• Various dissertations related to religion and education
• EdD work on methodology and on issues related to religion and education, the philosophy of schooling, spirituality, and solitude
• PhD supervision on issues related to religion and education, the philosophy of schooling, spirituality, and solitude

• The philosophy of schooling, including the use of philosophy in schools, and issues relating to care, curiosity, community and personhood
• Religion and education, including religious education across the world, pedagogy in religious education, Christian education, Jewish education, prayer and schooling
• Spirituality in education, including the ‘spirit of the school’, pedagogies of spirituality, different religious traditions of spirituality
• Research methods, including research virtues, qualitative research, conversation in and as research
• Solitude, silence and loneliness, including education and solitude/loneliness, solitude and the arts.
• Computing and education
• Homework
• Leadership

Some recent books

Stern, L J, Sink, C A, Wałejko, M and Wong P H (eds) (2022) The Bloomsbury Handbook of Solitude, Silence and Loneliness; London: Bloomsbury.

James, M and Stern, L J (2019) Mastering Primary Religious Education; London: Bloomsbury.

Stern, L J (2018) A Philosophy of Schooling: Care and Curiosity in Community; London: Palgrave.

Stern, L J (2018) Teaching Religious Education: Researchers in the Classroom: Second Edition; London: Bloomsbury.

Stern, L J (2017) Can I Tell You About Loneliness?: A Guide for Friends, Family and Professionals; London: Jessica Kingsley.

Stern, L J (2016) Virtuous Educational Research: Conversations on Ethical Practice; Oxford: Peter Lang.

Stern, L J (2014) Loneliness and Solitude in Education: How to Value Individuality and Create an Enstatic School; Oxford: Peter Lang.

Stern, L J (2009) The Spirit of the School; London: Continuum.

Stern, L J (2009) Getting the Buggers to Do Their Homework, Second Edition; London: Continuum.

Stern, L J (2007) Schools and Religions: Imagining the Real; London: Continuum.

Stern, L J (2007) O Envolvimento Dos Pais No Processo Educacional, Tradução Adail Sobral & Stela Gonçalves, Leitura Crítica & Adaptação Luciana Platero; São Paulo, Brazil: SBS.

Stern, L J (2024) The Art, Literature and Music of Solitude; London: Bloomsbury.

Stern, L J (2022 [but published in 2023]) Middle Leadership in Education: Care, Carefulness and Being ‘Caute’ in the Middle; Cambridge: Grove Books.

Some recent book chapters

Stern, L J (2022) ‘Beyond the lonely university – how universities can be alone together’, in Anna Murawska and Elżbieta Magiera (eds) University in the Frontier – Semantic, historical, scientific and educational contexts; Szczecin, Poland: University of Szczecin, pp 275-280.

Stern, L J (2022) ‘Introduction: Personhood, Alone and Together – Solitude, Silence and Loneliness in Context’, in Stern, L J, Sink, C A, Wałejko, M and Wong P H (eds) (2022) The Bloomsbury Handbook of Solitude, Silence and Loneliness; London: Bloomsbury, pp 1-9.

Stern, L J (2022) ‘The Art, Music and Literature of Solitude’, in Stern, L J, Sink, C A, Wałejko, M and Wong P H (eds) (2022) The Bloomsbury Handbook of Solitude, Silence and Loneliness; London: Bloomsbury, chapter 7, pp 89-103.

Stern, L J (2022) ‘Conclusion: Lifelong Learning of Aloneness’, in Stern, L J, Sink, C A, Wałejko, M and Wong P H (eds) (2022) The Bloomsbury Handbook of Solitude, Silence and Loneliness; London: Bloomsbury, pp 323-333.

Stern, L J (2021) ‘A Self Rejected: Childhood Loneliness and the Experience of Alienation’, Chapter 4 in Wills, R, de Souza, M, Mata-McMahon, J, Abu Baka, M and Roux, C (eds) (2021) The Bloomsbury Handbook of Culture and Identity from Early Childhood to Early Adulthood: Perceptions and Implications; London: Bloomsbury, pp 49-59.

Stern, L J (2021) ‘Uncertainty and Mortality: Two Stubborn Particulars of Religious Education’, in Franck, O and Thalén, P (eds) (2021) Religious Education in a Post-Secular Age: Case Studies from Europe; Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave, chapter 7, pp 123-138.

Stern, L J (2019) ‘Care and Curiosity: How Religious Education Translates People and Ideas’, in Haußmann, W, Roth, A, Schwarz, S and Tribula, C (eds) (2019) EinFach Übersetzen: Theologie und Religionspädagogik in der Öffentlichkeit und für die Öffentlichkeit [Just Translate: Theology and Religious Education in and for the Public Sphere]; Stuttgart, Germany: Verlag W Kohlhammer, pp 69-75.

Stern, L J (2019) Chapter 14: ‘Holistic Assessment: Assessing Dialogically, Personally, Individually’, in Miller, J P, Nigh, K, Binder, M J, Novak, B and Crowell, S (2019) International Handbook of Holistic Education; New York: Routledge, chapter 14, pp 129-138.

Stern, L J (2018) ‘Loneliness in Education: The Agony and the Enstasy’, in Sagan, O and Miller, E D (eds) (2018) Narratives of Loneliness: Multidisciplinary Perspectives from the 21^st Century [Explorations in Mental Health]; London: Routledge, chapter 10, pp 113-123.

Stern, L J (2018) ‘Missing Solitude: Macmurray, Buber and the Edges of Personalism’, in Castriota, A and Smith, S (eds) (2018) Looking at the Sun: New Writings in Modern Personalism; Wilmington, Delaware: Vernon Press, pp 157-172.

Stern, L J (2017) ‘Using Computers to Teach Religious Education’, in Barnes, L P (ed) (2017) Learning to Teach Religious Education in the Secondary School: A Companion to School Experience: Third Edition; Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge, chapter 12.

Stern, L J (2017) ‘The Assessment of Ethics and the Ethics of Assessment’, chapter 9 in Franck, O (ed) (2017) Assessment in Ethics Education: A Case of National Tests in Religious Education; Cham, Switzerland: Springer, pp 177-191.

Stern, L J (2016) ‘Personalism and the Personal in Higher Education Research’, in McNiff, J (ed) Values and Virtues in Higher Education Research: Critical Perspectives; Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge, chapter 4, pp 64-77.

Stern, L J (2016) ‘Solitude and Spirituality in Schooling: The Alternative at the Heart of the School, in Lees, H E and Noddings, N (eds) The Palgrave International Handbook of Alternative Education; Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, chapter 28, pp 431-445.

Stern, L J (2015) ‘The Personal World of Schooling: John Macmurray and Schools as Households’, in Fielding, M (ed) (2015) Learning to be Human: The Educational Legacy of John Macmurray; London: Routledge, pp 75-94.

Stern, L J (2013) ‘Endword: Virtuous Education: Divided No More’, in McNiff, J (ed) (2013) Value and Virtue in Practice-Based Research; Poole, Dorset: September Books, p 124-128.

Stern, L J (2013) ‘Loneliness, Solitude and Inclusion for Leaders’, chapter 7 in Buchanan, M T (ed) (2013) Leadership and Religious Schools: International Perspectives and Challenges; New York: Bloomsbury, p 109-126.

Stern, L J (2013) ‘Virtue and Value in Educational Research’, chapter 10, in Arthur, J and Lovat, T (eds) (2013) The Routledge International Handbook of Education, Religion and Values; Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, p 114-123.

Stern, L J (2013) ‘Homework’, chapter 17, in Hancock, R, Collins, J and Stacey, M (eds) (20013) Primary Teaching Assistants: Learners and Learning (2^nd edition); Abingdon, Oxford: Routledge, p 120-125, reproduced from Involving Parents, chapter 6, p 54-62.

Stern, L J (2013) ‘What Must Church Schools Do To Live Up To Their Rhetoric’, in Worsley, H (ed) Anglican Church School Education: Moving Beyond the First Two Hundred Years, London: Continuum Bloomsbury.

Stern, L J (2011) ‘Expressing Meaning Through Sound: Liberating Music’, p 18-22 in Pett, S (ed) Questions: Expressing Meaning; Birmingham: RE Today Services.

Stern, L J (2010) ‘Love, Death, and Inclusive Religious Education’, chapter 1 (p 5-17) in Schmack, J, Thompson, M and Torevell, D, with Cole, C (2010) Engaging Religious Education: Liverpool Hope University Studies in Ethics Series Volume One: Ethics and Religious Education; Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Stern, L J and Kohn, E (2023) ‘Prayer in Schools: In Search of a New Paradigm’, in Gross, Z (ed) (2023) Reimagining the Landscape of Religious Education: Challenges and Opportunities; Cham, Switzerland: Springer, pp 237-252.

Recent journal articles

O’Dea, X and Stern, J (2022) ‘Cross-Cultural Integration through the Lens of Loneliness: A Study of Chinese Direct Entry Students in the United Kingdom’, Qualitative Research in Education, 11:3, pp 203-229.

Stern, L J (2022) ‘Why Do Some People Find Nature So Amazing?’, Big Ideas for Religious Education module of work; Exeter: Big Ideas in Religious Education, available online at https://bigideasforre.org/exemplar-units-of-learning/ (with separate assessment tasks by Barbara Wintersgill).

Stern, L J (2022) ‘How Do We Discover the World?’, Big Ideas for Religious Education module of work; Exeter: Big Ideas in Religious Education, available online at https://bigideasforre.org/exemplar-units-of-learning/ (with separate assessment tasks by Barbara Wintersgill).

O’Dea, X (C) and Stern, L J (2022) ‘Editorial: Virtually the Same?: Online Higher Education in the post Covid-19 Era’, British Journal of Educational Technology, pp 437-442.

Killingback, C, Tomlinson, A, Stern, L J and Whitfield, C (2022) ‘Teaching Person-Centred Practice in Physiotherapy Curricula: A Literature Review’, Physical Therapy Reviews, 27:1, pp 40-50.

Stern, L J (2021) ‘Thank you, John: Three Persistent Influences of Rawls’, Studii De Epistemologie Și De Teorie A Valorilor, VII, pp 9-21.

Stern, L J (2021) ‘A Very Long Walk to Freedom’, British Journal of Religious Education, 44:1, pp 1-3.

Stern, L J (2021) ‘Do Online Communities Exist? A Macmurrian Account’, The John Macmurray Fellowship Newsletter, 46, Autumn 2020, pp 16-35.

Stern, L J (2021) ‘Do You Follow?: Understanding Followership Before Leadership’, Management in Education, 35:1, pp 58-61.

Stern, L J and Buchanan, M T (2021) ‘RE Leader Connectedness: A Theology of the Lived Reality of Catholic Education’, Journal of Beliefs and Values, 42:3, pp 378-392.

Stern, L J (2020) ‘The Real Reason Neoliberalism Became Extinct: A Curious Educational History of 2020’, Forum: For Promoting 3-19 Comprehensive Education, 62:3, pp 477-487.

Stern, L J (2020) ‘Do You Follow?: Understanding Followership Before Leadership’, Management in Education, pp 1-4.

Stern, L J and Wałejko, M J (2020) ‘Solitude and Self-Realisation in Education’, Journal of Philosophy of Education, 54:1, pp 107-123.

Stern, L J and Kohn, E (2019) ‘Icarus Ignored: Understanding Mundane Spirituality Through Young People’s Prayer’, International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, p 1-17.

Stern, L J and Shillitoe, R (2019) ‘Prayer Spaces in Schools: A Subversion of Policy Implementation?’, Journal of Beliefs and Values.

Stern, L J (2018) ‘The Spirit of Religious Education’, Journal for the Study of Spirituality, 8:2, pp 180-187.

Simpson, G and Stern, L J (2018) ‘The Educational Use of Holocaust Novels’, Other Education: The Journal of Educational Alternatives, 7:2, pp 38-54.

Stern, L J and Samiei, C (2018) ‘Novel Theorising: Lessons from School-Like Literature’, Other Education: The Journal of Educational Alternatives, 7:2, pp 22-37.

Stern, L J (2018) ‘Curiosity Killed the SAT: The Role of Research in Redirecting Performativity in Initial Teacher Education’, Research in Education, p 1-15.

Stern, L J (2017) ‘Religion and Schooling in Conversation’, Research in Education, 97:1, pp 16-26.

Stern, L J (2017) ‘Avoiding Schooling Taboos: A Reply to Rasmussen’, Research in Education, 97:1, pp 30-32.

Stern, L J, Grant, T and Ward, P (2015) ‘How Solitude Will Bring Us All Together’, Professional REflection: The Journal of NATRE, 33:1, pp 54-57.

Stern, L J (2015) ‘Soul-searching and Re-searching: Action Philosophy Alone’, Educational Action Research, 23:1, pp 104-115.

Stern, L J (2015) ‘Children’s Voice or Children’s Voices: How Educational Research Can be at the Heart of Schooling’, Forum: For Promoting 3-19 Comprehensive Education, 57:1, pp 75-90.

Stern, L J (2014) ‘Dialogues of Space, Time and Practice: Supporting Research in Higher Education’, Other Education: The Journal of Educational Alternatives, 3:2, pp 3-21.

Stern, L J (2014) ‘Teaching Solitude: Sustainability and the Self, Community and Nature While Alone’, Educational Research Journal, 28:1&2, p 163-181.

Stern, L J (2014) ‘The Influence of Research Within Religious Education: The Westhill Seminars, RE Professionals, Pupils and Schools’, British Journal of Religious Education, pp 1-21, 2013.

Stern, L J (2013) ‘Martin Buber, Empathy and Research Practice: A Response to Rachel Cope’, Journal for the Study of Spirituality, 3:1, pp 67-72.

Stern, L J (2013) ‘Surprise in Schools: Martin Buber and Dialogic Schooling’, Forum: For Promoting 3-19 Comprehensive Education, 55:1, pp 45-58.

Stern, L J (2012) ‘The Personal World of Schooling: John Macmurray and Schools as Households’; Oxford Review of Education, 38:6, pp 727-745.

Buchanan, M T and Stern, L J (2012) ‘Pre-service Teachers’ Perceptions of the Benefits of Peer Review’, Journal of Education for Teaching, 38:1, pp 37-49.

Stern, L J and Backhouse, A (2011) ‘Dialogic Feedback for Children and Teachers: Evaluating the ‘Spirit of Assessment’’, International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, 16:4, pp 321-336.

Stern, L J (2010) ‘Research as Pedagogy: Building Learning Communities and Religious Understanding in RE’, British Journal of Religious Education, 32:2, pp 133-146.

Stern, L J (2009) ‘Soul and Chips’, Teaching Thinking & Creativity, 10:2, pp 17-19.

Stern, L J (2009) ‘Monologue or Dialogue? Stepping Away from the Abyss in Higher Education’, London Review of Education, 7:3, pp 271-281.

Sink, C A, Cleveland, R, and Stern, J (2007) ‘Spiritual Formation in Christian School Counseling Programs’, Journal of Research on Christian Education, 16, pp 35-63.

Stern, L J (2007) ‘Mattering: What it Means to Matter in School’, Education 3-13, 35:3, pp 285-295.

Stern, L J (2007) ‘Action Philosophy in Jewish and Christian Traditions’, REsource, 30:1, pp 9-12.

Stern, L J and James, S (2006) ‘Every Person Matters: Enabling Spirituality Education for Nurses’, Journal of Clinical Nursing 15:7, pp 897-904.

Stern, L J and Kohn, E (2023) ‘Insights on Student-Centred and Knowledge-Centred Teaching: Jewish Studies Teachers, Pedagogy and Community’, Oxford Review of Education, 49:5, pp 681-697.

Killingback, C, Tomlinson, A, Thompson, M, Whitfield, C and Stern, L J (2023) ‘Teaching person-centered practice to pre-registration physiotherapy students: a qualitative study’, Physiotherapy Theory and Practice, pp 1-13.

Stern, L J (2023) ‘Being At One: A Philosophical Anthropology of Solitude’, Topoi, pp 1-9.

Wałejko, M J and Stern, L J (2023) ‘Ineffable Education, the Uncommunicable and the Uncommunicated’, British Journal of Religious Education, 45:4, pp 358-369.

Stern, L J (2023) ‘Celebrating Uncertainty in RE’, RE Today, 40:3, pp 14-15.

Stern, L J (2023) ‘Editorial: Beyond Knowledge-Centred versus Student-Centred RE’, British Journal of Religious Education, 45:3, pp 225-227.

Stern, L J (2023) ‘Editorial: In and Out of Focus: RE Horizons’, British Journal of Religious Education, 45:2, pp 83-85.

Stern, L J (2022) ‘‘You’re Alive!’: On the ‘Livingness’ of Spirited Educational Research’, International Journal of Transformative Research, 9:1, pp 1-5.

Wałejko, M J and Stern, L J (2022) ‘Editorial: Solitude together with education’, Journal of Silence Studies in Education, 2:1, pp 1-4.

Some public reports

Stern, L J and Shillitoe, R (2018) Evaluation of Prayer Spaces in Schools: The Contribution of Prayer Spaces to Spiritual Development; York: York St John University.

Stern, L J (2010) ‘Approaches to Teaching and Learning in Religious Education’, The Religious Education CPD Handbook

Stern, L J (2005) ‘Learning the lessons of life’, Yorkshire Post, 5^th January 2005, p 13.

Stern, L J (2005) ‘Find Yourself on the Salmon Line’, TES First Appointments, January 14^th 2005, pp 32-33.

Department for Education and Skills (DfES) [Morgan, A and Stern, L J] (2004) Help Your Children to Learn: Getting the Best Out of Homework: For Both Primary and Secondary Parents; London: DfES.

Stern, L J and Sprake, B (1999) ICT Identification of Your Training Needs: KS3 RE; London: TTA. (CD-rom.)

Stern, L J and Lamey, J (1999) ICT Identification of Your Training Needs: KS4 RE; London: TTA. (CD-rom.)

• General Secretary of ISREV: The International Seminar on Religious Education and Values
• Director of WRERU: The World Religions and Education Research Unit
• President of the ISRS: The International Society for Research on Solitude
• Secretary of the John Macmurray Fellowship
• Senior editor of the British Journal of Religious Education.
• On the editorial boards of the Greek Journal of Religious Education, the Journal for the Study of Spirituality, Other Education: The Journal of Educational Alternatives, and Pedagogika Szkoły Wyższej (the Polish Journal of Higher Education Pedagogy)
• Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
• Board Member of The Centre for Reconciliation, Lincoln
• Member of the Lincoln Diocesan Board of Education