Stuart Gallagher

man with a dark top and beard

Senior Lecturer and Course Leader Inclusion, Communities and Educational Practice (ICEP)

Institute of Education

Inclusion, Communities and Educational Practice

Contact Details

email: s.gallagher@worc.ac.uk
tel: 01905 855052

Stuart is a Senior Lecturer in the Institute of Education and leads the postgraduate course Leading Culture Change in Safeguarding.

The course blends online and on-campus learning with whole-class teaching, individual coaching tutorials and portfolio development to make sure all learners are seen and heard. Stuart collaborates with student reps and university services to see that all students really enjoy their subject and get the most from each module. The shared goal is an excellent course experience and long-lasting impact of student learning on the continuous improvement of safeguarding practice in education, health, sport, community safety, faith groups, and the charitable sector.

His experiences as an educator include home tutoring to school-excluded young people; helping learners gain confidence and qualifications through informal education; and later, as an Education Welfare Officer, building partnerships between families, carers, schools and settings. During the Covid pandemic, Stuart worked part-time as a School Lead to re-open a school following lockdown, making strategic and operational decisions to see the school community flourish. He is not afraid to take the road less travelled to navigate challenges and to beat the odds through education.

Stuart is currently completing a Level 5 Coaching Apprenticeship alongside his coaching at the university.

On leaving school, Stuart worked in a warehouse and spent time as a bicycle courier and on building sites, filling skips. He studied archaeology and excavated in all weathers. He also studied Italian. An opportunity arose to work at an educational charity with marginalised learners. Stuart grabbed it and never looked back.

Stuart is a published writer and regularly presents his work at conferences. He frequently seeks out opportunities for collaboration in his writing and research. He likes old maps, 90s shoegaze, long-distance cycling and family time. Looking ahead, Stuart hopes to develop his research interest in corporate parenting and coaching of safeguarding leaders.

Qualifications

  • BA (Hons) (Trinity College Dublin, 1999)
  • MLitt (University of St Andrews, 2002)
  • PGCert (University of Worcester, 2014)
  • MPhil (University of Bath, 2015)
  • Team Leaders Certificate (University of Worcester, 2015)
  • Academic Course Leadership (University of Worcester, 2016)
  • Coaching Apprenticeship Level 5 (Herefordshire and Worcestershire GTA, current)

Teaching & Research

Course Leadership

Leading Culture Change in Safeguarding (PG Cert)

Teaching

Leading Culture Change in Safeguarding PG Cert: Learning Cultures in Safeguarding: Reflective Organisations, Cultures of Vigilance: Reflexive Leaders

Education Studies BA Hons: Safeguarding in Education

Early Years 0-8 FdA: Safeguarding Children’s Welfare in the Early Years and Integrating Our Work with Other Agencies

International PGCE: Professional Connections in Education

Leadership Development and Coaching: Co-coaching and School Effectiveness

Research Interests

Safeguarding culture change; academic course design; social pedagogy and corporate parenting

Membership of Social Pedagogy Research Interest Group (SPRiG), University of Worcester

Professional Bodies

Member – Association of Child Protection Professionals (AoCPP)

Member – Social Pedagogy Professional Association (SPPA)

Member – University and College Union (UCU)

Publications

Selected Journal Articles

Gallagher, S. and Stobbs, N. (2023) Creating hope in dystopia: Utopia as Method as social pedagogy in early childhood studies, International Journal of Social Pedagogy, 12(1) DOI: https://doi.org/10.14324/111.444.ijsp.2023.v12.x.005.

Stobbs, N., Solvason, C., Gallagher, S. and Baylis, S. (2023) A human approach to restructuring the education system: why schools in England need social pedagogy, International Journal of Social Pedagogy, 12(1), DOI: https://doi.org/10.14324/111.444.ijsp.2023.v12.x.008

Selected Book Chapters

Dornan, S., Gallagher, S., Gibson, L., Griffin, M., Harris, N. and Jones, J. (2026) Why don’t they teach education at school? Listening to learners’ voices and resisting polarisation to restore education as common ground throughout our lifetimes, in S. Taylor and S. Bracken (eds) Learner Voices, Perspectives, and Positionings: Providing agency to empower learning, Abingdon (Oxon): Routledge, pp 15-25, DOI: 10.4324/9781003406334-2.

Gallagher, S. (2026) The next chapter, in C. Solvason, N. Stobbs and G. Elliott (eds) Social Pedagogy in Education: Re-establishing relationships and enriching learner experience, Abingdon (Oxon): Routledge, pp 165-70, DOI: 10.4324/9781003533276-16.

Gallagher, S. (2023) Early Childhood Studies in a polarised dystopia: pedagogy as ethical leadership in education, in C. Solvason and G. Elliott (eds) Ethics in Education: Contemporary Perspectives on Research, Pedagogy and Leadership, Bradford: Ethics International Press, pp 43-65.

Richards, C.M and Gallagher, S. (2018) Common vigilance: a perspective on the role of the community in safeguarding children, in Z. Brown and S. Ward (eds) Contemporary Issues in Childhood: A bio-ecological approach, London: Routledge, pp 84-93.

Selected Presentations

Gallagher, S. (2026) Masters of uncertainty: coaching safeguarding leaders through ambiguity and complexity, Education: An Act of Hope. Institute of Education Research Conference, University of Worcester, 08 July.

Gallagher, S. and Webster, N. (2026) Safeguarding in education: micro-processes of sharing responsibility, Institute of Education Research Conference, University of Worcester, 08 July.

Gallagher, S. and Garcia-Sangil, A. (2025) Consistency in isolation: a case study of Local Authority Designated Safeguarding Officers for Safeguarding (LADOs) and continuous professional development, Institute of Education Research Conference, University of Worcester, 21 May.

Gibson, L., Griffin, M., Sundari, S., Tully, E., Purcell, S., Hill, E. and Gallagher, S. (2024) Resource lists as liberation: Amplifying Lesser Heard Voices in Education, A Community of Learners: Learning and Teaching Conference, University of Worcester, 18 June.

Prowle, A. and Gallagher, S. (2024) Social pedagogy research and anti-oppressive practice: researching disability service delivery and finding a fight for resources, Institute of Education Research Conference, University of Worcester, 15 May.

Local Authority-Commissioned Research

Unwin. P. and Gallagher, S. (2023) An assessment of the effectiveness of Early Help services in Worcestershire, Report for Worcestershire Safeguarding Children Partnership, (Unpublished).

Prowle, A. and Gallagher, S. (2021) Evaluation of Blaenau Gwent Disability Service Part 2, (Unpublished).

Prowle, A., Walker, R., Gallagher, S. and Duncan, M. (2020) Evaluation of Blaenau Gwent Strategy for Safe Reduction of Looked After Children, (Unpublished).

Student as Academic Partners Project

Gibson, L., Griffin, M., Sundari, S., Tully, E., Purcell, S., Courage, K., Hill, E. and Gallagher, S. (2024) Resource Lists as Liberation: Amplifying Lesser-Heard Voices in Education, Department for Education and Inclusion, Library Services and Decolonising the Curriculum Group, University of Worcester.

Conference Organised as Part of a Steering Group

Education Beyond Covid: Reality, resilience and renewal, Quaker Values in Education with Woodbrooke Learning, 15 May 2021.

External Roles

  • External Examiner – BA (Hons) Working with Children, Young People and Families, University of Hull (2019-2023)
  • Governor – Worcestershire Virtual School (2017-2023)
  • Steering Group Member – Quaker Values in Education (QvinE) (2018-2023)
  • Fellow – Higher Education Academy (FHEA), membership of Advance HE