcher (Module Leader)
• EDU - 40017: Prof Doc: Research Methods and Evaluation (Module Leader)
• EDU – 40032: Prof Doc: Critical Theories and Analytical Perspectives in Education (Module Leader)
• EDU – 50001: Prof Doc: Preparing and Presenting a Thesis Proposal (Module Leader, Progression Chair and Panellist)

Other Masters Modules

• EDU – 40015: MA Education: Research Methods (Module Leader)
• TLHE – 05 MA HEP: Teaching Reflectively in Higher Education (Module Leader)
• TLHE- 04 MA HEP: Design and Development in Higher Education (Contributor)

Further information

Further information

Further information

Membership of Professional Bodies

• Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
• Fellow of the HE Academy
• BERA
• History of Education Society (UK)
• Historical Association

Reviewing

I have acted as a referee and reviewer for History of Education, Paedagogica Historica, British Journal of Education Studies, Oxford Review of Education and Cambridge Journal of Education. I also review for publishers including SAGE publications, Routledge, Bloomsbury, Exeter University Press, Manchester University Press, and Palgrave Macmillan. I have also acted as an external assessor for the AHRC and ESRC.

I have made a number of appearances within the media e.g. BBC Stoke, LBC Radio and BBC Three Counties Radio discussing governmental educational policy. I appear occasionally on television and I have been interviewed for BBC History magazine as a resident educational expert.

Publications

Publications

 

1 Books

1.1 Authored books

• HOWLETT. J. (2013) Progressive Education: a Critical Introduction (London, Bloomsbury Publishing), pp. 312.
• HOWLETT, J. (2016) Edmond Holmes and Progressive Education (London, Routledge Press), pp. 196.
• HOWLETT, J. (in press, 2023) Challenging the Orthodox: The Development of Progressive Education in the United Kingdom 1850-1950 (London, Routledge), pp. 196.

 

1.2 Edited Collections

• HOWLETT, J. (2016) Selected Poems and Prose of Edmond Holmes (New York, Farleigh Dickenson University Press), pp. 200 including 10000 word Introduction and 7000 critical notes.
• HOWLETT, J. (2017) Invictus: Selected Poems and Prose of W.E. Henley (Hove, Sussex Academic Press), pp. 200 including 13000 word introduction and 5000 word critical notes.
• HOWLETT, J. (2017) Collected Poems of Clere Parsons (Beeston: Shoestring Press), pp. 72.
• HOWLETT, J.  (2021) At the Dark Hour: Collected Poems of Paul Dehn 1935-1965 (Hove, Waterloo Press), pp. 162 including 5500 word introduction.
• HOWLETT, J. (2021) Selected Poems of James Reeves (London, Greenwich Exchange Press), pp. 150 including 5000 word introduction. 
• HOWLETT, J. (2021) For Johnny: Selected Poems of John Pudney (Brighton, DareGale Press), pp. 120 including 4000 word introduction.
• HOWLETT, J. (2023) Playing the Game: Selected Poems of Henry Newbolt (Liverpool, Liverpool University Press), pp. 256 including 22000 word introduction, 6000 word critical notes. 
• HOWLETT, J. (forthcoming 2023) Dancing Years: Selected Poems of Christopher Hassall, (Hove, Waterloo Press), pp. 180 including 7000 word introduction.
• HOWLETT, J. (forthcoming 2023)  The Sweet Anarchist: Selected Poems of John Barlas, (London, Greenwich Exchange Press), pp. 150 including 5000 word introduction.
• HOWLETT, J. (forthcoming 2024)  Coventry Patmore: Victorian Angel (London, Greenwich Exchange Press), pp. 150, 46000 words.
• HOWLETT, J. (forthcoming 2024)  Out of the Forest: Selected Poems of Leonard Clark, (University of Gloucestershire Press), pp. 96 including 4000 word introduction.

 

1.3. Chapters in books

• HOWLETT, J. (2021) Caldwell Cook, Play and the Perse, in: J. Howlett and A. Palmer (Eds) English Pioneers in Arts Education: Unfolding Creativity 1870-1939 (London, Palgrave Macmillan) pp. 148-168.
• HOWLETT, J. (2021) Harriet Finlay-Johnson and the lite school on the Downs, in: J. Howlett and A. Palmer (Eds) English Pioneers in Arts Education: Unfolding Creativity 1870-1939 (London, Palgrave Macmillan) pp. 125-146.
• HOWLETT, J. (2021) Introduction, in: J. Howlett and A. Palmer (Eds) English Pioneers in Arts Education: Unfolding Creativity 1870-1939 (London, Palgrave Macmillan) pp. 1-30.
• HOWLETT, J. (2021) Conclusion, in: J. Howlett and A. Palmer (Eds) English Pioneers in Arts Education: Unfolding Creativity 1870-1939 (London, Palgrave Macmillan) pp. 236-253.

 

2 Academic Articles

 

• HOWLETT, J. (in press, accepted 2023) From Romanticism to the Buddha: Edmond Holmes and the Victorian Poet-as-Philosopher. To be published in Victorian Poetry 2023.
• HOWLETT, J. (in press, accepted 2023) Freedom, Democracy, and Self-Government. The Progressive Case of J.H. Simpson. To be published in History of Education 2023.
• HOWLETT, J. (in press, accepted 2023) The Last Noble Failure: Chivalry and The Great War Poetry of Henry Newbolt. To be published in War Poetry Review. The Journal of the War Poets Association 2023.
• HOWLETT, J. (2023) Freedom, Differentialism, and the Partnership Method: The Progressive Education of Norman MacMunn. History of Education 52 (1), pp. 56-75.
• HOWLETT, J. (2021) John Pudney, War Poetry Review. The Journal of the War Poets Association 2021, pp. 36-53.
• Howlett, J. (2021) Norman MacMunn. The Staffordian: The Magazine for King Edward VI Alumni, 4000 words, pp. 28-31.
• HOWLETT, J. (2021) The Educational Thought and Spiritual Life of Victor Lytton, History of Education, 50 (6), pp. 802-819.
• HOWLETT, J. (2019) Henry Caldwell Cook, Creativity and Democratic Learning, History of Education Review 48 (2), pp.227-241.
• HOWLETT, J. (2017) The Formation, Development and Contribution of the New Ideals in Education Conferences, 1914 – 1937, History of Education 46 (4), pp.459-479.
• HOWLETT, J. (2011) Quentin Skinner, Intentionality and the History of Education, Paedagogica Historica 47 (3), pp. 415 – 433.
• HOWLETT, J. (2012) Actions Speak Louder than Words: An Application on Intentionality to History of Education 2, History of Education Researcher 90, pp. 97 – 109.
• HOWLETT, J. (2010) Good Intentions Count: An Application of Intentionality to the History of Education, History of Education Researcher 86, pp. 61 – 71.
• HOWLETT, J. (2010) Method in the Meaning: Intentionality and the Re-visioning of Progressivism, History of Education Researcher 85 pp.11-18.

 

3 Book reviews and other publications

• Howlett, J. (2013) Review of Ian Abbott, Michael Rathbone and Paul Whitehead, Education Policy (London, SAGE Publications), British Journal of Education Studies, 61(4), pp. 494-495.
• Howlett, J. (2014) Paired Review of James M. Banner Jr., Being a Historian: An Introduction to the Professional World of History (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press) and J.H. Elliott, History in the Making (New Haven, Yale University Press), History of Education, 44(2), pp. 251-255.
• Howlett, J. (2015) Review of Barnita Bagchi (Ed), Eckhardt Fuchs (Ed) and Kate Rousmaniere (Ed) Connecting Histories of Education: Transnational and Cross-Cultural Exchanges in (Post)colonial Education (New York, Berghahn Books), Cambridge Journal of Education 45(4), pp. 558 – 560.
• Howlett, J. (2016) Review of David Turner, The Old Boys: The Decline and Rise of the Public School (New Haven, Yale University Press), Journal of British Studies, 55(1), pp. 203-204.
• Howlett, J. (2016) Review of Tom O’Donoghue and Judith Harford, Secondary School Education in Ireland: Histories, Memories and Life Stories, 1922-1967 (London, Palgrave Macmillan), History of Education, 44(1), pp. 139-141.
• Howlett, J. (2016) Review of Ken Jones, Education in Britain 1944-2014 2nd edition (Cambridge, Polity Press), History of Education, 46(3), pp. 410-411.
• Howlett, J. (2018) Review of Mustafa Eryaman (Ed) and Bertram Bruce (Ed), International Handbook of Progressive Education (New York, Peter Lang Publishing), Other Education – the journal of Educational Alternatives 7(1), pp. 71-74.
• Howlett, J. (2017) Review of John Cannon, Schooling in England 1660-1850 – Part I: Introduction ‘a Noiseless Revolution’ and Part II: the Gazetteer of English Schools (List and Index Society), History of Education, 47(3), pp. 436-438.
• Howlett, J. (2017) Review of Brendan Walsh (Ed), Essays in the History of Irish Education (London, Palgrave Macmillan), History of Education, 47(4), pp. 570-572.
• Howlett, J. (2017) Review of Philip Dixon, Testing Times: Success, Failure and Fiasco in Welsh Education Policy since Devolution (Cardiff, Welsh Academic Press), British Journal of Education Studies, 66 (2), pp. 278-280.
• Howlett, J. (2018) Review of Agnieszka Bates, Transforming Education: Meaning, Myths and Complexity (London, Routledge Press), British Journal of Education Studies, 66(3), pp. 414-416.
• Howlett, J. (2018) Review of Gary McCulloch and Stevan Cowan, A Social History of Educational Studies and Research in History of Education (London, Routledge Press), 48(3), pp. 422-424.
• Howlett, J. (2019) Review of Peter Gronn, Just As I Am: A Life of J.R. Darling (London, Hardie Grant Publishing), History of Education 49 (5), pp. 729-731.
• Howlett, J. (2019) Review of Bryan Caplan, The Case Against Education: why the Education System is a waste of Time and Money (Princetown, Princeton University Press), British Journal of Education Studies, 67(4), pp.561-563.
• Howlett, J. (2019) Review of Jane Kenway (Ed), Johannah Fahey (Ed), Aaron Koh (Ed), Cameron McCarthy (Ed) and Fazal Rizvi (Ed), Class Choreographies. Elite Schools and Globalization (London, Palgrave Macmillan), British Journal of
  Education Studies, 68 (1), pp. 135-137.
• Howlett, J. (2020) Review of Helen Loader, Mrs Humphrey Ward and Greenian Philosophy (London, Palgrave Macmillan), in History of Education, 50(2), pp. 284-286.
• Howlett, J. (2020) Review of Michael Shattock and Aniko Horvath The Governance of British Higher Education: The Impact of Governmental, Financial, and Market Pressures (London: Bloomsbury Academic), in British Journal of Education Studies 69(1), pp. 129-131.
• Howlett, J. (2021) Review of Tina Bruce, Friedrich Froebel. A Critical Introduction to Key Themes and Debates (London, Bloomsbury Academic), The Curriculum Journal, 32(4), pp.758-759.
• Howlett, J. (2022) Review of Keith Harber, Post-Covid Schooling: Future Alternatives to the Global Normal (London: Routledge Press) in Other Education – the journal of Educational Alternatives 11(1), pp. 150-153.
• Howlett, J. (2022) Review of Histories of Everyday Life. The Making of Popular Social History in Britain, 1918-1979 (Manchester, Manchester University Press) in History of Education 52 (1), pp. 139-141.
• Howlett, J. (2023) J.H.Simpson in The Rendcombian: Old Rendcombian Society Newsletter, 49th Edition, pp. 55-56.
• Howlett, J. ‘Play up! play up! and play the game!’ - the vital legacy of poet Henry Newbolt. Available at https://liverpooluniversitypress.blog/2023/06/29/play-up-play-up-and-play-the-game-the-vital-legacy-of-poet-henry-newbolt/
• Howlett, J. (2012, November) The 150-year Battle to Improve Britain’s Schools, BBC History Magazine (interview).
• Howlett, J. (2018, August) The Historians View: Do Grammar Schools have a Future as well as a Past?, BBC History Magazine (debate piece).
• Howlett, J. (2016) Introduction to E. Holmes, Freedom and Growth and Other Essays, London, Routledge Revivals).
• Howlett, J. (2010) A Graduate’s Tale in P. Warner and P. Raby (Eds) Homerton: Evolution of Cambridge College (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press), pp. 47-53.

4 Web-based internet resources

• Howlett, J. (2021) ‘James Herbert Simpson (1883-1959)’ as part of Oxford University Press’s Dictionary of National Biography. Available at https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-63837?rskey=zTEEqs&result=7

 

Supervision

Supervision

Current supervision of research students

Start and finish date	Lead or 2nd supervisor	PhD, EdD, or MPhil	Student name	Project title	Funder	Planned submission date
2023-2027	Lead	EdD	Sulina Piesse	School Leadership, CDA, and the Pandemic (title to be finalized)	Self	2027
2023-2027	Second	EdD	Victoria Turner	An exploration of non-academic outcomes for students who are educated in Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) in the UK.	Self	2027
2022-2026 PT	Lead	EdD	Teresa Vaughan- Evans	Rural School Pupils, Rurality, and Identity (title to be finalized)	Self	2026
2021-2025 PT	Lead	EdD	Fran Fuller	Undergraduates’ experience of inter-professional learning and education (title to be finalized)	Self	2025
2021-2024 PT	Lead	PhD	Kelly Ostle	An Auto-Ethnographic Analysis of an Arts-Based Pedagogy Intervention in an area of Levelling Up (title to be finalized)	Self	2024
2012-2024 PT	Lead	EdD	Jodie Rees	Realizing Tutorial Work in Further Education Colleges: A Welsh Case-Study	Self	2024
2021-2024 PT	Lead	EdD	Claire Barker	Growth Mindset and Secondary Schools (Title to be finalized)	Self	2024
2021-2024 PT	Lead	EdD	Helen Bowen	The Art of Anatomy and Physiology: How do nursing students experience the practice of arts-based learning through anatomy and physiology colouring books?	Self	2024

Completed supervision of research students

Start and finish date	Lead or 2nd supervisor	PhD, EdD, or MPhil	Student name	Project title	Funder	Submission date
2021-2024	Lead	M. Phil	Shahida Kamran	Creativity as a Scientific-Sociological Phenomenon	Self	2024
2015-2023 FT	Lead	PhD	Niki Simbane	Doing clinical supervision differently: Critically exploring a group approach with acute inpatient Mental Health nurses in one UK setting	Keele University, School of Nursing	2023
2013-2023 PT	Lead	EdD	Trina Tan	Being and becoming as a counsellor: An exploration of the tension between graduate learning regimes and professional identity in a counsellor training programme in Singapore	Self	2023
2019-2023 PT	2nd	EdD	Diane Swift	A social realist challenge to the structuring of professional practice knowledge for initial teacher education in England	Self	2023
2018-2022 PT	Lead	EdD	Emma Thacker	Contract cheating and academic literacies: Exploring the landscape	Self	2022
2015-2019 FT	Lead	PhD	Duangkamol  Chongcharoen	Development of an Early Childhood Instructional Model in the context of the Child Development Centres under the Department of Local Administration - Thailand	Thai Government	2019
2016-2018 FT	Lead	M. Phil	Fiona Dutton	How Young People make Meaning out of GCSE English Literature	Self	2018
2012-2016 PT	Lead	EdD	Paula Pope	A Qualitative Study into Youth Workers Discourses of Professional Practice	Self	2016
2012-2015 FT	Lead	EdD	Joe Smith	The Efficacy of Critical discourse Analysis in approaching responses to the 2013 History National Curriculum	Self	2015
2012-2015 FT	2nd	PhD	Nadena Docharty	Black History Month programmes and Black History on the National Curriculum: A case study of two state-maintained secondary schools in England	ESRC	2015
2011-2015 FT	2nd	PhD	Ibrahim Gunu	Discipline and Power in Ghanaian Schooling	Self	2015
2011-2012 FT	Lead	M. Phil	Sorrel Wood	“No Gaze is Stable”: A Documentary Analysis of Representations of Culture and Cultural Identity in GCSE English Language and GCSE English Literature	Self	2012