Stephen G. Parker

Stephen G. Parker is Visiting Professor of Beliefs, Values and Education at Lincoln Bishop University. He also holds doctoral supervision roles at the University of Worcester and the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. From 2023 to 2026 he was Professor of Education and Religious History at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, where he directed the Centre for Catholic Education, Research and Religious Literacy. Before this, he spent fifteen years at the University of Worcester, becoming Professor of the History of Religion and Education in 2013.

Stephen’s research sits at the intersection of religion, education, values and history, with particular interests in the histories of religious education, teacher formation, educational broadcasting, institutional culture, and the ways in which religion and belief shape educational policy and practice.

His first monograph, Faith on the Home Front (Peter Lang, 2005), developed from his doctoral research on religion and society during the Second World War. He subsequently led the Leverhulme Trust-funded project Faith on the Air, examining the history of religious educational broadcasting in Britain, and has published widely in journals including History of Education, Paedagogica Historica, the British Journal of Religious Education and the Journal of Beliefs and Values. His more recent work has extended into questions of formation, wellbeing, institutional identity and leadership in faith-based education.

He is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Beliefs and Values and has held a range of leadership roles in higher education and learned societies, including President of the History of Education Society. His work has consistently sought to connect historical and theoretical scholarship with contemporary questions in education, religion and public life.

Across his teaching, research and public engagement, Stephen is particularly interested in how historical understanding can illuminate present-day questions of belief, values, formation and institutional change.