Professor John Evans

John Evans is Emeritus Professor of Sociology of Education and Physical Education in the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences.

John taught in comprehensive schools in outer London before completing a taught master's degree and PhD in Sociology of Education at the Department of Sociology, Institute of Education, University of London. He spent 12 years teaching and developing research in the Sociology of Education and Physical Education at Southampton University before joining Loughborough University in 1993. He was head of the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, 1998 -2001, and led the Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy Research Group until 2015.

John is Adjunct Honorary Professor of the University of Queensland, Australia, and a Fellow of the PEAUK.

His research interests address issues relating to the politics of the curriculum, pedagogy, equity and identity; and embodiment, education and health. Conceptually this research is informed by sociological and educational theory and draws heavily upon the methodology of qualitative research.

Research Projects

• Education, Obesity Discourse and Identity; This research addresses the relationships between ‘obesity discourse’ and the heightened incidences of disordered eating amongst children and young people. His ESRC funded (2006-2009) research on education and disordered eating with Dr Emma Rich and Dr Laura DePian (now at Bath University) involved international collaboration with Prof Jan Wright and Dr Valerie Harwood, University of Wollongong, Australia (funded by the Australian Research Council) and Professor Lisette Burrows, Otago University.
• Embodiment, Policy, Pedagogy and Inclusion. This research (ongoing with Professor Brian Davies, Emeritus Professor of Education, Cardiff University and Dr Julie Stirrup Loughborough University) involves theoretical and empirical investigations of the relationships between formal and informal education, policy, social class and subjectivity. His current work on Early Years Learning (EYL) with Dr Julie Stirrup addresses the relationships of social class, educational identity, achievement and early years’ education.

• Editor in Chief: Sport, Education and Society
• Editorial Board: British Journal Sociology of Education
• Editorial Consultant: Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education

• Stirrup, J., Evans, J. & Davies, B. (2016): Early years learning, play pedagogy and social class, British Journal of Sociology of Education, DOI: 10.1080/01425692.2016.1182010