Anne West is Professor of Education Policy. She joined the LSE in 1990 as a part-time research officer having previously worked for the Research and Statistics Branch of the former Inner London Education Authority. She was appointed professor in 2002 and has been Head of Department (2003-2006; 2019-2020), Deputy Head of Department (2006-2013), and Doctoral Programme Director (2010-19). She currently holds a Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship to carry out a project on “School admissions and school choice in comparative perspective”.
Anne has carried out a range of different types of research, focusing in particular on education policy and early childhood education and care, in England (past and present), and in comparative perspective (Europe, United States).
Anne’s research has been published in a wide range of journals in the fields of education policy, social policy, and sociology, including the Journal of Social Policy, Social Policy and Administration, British Journal of Educational Studies, Journal of School Choice, London Review of Education, Journal of Family Issues, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis and the Revue internationale d’éducation de Sèvres. She has published several books including “‘Helicopter parenting’ and ‘boomerang children’: How parents support and relate to their student and co-resident graduate children” with Emeritus Professor Jane Lewis.
Anne has carried out research funded by a range of different organisations including the Nuffield Foundation, the Leverhulme Trust, the European Commission (most recently the EU Horizon 2020 project ‘PERISCOPE’ and UK government departments. She has been called as an expert witness to UK parliamentary select committees for inquiries into academies, school admissions and faith schools. She was a member of the former Conseil national d'évaluation du système scolaire (Cnesco) established in 2014 by the French Ministry of Education. In 2015, Anne held the Fritz-Karsen-Chair at Humboldt University in Berlin. She is currently a member of the Conseil Scientifique of the Revue internationale d’éducation de Sèvres (published by France Éducation International). She was also an Observer to the WHO/UN-DESA Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on COVID-19 Mortality Assessment. Read more.
Anne supervises doctoral studies in areas including:
Education policy; comparative education policy; early childhood education and care.