Anthony Elliott-KellyFAcSS or Anthony Kelly, better known as Tony Kelly, is an Irish academic who is currently Professor of Education at the University of Southampton, England, specialising in education / schooling theory as it relates to school improvement, school effectiveness and school leadership, and system-wide policy. Kelly previously worked at the University of Cambridge with Mel West, and before that was a headteacher in Ireland. His background is in Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, which he studied at Cambridge under George Batchelor. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, organizations devoted to improving education and research. In 2013 he was elected as an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences. He was a leading figure in the movement to integrate and rationalise education in the Irish border region where he developed new governance structures. Kelly was well known in Ireland because of his work in merging schools with different traditions, and is known in UK university circles for his traditional view of the role of universities. As a student at Cambridge he famously cast doubt on the sincerity of a student discussion in a student society, causing some offence. Kelly was founding editor of the journalEducation, Knowledge and Economy, serves on the editorial board of other international academic journals, and is an invited lecturer at several leading universities outside the UK. He serves on several national UK steering groups and approval panels, and has appeared before the House of Commons Select Committee on Education. He served on the REF2014 panel for Education, UoA25. He also retains an interest and involvement in Anglo-Irish affairs. He is the author of approximately one hundredresearch reports, books and papers in leading academic journals.
Works
Benchmarking for School Improvement: A Practical Guide for Comparing & Improving Effectiveness. London, Routledge Falmer, 2001.
The Intellectual Capital of Schools: Measuring and managing knowledge, responsibility and reward: Lessons from the commercial sector. Dordrecht, New York & London, Kluwer Academic Press, 2004.
School Choice and Student Well-being: opportunity and capability in education. London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
Using Effectiveness Data for School Improvement: developing and utilising metrics. London, Routledge, 2011.
Developing metrics for equity, diversity and competition: new measures for schools and universities. London, Routledge, 2016.
