Biography
Cameron is a lecturer of Health and Physical Education in the School of Education (Faculty of Arts and Education). Cameron has worked in education for over ten years. Cameron completed his undergraduate degree in Physical Education in 2009 and then worked for five years as a classroom/PE teacher in the United States. He transitioned to graduate research by completing a Master’s degree in 2015. He finished his PhD in 2020 and continues to use his research to inform his teaching practice, and vice-versa. Cameron has been teaching at the tertiary level since 2016. He worked as an academic and program coordinator (across several initial teacher education programs) at Federation University for four years before joining Deakin in 2023.
Cameron’s main area of research is health and physical education. His PhD research focused on embodiment and examined how children develop their relationship with physical culture in early primary education. Recently, he has been drawn to examining HPE pedagogy and curriculum, and exploring the transition into physical education teacher education. He continues to explore embodiment in primary PE and is interested in engaging with student voice to address the learning needs and interests of all children.
Read more on Cameron's profileResearch interests
Cameron's resesearch interests include
- Emodiment and engagement in Primary PE
- Social construction and interaction in PE and on the playground
- Examining PE from a socio-cultural perspective
- PE curriculum, pedagogy and assessment.
- Student voice, agency, and democratic practices in school and higher education settings
- Play and the connection between PE and the playground
Units taught
EEH302 Health and Physical Education in the Curriculum
EEH301 Nutrition, Growth and Development in Health Education
EPP 303 Health and Physical Education: Curric Study B
Conferences
Nov 27th- Dec 1st, 2022. “You have got to take the handcuffs off”: Primary physical education teachers’ experience of enacting meaningful student voice (or not) presented at the AARE conference, Adelaide, SA
Nov 27th- Dec 1st, 2022. “There is more room to do it at home”: Constructing children’s physical activity spaces presented at the AARE conference, Adelaide, SA
June 21st, 2022. “I didn’t know that’s student voice”: Primary physical education teachers’ experience of enacting meaningful student voice (or not) presented at the ACHPER Primary PE conference, La Trobe, VIC.
June 15th-18th, 2022. “I didn’t know that’s student voice”: Primary physical education teachers’ experience of enacting meaningful student voice (or not) presented at the AIESEP conference, Gold Coast, QLD
June 15-18th, 2022. “I play on a club team”: Examining the development of the physically active habitus in early primary education presented at the AIESEP conference, Gold Coast, QLD.
December 5th, 2021. Using data collection to better understand students in early primary physical education, presented at the AARE HPE SIG conference (online).
June 7-10th, 2021. “There is more room to do it at home”: A micro-sociological examination of the disconnect in physical activity engagement between the school and home presented at the AIESEP conference (online).
December 1-5th, 2020. “I play on a club team”: Examining the development of the physically active habitus in early primary education.” presented at the Australian Association for Research in Education, Brisbane, QLD.
November 4th, 2020, “They always throw the ball over my head: Unpacking issues of engagement in early primary education.” presented at the ACHPER Teachers in Action conference.
April 24-27th, 2019. “Look how far I can kick it!” A sociological examination of children’s early physical experiences in PE and on the playground” presented at the World Congress for the Sociology of Sport (ISSA), Lausanne, Switzerland.
November 19-22, 2018. “Capturing the Moment: Embodied interactions in PE” presented at The Australian Sociology Association, Deakin, Melbourne
June 5-8, 2018. “Video analysis in PE: Using video analysis to examine interaction” presented at World Congress of Sociology of Sport (ISSA), Lausanne, Switzerland.
Awards
Vice-Chancellors Award for Learning and Teaching
Federation University
Vice Chancellor’s Adobe Innovation Champion award
Federation University
Australian Post-Graduate Award recipient
Victoria University
President’s list award recipient (4.0 GPA)
American Public University
Publications
Hope during COVID-19: a poetic inquiry of early career academics
C Van der Smee, J Ambrosy, A Prins
(2024), Vol. 15, pp. 58-76, Curriculum Studies in Health and Physical Education, London, Eng., C1-1
C Van der Smee, B McDonald, R Spaaij
(2024), Vol. 29, pp. 27-41, Sport, Education and Society, London, Eng., C1-1
'There is more room to do it at home': constructing children's physical activity spaces
C Van der Smee, B McDonald, R Spaaij
(2024), Sport, Education and Society, London, Eng., C1-1
Using Data Collection to Better Understand Students in Early Primary Physical Education.
Cameron Van der Smee, Ben Williams
(2023), Vol. 5, pp. 177-177, Assessment and data systems in early childhood settings : theory and practice, Berlin, Germany, B1
R Brandenburg, A Fletcher, A Gorriss-Hunter, C Van der Smee, W Holcombe, K Griffiths, K Schneider
(2023), Vol. 19, pp. 330-350, Studying Teacher Education, London, Eng., C1-1
Cameron Van der Smee, Carla Valerio
(2023), pp. 1-12, Sport, Education and Society, London, Eng., C1-1
Teachers' Perspectives of Enacting Student Voice in Primary Physical Education
Cassandra Iannucci, Cameron van der Smee, Melissa Parker
(2023), Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, Hanover, PA., C1
Capturing the moment: understanding embodied interactions in early primary physical education
C Van der Smee, C Luguetti, R Spaaij, B McDonald
(2021), Vol. 26, pp. 517-532, Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, London, Eng., C1-1
Funded Projects at Deakin
No Funded Projects at Deakin found
Supervisions
No completed student supervisions to report