Warren Speed

Dr Warren Speed is a researcher in Education at the University of Exeter. His doctoral research examined how secondary schools in England interpret, locate and operationalise the Department for Education’s fundamental British values agenda. His thesis, Lost in Translation? Undervaluing Fundamental British Values, explored how senior and middle leaders perceive FBV, where responsibility for it is located, and how schools translate a broad national policy expectation into curriculum, pastoral, symbolic and whole-school practices.

Warren’s doctoral research was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the University of Exeter. His work is situated across education policy, values and moral education, citizenship education, school leadership, curriculum studies, equality and inclusion, and research ethics. He is particularly interested in how national policy agendas are interpreted and enacted within educational settings, and how schools navigate ambiguity, accountability, inspection and competing curriculum priorities.

Warren’s professional background is in education. He has worked as a qualified teacher of science, specialising in physics, in schools across the North West, North East and South West of England. He also has experience supporting teachers and schools through equality-related work, including previous work as an Equality Officer within a teaching union.

Alongside his academic work, Warren is the founder and Chair of the Research Ethics Association, a registered charity concerned with promoting ethical understanding, discussion and practice across research, education and wider public life. Through this work, he is interested in interdisciplinary approaches to research ethics, ethics education, public engagement, governance, and the relationship between ethical practice and institutional responsibility.

Thesis title: Lost in Translation? Undervaluing Fundamental British Values

This thesis examines how secondary schools, and especially senior and middle leaders, perceive and operationalise fundamental British values in practice.

Since 2014, schools in England have been required to actively promote fundamental British values as part of wider policy expectations connected to curriculum, inspection, safeguarding and counter-extremism. Previous research has shown that the policy has generated uncertainty, contestation and unevenness in how schools understand and enact these values.

The thesis explores how fundamental British values are interpreted, where responsibility for them is located, and how schools translate a broad national policy expectation into curriculum, pastoral, symbolic and whole-school practices. It is informed by Goodlad’s Curriculum Framework and contributes to debates about policy enactment, values education, citizenship, Britishness, school leadership and the relationship between curriculum, accountability and inspection.

The thesis:

1. critically examines the development of fundamental British values within wider debates about values education, citizenship, character education, Prevent, Britishness and school accountability;
2. uses Goodlad’s Curriculum Framework to explore how fundamental British values move across different layers of school policy and practice;
3. investigates how senior and middle leaders in secondary schools interpret, locate and operationalise fundamental British values;
4. considers how schools manage ambiguity, accountability and visibility when enacting fundamental British values in practice.

    Research supervisory team

First supervisor: Professor Rob Freathy, University of Exeter
Second supervisor: Dr Jonathan Doney, University of Exeter