Dr Julie Wharton

Biography

Julie was awarded her PhD in February 2023. Entitled Children seeking sanctuary and the welcoming teacher: inclusive relationships and Martin Buber's philosophy of dialogue, her thesis explores the ways in which teachers might welcome and include children who have been forced to migrate in their classrooms. 

Julie was awarded an MA in Special Educational Needs in 2003. She has been the programme leader for the National Award for Special Educational Needs Coordination (NASENCo) and she will now lead on the SENCo NPQ. Julie joined the University in 2014, having spent seven years working as an SEND Inspector in a Local Authority. Prior to this she was an Advanced Skills Teacher for Special Educational Needs.

Higher Education Teaching Qualification: Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA).

Publications

• Julie worked with her colleagues, Dr Geraldene Codina and Dr Alasdair Richardson on the 2015 Holocaust Memorial Day Trust materials to support pupils with additional needs.
• In March 2016, the article she wrote with Dr Sean Bracken from the University of Worcester was published in the National Association for Special Educational Needs magazine Special! Entitled Realising the potential, this piece examined the impact of Education, Health and Care Plans from a range of perspectives
• In September 2016 Julie presented a symposium with Dr Geraldene Codina and Miriam Walker at the Winchester Values and Education Conference entitled Shaping attitudes towards inclusion in which they considered the ways in which individual difference is respected in schools by considering three different enablers of inclusion: embodiment, the use of language and the development of communication skills.
• In the same month she also presented alongside these colleagues at the British Education Research Association Conference as part of a symposium entitled Welcoming schools: enabling inclusion.
• In November 2016 Julie presented a seminar exploring Welcoming Schools and Refugees and Asylum seekers at the Challenges and Opportunities in Education for Refugees in Europe: Reviewing Research and Good Practices at the University of Bergamo
• In September 2017 Julie presented a symposium with her colleague, Miriam Walker. This was titled: Don’t judge me, don’t label me, don’t make assumptions: hear my voice at the British Educational Research Association (BERA), University of Sussex. 
• In the same month, she also published a further article with Dr Sean Bracken in NASEN's Connect publication entitled: National Award for SEN Co-ordination - working in partnership
• In November 2017, Julie presented alongside Dr Wayne Veck and Dr Louise Pagden at the World on the Move Conference at Manchester University. The symposium was entitled Migration, assimilation and inclusion: insights from Schools of Sanctuary in the UK
• Julie, Wayne and Louise have written a chapter entitled 'Children seeking refuge: assimilation and inclusion. Insights from the United Kingdom' which has been published in Dovigo, F. (2018) Challenges and Opportunities in Education for Refugees in Europe. Leiden: Brill Sense
• In December 2019, along with colleague Wayne Veck, Julie published Refugee Children, Trust and Inclusive School Cultures in the International Journal of Inclusive Education
• In December 2019, Julie also published The SENCO Induction Pack, written with Geraldene Codina, Rosanne Esposito and Tritan Middleton. This was published by the Department for Education, Whole School SEND and Nasen
• A follow up publication was published by Nasen in 2020: Wharton, J., Codina, G., Esposito, R. and Middleton, T. (2020) Understanding Inclusion. Tamworth: Nasen
• In the same year, this chapter was published: Veck, W, Pagden, L. and Wharton, J. (2020) Refugee Education: approaches and strategies in Western Europe in Dovigo, F. (ed) An overview of refugee education in Europe. Aarhus: Aarhus University Available at: https://projects.au.dk/fileadmin/ingen_mappe_valgt/ITIRE_-_Report.pdf
• Julie’s article on SEND in the Channel Islands was published in nasen Connect in May 2020. Followed by Supporting pupil well-being during lockdown in July 2020.
• On 25^th May 2020, Julie presented a seminar entitled: Crisis and the primacy of inclusive relationships in education, at the Coronavirus pandemic and the education of children vulnerable to exclusion: Critical lessons for practice and policy in an altered world online event organised by Erasmus partners.
• On 24^th August 2020, Julie presented Martin Buber’s philosophy of dialogue, teachers, welcoming and the inclusion of children seeking sanctuary (European Educational Research Association Conference – online)
• On 3^rd September 2020, Julie provided an online seminar on Voices in Refugee Education – Values, Possibilities and Practice as part of an Erasmus + Multiplier Event.
• Julie has delivered two webinars for nasen and Whole School SEND: Being a Research Engaged SENCO: Secondary Focus (21^st January 2021) https://youtu.be/VZJ-QknpXwA Being a Research Engaged SENCO: Primary Focus (19^th March 2020) https://youtu.be/WP-nVTi3jHs
• Most recently, Julie has worked with Geraldene Codina and Mhairi C Beaton on the following publication: Beaton, M. C., Codina, G. N. and Wharton, J. C. (editors) (2021) Leading on inclusion: the role of the SENCo. London: Routledge. Geraldene and Julie wrote the following chapter together
• Codina, G. N. and Wharton, J. C. (2021) The Language of SEND: implications for the SENCo in Beaton, M. C., Codina, G. N. and Wharton, J. C. (editors) (2021) Leading on inclusion: the role of the SENCo. London: Routledge and Julie wrote a chapter on working in partnership:
• Wharton, J. C. (2021) SENCos and social workers: working together in Beaton, M. C., Codina, G. N. and Wharton, J. C. (editors) (2021) Leading on inclusion: the role of the SENCo. London: Routledge
• Wharton, J., Codina, G. & Beaton, M. C. (2021) Decommissioning normal: COVID-19 as a disruptor of school norms for young people with learning disabilities British Journal of Learning Disabilities. 49, 4, p. 393-402
• Audain, J., Wharton, J. and Martin, L. (2022) My space, your space, our space. Rethinking the learning environment: is it fit for purpose? In Carden, C. (editor) Primary Teaching. Second edition. London: Sage 257-284
• Hellawell, B., Smith, S. and Wharton, J. (2022) ‘What was required above all else was collaboration’: keeping the momentum for SEND partnership working in the wake of Covid-19. British Journal of Special Education. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8578.12413 
• In September 2022, Julie presented alongside Beate Hellawell and Sharon Smith in a seminar outlining the qualatative findings of a survey undertaken by the SEN Policy Research Forum that looked at the educational experiences of children, their parents and young people, teachers and local authority staff during the pandemic.
• Autumn 2022, an online presentation Supporting and educating refugee and migrant Students within inclusive and welcoming schools with Prof. Wayne Veck and Liudmyla Berezova, a visiting fellow from the Ukraine, to the Southern Universities Network: https://youtu.be/e3-fPsQlsXE
• ECER Glasgow, 2023. Julie presented as part of a symposium entitled Youth and (Forced) Migration. Intersectional Perspectives on Educational Trajectories and Social Inequality in the context of school. Her presentation was entitled: Displacement and Disability: young people seeking sanctuary at the intersection. She also gave a second presentation as part of a symposium entitled: Refugee Education in the HERE and now: Creating places of diversity and sanctuary in ‘Fortress Europe’ Part Two
• BERA 2023, Birmingham. Julie gave a presentation as part of a symposium entitled: Inclusive education for forcibly displaced children
• Wharton, J. (2023) Children seeking sanctuary and the welcoming teacher: Learning a new language in a new place with the CCT and NALDIC on Vimeo – a presentation for the Chartered College of Teaching and NALDIC
• TIESA 2024, Winchester. Along with Dr Michael Hall, Julie gave a presentation entitled Reflections on SEN support for children of armed forces families?. Evaluating the Garrison Assist Project
• ECER 2024, Nicosia, Cyprus. Julie gave a presentation entitled Effective parent-school relationships for the inclusion of refugee students: values, dialogues and voices