School of Education

Bio

Professor Warrican has produced a body of scholarship in literacy in the Caribbean context; an environment in which issues such as influences of a colonial past; democracy in education; small state characteristics; diversity in classrooms; multilingualism; and multiculturalism must be taken into account in literacy education. 

He advocates for change in literacy education, and in education in general and promotes the benefits of action research in the classroom and transformative education.  He has a keen interest in comparative education, especially when linked to language and culture.  Professor Warrican has served on the CARICOM Task Force for Teaching and Teacher Education. 
 

Qualifications

• Ph.D. in Education, Language & Literacy (Cantab), 2002
• M.Phil in Educational Research (Cantab), 2000
• B.Ed. Language & Literacy (Hons) (UWI), 1998
• Certificate in Education (UWI/SVG Teachers’ College), 1988

Research Areas

Research Interests include issues relating to:

• Multiculturalism and multilingualism
• Student achievement
• Integrating technology in education
• Democratizing classrooms
• Transformative education
• Action research in classrooms
• Online teaching and learning

Main Research Projects:

• Factors influencing student achievement in the Eastern Caribbean (Supported by The UWI Board of Graduate Studies and Research): an ongoing investigation into the influence of factors such as SES, school, school type, teacher practices and student attitudes on the academic achievement of students in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean.
• Influence of peer effects on student academic achievement: an exploration of the extant database of PISA results for Trinidad and Tobago to test the theory that claims that classes with academically strong students have a positive effect on students who are deemed to be less academically-abled and vice versa; that classes with students who predominantly are deemed to be not academically strong have a negative effect on students who are deemed to be more academically-abled.
• Technology integration in education in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG).  A study of the use of netbooks issued to students as part of the One Netbook per Child initiative in SVG, and factors that affected the use of the machines.

Teaching Areas

Graduate Level

• EDFA 6010 – Current Issues in Education

Publications

Smith, P., Kumi-Yeboah, A., Cheema, J., Warrican, S. J., & Alleyne, M. L. (2018).  Language-based literacy differences in the literacy performance of bilingual and multilingual youth. Teachers College Record,120(1),  http://www.tcrecord.org ID Number: 21947.

Smith, P., Warrican, S. J., Kumi-Yeboah, A., & Richards, J. (2018).  Understanding Afro-Caribbean educators’ experiences with Englishes across Caribbean and U.S. contexts and classrooms: Recursivity, (re)positionality, bidirectionality.  Teaching and Teacher Education, 69, 210-222.

Smith, P., Warrican, S. J., & Kumi-Yeboah, A. (2016). Linguistic and cultural appropriations of an immigrant multilingual literacy teacher educator.  Studying Teacher Education. DOI: 10.1080/17425964.2016.1143811

Warrican, S. J. (2012). The complete Caribbean teacher: Literacy.  Harlow, UK: Pearson International.  (275 pages)

Warrican, S. J. (2006).  Action research: A viable option for change.  Journal of Curriculum Studies, 38(1), 1 – 14.

Additional Info

Supervises doctoral students

Keywords

Multiculturalism, multilingualism, literacy, content area reading, educational research, educational technology, teacher education, transformative education