Dr Kerri Garrard

Shorlist for Best Paper Award and Commended Papers EERA 2018

Toward intercultural history as pedagogy: a new theoretical approach

My work as an academic and educator is shaped by curriculum and pedagogy that intersects with the discipline of History and Interculturality. Working in these fields means my research and approach to teaching and learning of pre-service teachers, takes an interdisciplinary approach. I engage in research and scholarship that relates to: how students and educators value the discipline of History and Humanities in schools and what this reveals about the changing landscape of Australian society; informing History curriculum policy through evidence based research and interculturality; exploring the relevance and multiperspecitivty of teaching and assessment practices in history education; and examining the facilitatioin of interculturality in schools across the Humanities. More broadly, these core interests, and more than twenty years teaching in Australian secondary schools, shape my diverse engagement with the complexities of curriculum making and curriculum reform - including decolonising History curriculum.

Methods and methodologies integral to my work include a particular focus on discourse analysis, thematic analysis, theoretical framing and conceptualisations of historical thinking, history culture, historical consciousness; curriculum inquiry, curriculum making - including student centred data collection through social media - and metaphor for educational research.

In addition, I take an interdisciplinary approach to exploring the development of high quality online professional learning for educators informed by evidenced based research projects which I have conducted with a team of colleagues from the fields of inclusive, cultural and trauma education, research and scholarship. This aspect of my research makes a contribution to preparing teachers for 'relational' and 'pedagogical' uncertainty in schools experienced by teachers and students and is directly related to racism in schools. Secondly, it engages with scholarly debates around the purposeful development of digital resources for schools, and what high quality online professional learning for educators looks like within neoliberal constructs of the teaching profession. 

The relationship between my research interests and supervision of students within the Research Pathways Units offered @ Deakin and Higher Degree Research (HDR) students, is as aspect of my work that I value highly and see exciting prospects for making an impact upon education practices and policy. I take an active and engaging approach to the learning and progression of my research students, offering guidance and respecting their independence and critical thinking.  

History Council of Victoria 

Australian Writers Centre

Victorian Writers Centre

Australian Book Review 

History Teacher Association of Victoria (HTAV)

History and Humanities education, Curriculum and Pedagogy in the Humanities,  Intercultural Education, 

I have been Unit Chair for and taught in the following Units: 

EHU703 - Humanities Research Inquiry 7-10

EHU704 - Senior Humanities Research Inquiry 

EHI701 - History and Humanities Curriculum Inquiry 7-10

EDX701 - Research Methods

EDX703 - Research Paper A

EDX705 - Minor Thesis A 

I also supervise students in the following Units Units: 

EDX707 - Independent Research Project for Professional Practice

EDX 703/704/705/706 - Research Pathways 

History education in primary and secondary schools, History/Humanities curriculum, intercultural education, curriculum and pedagogy. 

Garrard, K.A. & Cairns, R. Presenters. European Conference on Educational Research, 'Social media as a tool for recruiting and empowering a diverse mix of student participants in curriculum research'. Glasgow. August, 2023.

A., Mekonnen, T., Corcoran, T. Guest Speakers. Suite of Culturally Safe Resources 'Department of Education's African Australian Roundtable June 2023

Garrard, K.A. & Black, R. Invited Speakers  Education for global citizenship: metaphors of academic identity  'Youth and Global Citizenship Workshop' Melbourne Graduate School of Education on July 17-20, 2023. 

Garrard, K.A. (2022) Presenter European Conference on Educational Research, Critical Times: Ambiguities and Tensions in Producing the Global Graduate. Online. 

Garrard, K.A. & Cairns, R., (2021) Teaching the Vietnam War: Firsthand. HTAV Annual Conference, July 2021 (online)

Garrard, K.A., Cairns, R., Weinmann, M. (2019) Intercultural Competencies, Global Cities Education Network Symposium, Melbourne, 12-14 March 2019. 

Garrard, K.A. (2018) Contemporary relationship between history education and interculturality. EERA International education conference, Bolzano, Italy. (September). 

Centre for Contemporary Histories Research Group (CHRG) School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Deakin University. 

Transforming Curriculum and Pedagogy Research Group - Deakin University Research Ecology 

Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation

• Racial Diversity and Teacher Relational Uncertainties: A Pilot Study (2023-2024)
• African Heritage Students: Suite of Culturally Safe Resources with Tim Corcoran & Tebeje Molla (DET) (2022-2023)

• National History Check: What is the status of History education in Australia? Kerri Garrard & Rebecca Cairns (2021-2023)

• Critical Times: Producing the Global Graduate in a Pandemic. Australia-New Zealand research project with Rosalyn Black, Matthew Krehl Edward Thomas, Bronwyn E. Wood, Lucas Walsh and Margaret Bearman (2023)

• Learning Firsthand: Teaching the Vietnam War Digital Resource with Julianne Moss, Rebecca Cairns, Bart Ziino, Peter Edwards and Trevor McCandless (2020) (DPC)