Staff research interests

Te Kura Ākau Taitoka (College of Education, University of Otago) is a Te Tiriti-led research community.  We acknowledge the mana whenua of this takiwā.

The following presents staff research interests.  Please follow the links to individual staff profiles for more detail about their research.

Arts / Dance / Drama / Music / Visual arts / Aesthetic Education

• Professor David Bell – Aesthetic education; Learning in cultural institutions; Japanese arts in New Zealand contexts; Substantive aesthetics in the Japanese visual field; Visual arts education.
• Professor Jeff Smith – Psychology of aesthetics.
• Trish Wells – Learning in and through drama education.

Assessment

• Professor David Bell – Assessment in arts education.
• Associate Professor David Berg – Educational assessment.
• Professor Alex Gunn – Educational assessment (sociocultural and narrative approaches).
• Meredith Kelly – Early childhood assessment/schema learning theory.
• Professor Jeff Smith – Educational assessment.

Childhood and Youth Studies, Children/Youth Rights and Participation

Professor Vivienne Anderson – Refugee-background young people and educational participation.

• Dr Sonya Gaches
• Dr Michael Gaffney – Childrenʻs experiences, views and voices.
• Associate Professor Hugh Morrison – Religion, spirituality and religious contexts; children, youth and religion.
• Professor Karen Nairn

Curriculum

• Professor David Bell – Construction of curriculum.
• Dr Margie Campbell-Price – Curriculum enrichment through Education Outside the Classroom.
• Meredith Kelly – Early childhood curriculum: engaging in an integrated curriculum with pedagogical learning areas.

Disability Studies in Education

• Dr Michael Gaffney – Children's experiences of early childhood education and schooling.

Early Childhood Education

• Dr Sonya Gaches – Infants and toddlers; Utilising Te Whāriki.
• Dr Michael Gaffney – Infants and toddlers; Supporting whānau; Utilising Te Whāriki.
• Professor Alex Gunn – Infants and toddlers; Utilising Te Whāriki; Teachers' beliefs and practices.

Gender and Sexuality in Education

• Professor Vivienne Anderson – Gender and educational mobilities.
• Professor Alex Gunn – Inclusive education and social justice (particularly queer concerns and heteronormativity).
• Professor Karen Nairn – Gender, sexuality, “race” and youth cultures; Feminist issues in education.
• Professor Susan Sandretto – Gender equity.
• Dr Steven Sexton – Heteronormativity: social constructions of masculinities/femininities in school.

Health / Physical Education / Outdoor Education

• Dr Margie Campbell-Price – Education Outside the Classroom (EOTC); Outdoor education; Physical education; School-led tourism; Teenagers and adventure.
• Dr Rachel Martin – Socio-emotional wellbeing Māori perspectives.
• Angela Miller – Community nutrition.

History of Education

• Associate Professor Hugh Morrison – New Zealand missionaries and global interaction; New Zealand and Australasian religious history; New Zealand's historical interface with the wider world; Children and young people as historical subjects and agents.

Inclusive Education and Social Justice Issues

• Professor Vivienne Anderson – Equitable access and participation in education; Education and care.
• Dr Sonya Gaches
• Dr Michael Gaffney – Different groups of children missing out on their rights to education.
• Professor Alex Gunn – Inclusive education: difference, diversity, and social justice in early childhood education.
• Professor Karen Nairn
• Dr Sylvia Robertson – Leadership for social justice; Inclusive leadership.
• Professor Susan Sandretto – Social justice.
• Associate Professor Jacques van der Meer – Equitable access and participation in higher education.

Leadership

• Dr Sylvia Robertson – Leadership identity; Leadership in high-needs settings; Leadership for social justice; Leadership preparation in educational settings.

Learning Theory

• Associate Professor David Berg – Self-efficacy, metacognition.
• Professor Jeff Smith – Instructional feedback.

Literacy / Multiliteracies

• Dr Rachel Martin – Literacy and language in bilingual education.
• Professor Susan Sandretto – Critical literacy; Critical multiliteracies.
• Dr Jane Tilson – Critical literacy; Critical multiliteracies.
• Associate Professor Hugh Morrison – Children and young people, literature and writing in the 19th and 20th centuries.
• Trish Wells – Process drama and multiliteracies.

Māori and Indigenous Education

• Professor Vivienne Anderson – Decolonisation and education.
• Dr Rachel Martin – Kai Tahu Education; Te Tiriti education and decolonisation; Te reo Māori education.
• Professor Karen Nairn – Te Tiriti education and decolonisation.

Mathematics Education

• Associate Professor Naomi Ingram – Students' mathematical identities; Students' affective journeys through mathematics.

Mentoring

• Dr Helen Trevethan – Beginning teaching; Professional experience.

Online/Blended/Flexible Learning

• Dr Keryn Pratt – Computer/technology supported learning; distance/online/blended/flexible learning; virtual schools.
• Dr Sylvia Robertson – Online/blended/flexible learning; Tertiary first-year experience.

Pasifika Education

• Karina Nafatali – Pasifika learners.

Pedagogy and Initial Teacher Education

• Professor Vivienne Anderson – Education practices and equity.
• Associate Professor David Bell – Pedagogy; Efficacy beliefs.
• Associate Professor David Berg – Initial teacher education.
• Dr Margie Campbell-Price – Professional experience in initial teacher education; Pedagogy in secondary school Physical Education and Outdoor Education (EOTC); Experiences of early career teachers.
• Professor Alex Gunn – Curriculum and pedagogy in early childhood education.
• Meredith Kelly – Early childhood pedagogy and socio-cultural practice.
• Professor Karen Nairn – Secondary and tertiary education practices.
• Professor Susan Sandretto – Teacher education.
• Dr Steven Sexton – Teacher cognition: perceptions of teachers and teaching.
• Dr Jane Tilson – Teacher education; Reflective practice.
• Dr Helen Trevethan – Beginning teaching; Professional experience; Science education.
• Associate Professor Jacques van der Meer – Pedagogical/andragogical approaches to enhancing student engagement.
• Trish Wells – Process drama as a pedagogy; Process drama as an embodied pedagogy.

Policy

• Professor Vivienne Anderson – Education, internationalisation and refugee resettlement.
• Dr Michael Gaffney – Early childhood education and schooling.
• Professor Alex Gunn – Early childhood education, curriculum, assessment, inclusion.
• Associate Professor Jacques van der Meer – Student retention.
• Professor Susan Sandretto – School choice.

Professional Learning and Development

• Professor Alex Gunn – Teacher professional learning.
• Dr Rachel Martin – Teacher professional learning.

Science Education

• Dr Steven Sexton – Education through Science.
• Dr Helen Trevethan – Science learning in primary schools.

Technology Education

• Angela Miller – Teaching and learning in technology education.

Theory and Practice of Teaching and Learning

• Professor Vivienne Anderson – Critical theoretical perspectives; Borderlands scholarship; Indigenous epistemologies; Participatory action research.
• Associate Professor David Berg – Teacher self-efficacy; Self-efficacy; Teaching and learning.
• Dr Margie Campbell-Price – Contemporary issues in secondary school education.
• Dr Sonya Gaches
• Professor Alex Gunn – Teachers' practices.
• Professor Karen Nairn – Critical social and post-structural theory.
• Dr Steven Sexton – Science education (primary): Learning through science education in primary schools.
• Associate Professor Jacques van der Meer – Peer-learning.

Transitions

• Professor Vivienne Anderson – Education pathways for refugee-background students; Post-graduation pathways; Educational mobilities.
• Professor Karen Nairn – Post-high school transitions.
• Dr Sylvia Robertson – Transition into leadership in school settings.
• Associate Professor Jacques van der Meer – Transition into university and the experience of first year students.