Dr William C Smith

Senior Lecturer in Education and International Development & Director of Internationalisation

Biography

Background

William C. Smith is a Senior Lecturer in Education and International Development and Director of Internationalisation at the Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh. Since starting as Director of Internationalisation in September 2023, William has focused his attention on student diversification, alumni relations, and international partnerships. Since 2019, William has been working to strengthen and expand the CEID (Comparative Education and International Development) Community at the Moray House. This includes ensuring all PGT, PGR, Post-docs, and Faculty interested in CEID are able to participate in the Community. The CEID Community consists of three parts: 1) the MSc CEID programme [www.ed.ac.uk/education/msc-ceid], launched in September 2022, 2) the CEID Society, a student led society under the umbrella of EUSA [https://www.facebook.com/ceid.edinburgh/; @CeidSociety], and 3) the CEID Research Group [www.ed.ac.uk/education/ceid], where he acts as chair. To follow events and updates on the CEID Community at Moray House follow us on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/ceidcommunity.

His current additional responsibilities include acting as Non-Executive Director for Education for the UK National Commission for UNESCO [https://unesco.org.uk/], sitting on the editorial board for the field's top journal, Comparative Education [https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cced20], working as the Academic Lead for the Data for Children Collaborative [https://www.dataforchildrencollaborative.com/] and Chair of the board for the Teachers' Empowerment and Advocacy League [https://tealforteachers.com/]. In 2026 he also took on the role as the External Examiner for the MA Education and International Development and MA Educational Planning, Economics and International Development programmes at University College London.

Prior to joining University of Edinburgh, William worked as a Senior Policy Analyst at UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report where he contributed to the 2016, 2017/8, 2019, and 2020 GEM Report cycles - including acting as lead for the thematic section of the 2017/8 GEM Report "Accountability in Education: Meeting our Commitments". Additional experience includes a prestigious Thomas J. Alexander Fellowship with the OECD and work as a Senior Associate on the Right to Education Index (RTEI). Based at RESULTS Educational Fund and working with civil society partners in Chile, Nigeria, the Philippines, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, William helped develop and lead the pilot round of the index. In 2018, RTEI was completed in over 20 countries (https://www.rtei.org/en/). 

His experience as a teacher also has a profound impact on his work. Specifically, William worked as 6 years as a secondary social studies school teacher in the United States during the time of No Child Left Behind (NCLB).

 

William is open to and regularly engages in consultancy. In the past he has completed consultancy/contract research with a wide range of organisations, such as the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, World Vision International, the Educational Policy Institute, The International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 and the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity. 

 

Qualifications

Dual Title Ph.D. , Education Theory and Policy and Comparative International Education, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA: December 2014

Minor: Sociology          Concentration: Quantitative Methods

Dissertation: The global expansion of the testing culture: National testing policies and the reconstruction of education.

Advisor:  David Baker

 

M.A. in International Development, Josef Korbel School of International Studies-University of Denver, Denver, CO: June 2011

Concentrations: Political Theory and Education

 

M.A. in Teaching, Western Oregon University, Monmouth, OR: June 2003

Concentration: Secondary Social Studies

Thesis: The inclusion of handicapped students and the impact it has on their self concept.

Advisor: Mark Girod

 

B.S. in Sociology with High Honors, Portland State University, Portland, OR: June 2001

Minor: Psychology

Responsibilities & affiliations

Current Roles outside of Moray House:

UK National Commission for UNESCO (https://unesco.org.uk/): Non-Executive Director for Education

Comparative Education (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cced20): Editorial Board Member

Data for Children Collaborative (https://www.dataforchildrencollaborative.com/): Academic Lead

Teachers' Education and Empowerment League (https://tealforteachers.com/): Board Chair

 

Recent Past Roles outside of Moray House:

BRAC Institute of Educational Development, Bangladesh (https://bracied.com/): Guest Faculty

UKFIET - The Education and Development Forum (https://www.ukfiet.org/): Executive Committee Memmber

 

 

Undergraduate teaching

Past Undergraduate Teaching Experience

  • Introduction to Comprative Education (Penn State University)
  • Education in American Society (Penn State University)

Postgraduate teaching

Current PGT Teaching Responsibilities

  • Global Governance and Education (Course Organizer)

Past PGT Courses at University of Edinburgh

  • Comparative Education and International Development (Course Organizer)
  • Comparative Analysis in Education (Course Organizer)
  • Education Policy and the Politics of Education (Course Organizer)
  • Conceptualising Research: Foundations, Assumptions, and Praxis

Other PGT/Graduate Teaching Experience

  • Educational Theories and Practices: A Critique (BRAC Institute of Educational Development, Dhaka, Bangladesh)
  • Educational Measurement and Evaluation (BRAC Institute of Educational Development, Dhaka, Bangladesh)
  • International Educational Development (Sorbonne University, Paris, France)

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

No

Areas of interest for supervision

I AM CURRENTLY NOT ACCEPTING NEW PHD STUDENTS

Interested in supervising PhD students pursuing research in areas of education and development. A broad range of topics is considered including:

  • Global Governance and International Organizations
  • SDGs
  • Education and Health
  • Migration
  • Acess and Equity
  • Socio-political dimensions of national development
  • Global-local relationships
  • Critical views on policy discourse, creation, and difussion

I am not a higher education or an international education scholar

Current PhD students supervised

Yuqing Huang: International mobility of early-career researchers: macro structure and agential practice (First Supervisor)

Rimin Johnson: Understanding Socio-Cultural Determinants of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) Re-victimisation in Kerala, India (Additional Supervisor)

 

Past PhD students supervised

Hazhari Bin Ismail: Education access in policy in promoting equitable quality in early childhood education: a phenomenology study of teachers' perspective in public preschool in Malaysia (Second Supervisor)

Shrikant Wad: Identity-based quotas in professional disciplines: evaluating policy efficacy and student decision-making with evidence from India  (Second Supervisor)

Takuja Numajiri: What matters for improving primary school mathematics education in St. Lucia? (Second Supervisor)

Research summary

Exploring Educations Role in Social and Economic Development & Barriers to the Benefits of Education.

My research is fueled by the belief that the power of education as an institution is immense, working both as a tool for upward mobility and for social reproduction. However, structural impediments often prevent individuals from fully capitalizing on the potential of education.  Focusing on the role of education in capitalizing health and economic capital my interests are situated around identifying macro level policies that may act as barriers, keeping some individuals from realizing the benefits of education. My work has resulted in over 50 publications, including my edited book, The Global Testing Culture: Shaping Education Policy, Perceptions, and Practice (Symposium Books, 2016).

Current research interests

Current research interests are situated in 3 areas: 1. Education and Social Development a) Barriers to accessing services b) Education and population health 2. Global Governance a) International organizations b) Global goals, monitoring, and local interpretations: a look at voluntary national reviews 3. Global Testing Culture a) Testing, teachers, and accountability b) Global learning metrics

Knowledge exchange

For interviews on the Global Testing Culture see:

Project activity

As the world moves to the end of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) era an increasing amount of my work focuses on global governance, the post-2030 agenda, and the future of global goals. This has included:

  • An invited talk for the Center for International Cooperation in Education titled 'What Future for Global Goals? Exploring Potential Structures for the Post-2030 Agenda'
  • A forthcoming think piece for UNESCO's Futures of Education Initiative titled 'UNESCO’s Essential Role in the Murky Near Future of Global Governance'
  • A 2024 co-edited special issue in the International Review of Education titled 'The Sustainable Development Goals and the Global Governance of Education'
  • Chairing the March 2026 CEID Research Group hosted event with participation from UNESCO and UK academics titled 'Beyond 2030: the Future of Higher Education'
  • A current project with colleagues from the University of Zurich and Glasgow titled 'Advancing Global Education Goals: Engaging Universities in Shaping Structures and Processes'

Current project grants

Title: Advancing Global Education Goals: Engaging Universities in Shaping Structures and Processes
Funding Source: University of Zurich Global Funding Scheme
Amount: CHF 5,000
Role/Contribution: Co-Principal Investigator

Past project grants

Title: Access and Completion in Primary and Secondary Education: A Global Systematic Review
Funding Source: UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report
Amount: £62,497
Role/Contribution: Principal Investigator

Title: A Review of Schools’ Reopening in Scotland and Comparator Countries
Funding Source: Scotland COVID-19 Inquiry
Amount: £24,200
Role/Contribution: Principal Investigator

Title: Summative Analysis of Out-of-school Data and Impact of COVID-19 in Bangladesh, Cameroon, Kenya, Lao PDR, and Madagascar
Funding Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Amount: $6,000
Role/Contribution: Principal Investigator

Title: The Future of Teaching as a Collaborative Profession: What is Needed for Inclusive and Equitable Education
Funding Source: International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030
Amount: $9,000
Role/Contribution: Collaborating Investigator

Title: Child Poverty and Access to Services
Funding Source: Scottish Funding Council/ Data for Children Collaborative with UNICEF
Amount: £109,137
Role/Contribution: Collaborating Investigator

Title: Universal Secondary Education in the Asia-Pacific Region
Funding Source: Scottish Funding Council
Amount: £20,000
Role/Contribution: Principal Investigator

Conference details

Presentations in the past five years at conferences including the annual Comparative International Education Society (CIES) Conference, the British Association for International and Comparative Education (BAICE), and the European Conference on Educational Research (ECER)

Past presentations at annual/bi-annual conferences of Population Association of America (PAA), American Education Research Association (AERA), and the European Education Research Association (EERA)

Looking forward to participating more in the Comparative Education Society of Europe (CESE), the UK Education and Development Forum (UKFIET), and other venues spanning academia, civil society, and practitioners

Invited speaker

Select Past Invited Talks:

  • What future for global goals? Exploring potential structures for the post-2030 agenda (Center for International Cooperation in Education, University of Hiroshima - Delivered Remotely)

  • The forgotten: exploring the ‘quality turn’ in education and the quarter of a billion children and youth left behind (University of Vienna)

  • Understanding and addressing barriers to education access (University of St Andrews)
  • The influence of national contexts on the Population Education Transition (PET) Curve: a look at the education-chronic disease gradient (London School of Economics - Delivered Remotely)
  • Education: making a difference in the world  (Moray House School of Education and Sport 175th Anniversary Lecture Series)
  • National reporting on progress toward SDG 4: Which countries are reporting and what are they reporting on? (Edinburgh Political Union)
  • The Global Testing Culture and teachers: how emphasizing tests shapes teacher perceptions and satisfaction (Texas Tech University - Delivered Remotely)
  • Inclusion as quality? Inclusion or quality?: A look at SDG4 (International Inclusive Early Childhood Education Forum (IIECEF) - Delivered Remotely)

 

In the press

William C. Smith was interviewed as part of the following news pieces:

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