Dean's Keynote: Professor Jessica Gerrard

You are invited to our next Dean's Keynote Series event on Thursday, 10th September 2026 from 3.30-4.30pm AEST.

The Dean's Keynote Series theme for 2026 is: Dissecting Influence: Critical Insights into Education and Education Research.  

We welcome all to attend this most important event.

Abstract

In this presentation, I consider the significance of parental activism for the ‘publicness’ of schooling, drawing together historical research with reflections on contemporary events. A common aspiration is that schooling might foster the moral, epistemological, and social foundation for the democratic public sphere.

In doing so, schools are key public institutions that bring parents into direct relation to this aspiration and to the state. From the parents who have led campaigns against queer teachers, to those who organise against racism in schools, and those who have refused formal school in favour of home education – diverse parental activism and activity around education extends well beyond choosing schools and helping with homework.

In this presentation I chart how I became an accidental researcher of parental activism and outline what parent activism can tell us about the practice of schooling, educational expertise, and the aspiration for schools to foster democratic public life in contested times.  

Professor Jessica Gerrard researches the intersections of social, educational and policy change, with a focus on the politics of knowledge, expertise, inequalities, public education, activism and work. She works across the disciplines of sociology, history and policy studies with an interest in critical methodologies and theories.

Across her work, Jessica is interested in theorising the changing formations of the 'public', including its multiple and exclusionary forms. Recent research foci include conservative social activism and educational change; the politics of knowledge in home education; education, race and settler colonialism; queer teachers; and post-truth and trustworthy knowledge in schools.