Dr Sophie Ward is an Associate Professor of Education. She joined the School of Education in 2011 after completing a BA, MA and PhD in Education at Durham University. Sophie’s research interests include neoliberalism and education; creativity; the arts in education.
Sophie is interested in how neoliberal economic policy informs education policy. The most obvious manifestation of neoliberal thinking in contemporary education is the argument that the primary function of education is to equip young people with the skills and knowledge for employment.

Sophie considers how and why employability has come to dominate education, and offers Shakespeare’s Renaissance humanism as a corrective to neoliberal ideology, in her book: Ward, S. (2017) Using Shakespeare’s Plays to Explore Education Policy Today: Neoliberalism through the lens of Renaissance humanism. Abingdon: Routledge.