"Disrupting inequality: What has and what can Sociology of Education do to make a difference?"

Friday 8 June 2012

Professor Allan Luke is currently developing new research projects in early literacy, accountability and assessmen and comparative pedagogies.
He is co-editor of Teaching Education (Routledge), Review of Research in Education (American Educational Research Association), Asia Pacific Journal of Education (Routledge) and Pedagogies: An International Journal (Erlbaum).
He is a senior editor of The International Encyclopedia of Education (Kluwer), The Handbook of Urban Education (Kluwer), and the Handbook of Curriculum (Sage).
Allan Luke's published work focuses on language and literacy education, discourse analysis, curriculum theory, policy, educational sociology.
He is currently working on several projects, including: classroom-based coding and observation systems, new models of educational policy analysis, development and commissioned work prototyping the relationships between state curriculum and equity...more

Professor Raewyn Connell holds a University Chair in the University of Sydney.  She has previously held posts in other universities in Australia and the USA, and visiting positions in Canada, the USA, and Germany. Raewyn Connell is best known outside Australia for studies of the social construction of masculinity. She was one of the founders of this research field and her book Masculinities (1995, 2005) is the most-cited in the field. The concept of hegemonic masculinity has been particularly influential and has attracted much debate. She has been an advisor to UNESCO and UNO initiatives relating men, boys and masculinities to gender equality and peacemaking.
Raewyn's style of sociology tries to combine empirical research, structural theory, social critique, and relevance to practice. Much of her research uses biographical (life-history) interviewing, but she has also published survey research, historical research, institutional analysis, and theory. She has written or co-written twenty-two books and more than 150 research papers (see the list below); her work is translated into 15 languages. The most recent book, combining work from several research projects, is Confronting Equality (2011)... more

Professor Jill Blackmore
Director, Centre for Research in Educational Futures and Innovation

Currently she is working on an ARC research project Redesigning Schools and Leadership, and projects on Resilient Kids and Schools and The Impact of Internationalisation on Teachers Professional Identities and Careers. She is past president of the Australian Association of Research in Education(2002), past Managing Editor of the Australian Educational Researcher, Regional Editor of International Journal of Educational Leadership, on the Editorial Board of British Educational Research Journal, American Educational Research Journal, New Zealand Journal of Educational Leadership, Journal of Educational Administration and History and international review panels of Journal of Education Policy, Globalisation, Societies, Education etc. She undertakes professional development and policy consultancies with professional and community organizations (principal, teacher and parents), government and NGOs (eg Victorian Council of Social Services, Oxfam International), and community organizations.

Dr Ruth Arber
Senior Lecturer in Education (TESOL)

My research experience and interests has three strands. The first extends my interest in identity and difference in education, its implications for understanding how discourses of race and ethnicity are played out in schools and its consequences for critical and inclusive education. The second applies to my more recent application of this work for the study of internationalization and cosmopolitanism in schools and education systems which are becoming increasingly globalised. The third brings together my long experience as a teacher of English as a second and foreign language and is concerned with the implementation of good teaching practice in diverse contexts worldwide.

Professor Terri Seddon

Terri Seddon is Professor of Education at Monash University. Her research focuses on educational restructuring and the politics of educational work in schools and in postcompulsory and adult learning spaces. Recent studies explore the nature and implications of partnership work, changes in governance and the effects of intercultural engagements on knowledge and innovation (Monash University web page).