Meet the Faculty of Education

Professor Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles

Executive Dean, Faculty of Education

Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles is a Professor of Sustainability, Environment and Education at Southern Cross University and a leader in environmental education research with a particular interest in child-framed arts-based research methodologies.

Emerita Professor Marilyn Chaseling

Emerita Professor Marilyn Chaseling has 30 yrs of teaching experience, with 21 yrs appointed to leadership positions including Course Coordinator of the Bachelor of Social Science; Head of School of Education (1999-2001); Course Coordinator for Education’s undergraduate courses (Primary, Early Childhood, Secondary and TAS); Director of Undergraduate Studies; Director of Teaching and Learning; Deputy Head of School; Acting Head of School. Marilyn has also led three major curriculum renewal projects. For over 10 yrs up to 2015, Marilyn led the teams that designed and, when required, prepared the BOSTES (NESA) accreditation for School of Education courses. Marilyn is a valuable mentor and advisor in research partnerships, accreditation and curriculum renewal and HDR supervision for the Faculty of Education.

Emeritus Professor Martin Hayden

Emeritus Professor Martin Hayden has wide-ranging experience as a scholar in the field of higher education. He has produced or contributed to extensive publications including books, articles and reports, and has attracted significant research and development grants. Martin has completed commissioned works and consultancies for a wide range of international agencies, including UNESCO, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and ASEAN. In Australia, he has undertaken projects for multiple Commonwealth Government agencies. He is a regular reviewer of articles submitted to peak international journals in the field of higher education. Martin's significant experience and expertise in higher degree supervisory practices is vital in continuing to support and build the Faculty of Education. 

Vice Chancellor's Fellow Robert James Smith

Robert was a school teacher, head and administrator for 20 years. Through professional organisations he led much English teacher professional development in the region. Then as a teacher-educator his main focus was on language and literacy learning at all levels—from birth to higher education. He is well experienced in higher education governance. His recent research is focussed on educational leadership, and on literacy education from a social-interactionist perspective. These interests had also led him to research in regional culture and history, including full-length local histories (of Byron Bay, Lismore), to journal editing (Australian Folklore).

Adjunct Lecturer Marilyn Ahearn

Marilyn Ahearn is an adjunct lecturer at SCU. She has extensive experience in primary education, including participation and leadership in environmental education initiatives. Marilyn completed her PhD at SCU and continues to collaborate in writing projects as a member of the ‘Sustainability, Environment, the Arts in Education’ (SEAE) Research Cluster. She is committed to researching and promoting a universal deep-time story through environmental education and transdisciplinary-based learning in the primary school setting.

Adjunct Senior Lecturer Dr Anne Bellert

Dr Anne Bellert is an academic in the field of inclusive education, with particular expertise in learning difficulties in literacy and numeracy, and leadership. She has over a decade of experience in advising school leaders and teachers about inclusion of students with disabilities in regular school settings, and a further decade of experience in Initial Teacher Education and postgraduate teaching in inclusive education and school leadership. Her research interests reflect this professional experience and current projects focus on leadership for inclusive schools and developing 'Sustainable Learning' as a contemporary, responsive approach to meeting the learning needs of diverse learners.

Adjunct Professor Tracey Bunda

Professor Bunda has an outstanding track record of teaching and research, specialising in the areas of Indigenous education and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies. A part of her role is Director of the ATSIS Unit’s academic team and Head of Academic Programs, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit at the UQ. Her career in universities expands over 3 decades during which time she has held senior Indigenous leadership roles which have focused on the building the profile of Indigenous education. Tracey’s research interests are informed by critical theoretical approaches for understanding how the intersection of race and power manifest in white institutions, storying as methodology and the agentic role of Indigenous women in Indigenous community uplift. A Ngugi/Wakka Wakka woman, Professor Bunda has been in the higher education sector since 1986 and has held a number of senior positions, including the Convener of the Weemala Centre at ACU.

Adjunct Lecturer Alan Fenn-Lavington

Dr. Fenn-Lavington's 30+ years in Education include primary and secondary teaching, Sport Coordinator, School Co-Ordinator and Acting Deputy Principal as well as teaching at Griffith University with the School of Education. An accomplished musician, he has played guitar and sung on campus since 2006 with the Desperados Band. Alan is also a keen sportsman involved with surfing, athletics, rugby league and has played State Level Touch Football. He has been an Academic with SCU since 2006 teaching with School of Education, PSP and Social Science as well as a short time with Sport Management and Surfing Studies - he describes himself as a classroom practitioner. His Doctoral Study uses the Activity Theory by Engestrom (developed in part from Vygotsky’s work) and is specifically in the area of Student Engagement and Retention at University. Alan's Research investigates, but is not limited to, students’ learning capabilities and success via Online, On Campus and Blended methods at University.  Although primarily a classroom practitioner, Alan has a solid recent Research Portfolio that includes acceptance for presentations and/or publications at JCU Conference Townsville QLD; Flinders University SA; ICERI Conference, Seville Spain ; APIAR Research Conference Indonesia and Oxford University in August  2022.

Adjunct Senior Lecturer Roslyn Franklin

Dr Roslyn Franklin has been involved in the teaching profession in varying capacities for forty years. In her early teaching career, she was a Health and Physical Education teacher in Brisbane and Gold Coast secondary and primary schools and then lectured in this area at Griffith University (Gold Coast campus). Ros is currently retired but is an adjunct lecturer and working part-time at SCU as a Unit Assessor for a PDHPE secondary unit and University Supervisor when preservice teachers undertake their Professional Experience in schools. Ros has a strong interest in the promotion and encouragement of girls and women in sport especially surfing. Research interests include physical education assessment and technology, improving general primary preservice teacher’s confidence in teaching physical education, equity issues in women’s surfing.

Adjunct Associate Professor Michael John Gard

Michael holds a Masters degree in exercise science and a PhD in the sociology and history of dance. He has written several books on a variety of subjects including obesity, science, and public health policy. While his primary field of research is in health and physical education, Michael is also a social scientist who has intentionally contributed to broader sociological scholarship of health and the body.

Adjunct Catherine Hastings

Dr Catherine Hastings’ interdisciplinary research concentrates on understanding issues of social justice and inequality alongside developing and evaluating policy and program responses for social change. Recent focus areas include legal needs assessment, the causes of homelessness for families and older women, and international student financial and housing precarity. The philosophy of critical realism informs her research. Her work aims to extend how social science research and complexity-informed evaluation methodologies may operationalise critical realism to deliver more transformative findings.  

Adjunct Associate Professor Sue Hudson

Dr Suzanne Hudson has been involved in teaching and teacher education for over 30 years. Suzanne is now based at the Gold Coast campus at SCU. Prior to coming to SCU she was at QUT where she was responsible for initiating the Bachelor of Education (primary) at the Caboolture campus. Suzanne was the successful applicant of a $1.45 million grant for the implementation of the Teacher Education Done Differently (TEDD) project. This project was recognised as enhancing student learning in 2012 with an Australian Award for University Teaching (DEEWR).

Adjunct Professor Rita Irwin

Rita L. Irwin is a Distinguished University Scholar and Professor of Art Education and Curriculum Studies, The University of British Columbia, Canada and Adjunct Professor, Southern Cross University, Australia. She is also a Past President of the UNESCO-affiliated International Society for Education through Art and immediate past Principal Editor of the International Journal of Education through Art. Her major research interests include practice-based research, participatory and community engaged research, international studies, arts-based research and a/r/tography set within questions related to sociocultural issues, teacher education, inquiry based learning, and contemporary art. Rita is an artist, researcher, and teacher deeply committed to the arts and education.

Adjunct Professor Richard Light

Richard Light is Professor Emeritus at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, Adjunct Professor at Southern Cross University and a Visiting Professor at Waseda University, Japan. He has held full time positions in Australia at the University of Melbourne, The University of Sydney, Ballarat University, and in the UK at Leeds Metropolitan University. He was also Invited Professor at the University of Franche-Comté, France. Professor Light has a teaching and coaching background in Australia and Japan and was a professional rugby coach in Japan. He is a leader in research on sport and physical education pedagogy with an emphasis on situating learning and the influence of larger cultural and institutional contexts on teaching/coaching and learning. This includes substantial work in Japan and on Indigenous culture and sport. He has a prolific output and is well known for his innovative work on athlete centred coaching grounded in practice, such as his development of Positive Pedagogy for sports coaching.

Adjunct Professor Bruce Knight

Professor Knight has completed a great deal of study in teaching and learning, undertaking high impact applied research that leads to sustainable benefits for all students. He is a specialist in learning design and pedagogy to enhance participant outcomes across all forms of education and mental health. Professor Knight has successfully supervised 27 doctoral candidates and his areas of research have resulted in more than 200 peer-reviewed publications and completion of large research projects worth more than AUD$7 million from such granting bodies as the Australian Research Council and Commonwealth and State Government agencies. In 2006 he was honoured with Fellowship of the International Academy of Research in Learning Disabilities, with Fellows considered the world’s leaders in the scientific study of human problems related to learning.

Adjunct Senior Lecturer Megan Lee

Megan Lee is a Senior Teaching Fellow in the Faculty of Society and Design at Bond University. She has a background in psychological science and advanced statistical analyses. Megan is passionate about research impact in the public domain and providing a bridge between psychology and education research.

Adjunct Senior Lecturer Jake Madden

Dr Jake Madden is an experienced school principal. With a leadership career over the last thirty years he has been building teacher capacity through the development of learning in the contemporary world, the promotion of flexible learning spaces to meet the needs of the 21st century learner and curriculum for global mindedness.  As a proponent for teacher action research, Jake is widely published in this area, authoring books and journal articles showcasing his experiences and research into leading educational change in schools. Jake sits on the editorial board for the International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change, is the editor for the Journal of Applied Research and Innovation and is currently the Dean of the Australian College of Researchers.

Adjunct Associate Professor Sharon Parry

Sharon worked in research and development in higher education from 1984 and has been at Southern Cross since 1993. Prior to her appointment to the School of Education, she was the Director, Teaching and Learning Centre at the University and inaugural president of the Council of Australian Directors Academic Development. Her current research concerns the relationship between epistemological foundations of academic culture and the influence of those on knowledge-making and reporting. Her empirical research fields are research degree supervision, educational program evaluation, discipline-specific writing, student assessment, academic standards and their maintenance and advancement and the nature of academic work.  

Adjunct Lecturer David Rousell

David Rousell is an Adjunct Senior Lecturer at SCU, where he completed his PhD under the supervision of Professor Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles and Professor Alexandra Lasczik. David is also Senior Lecturer in Creative Education at RMIT, where he works in the Creative Agency Lab and Digital Ethnography Research Centre (DERC). His project Local Alternatives explores the pedagogical agency of the environmental arts in adapting to climate change at city-scale, providing an open platform for collaboration between children, young people, researchers, and creative practitioners. David’s forthcoming books include Immersive Cartography and Post-qualitative Inquiry (Routledge) and Climate Change Imaginaries (Springer, with Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles).

Adjunct Professor Keith Skamp

Keith is an Adjunct Professor (School of Education) and a SCU Emeritus Faculty member. He lectured in research methodology, science and environmental education. Keith continues to research and publish in these areas. His involvement with teacher professional learning was at state, national and international levels. Since retirement, major consultancies have been with the Australian Academy of Science (Primary Connections), James Cook University and UTS. Keith is an Emeritus member of the Australasian Science Education Research Association, received the SCU VC Award for Excellence and Achievement (Teaching and Learning) and the ‘Distinguished Service Award’ from the Australian Science Teachers’ Association.

Adjunct Professor Richard Smith

Adjunct Professor Richard Smith has extensive experience in school and higher education education administration and governance and the development of innovations. He has a distinguished record in research, publication, postgraduate supervision and academic journal creation and editorship. His current academic and applied interests lie in the development of effective pedagogical practice and governance for uncertain times. Richard has a long association with international education, cultural exchanges and collaboration.

Adjunct Professor Kim Snepvangers

Dr Kim Snepvangers is an Adjunct Professor and Principal Fellow Higher Education Academy (PFHEA). Kim is an award-winning educational leader in creative ecologies with expertise in industry partnerships at scale, recognised with a 2018 AAUT national citation.  She is also an Adjunct Associate Professor and a Scientia Education Academy (SEA) Fellow at UNSW. Kim has co-edited 3 books, over 20 book chapters and journal publications with research interests in archival practice-based research especially with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Mentors, arts and creativity. Internationally, Kim is an elected World Councillor for the International Society for Education Through Art (InSEA/UNESCO).

Adjunct Professor David Spendlove

Professor Spendlove’s work has involved policy, practice and research in a variety of areas including Teaching and Learning, Teacher Education, Technology Education and Creative and Design Education. Currently David is Professor of Education and Director of Teaching and Learning in the School of Environment, Education and Development in addition to being the Senior Adviser for the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences. David also holds a strategic role for oversight of Teacher Development and maintains an executive responsibility for the University of Manchester Teach First provision. He was a long-standing member of the government advisory group for Initial Teacher Training and was a member of the recent Ofsted advisory group for the development of the new inspection framework for Initial Teacher Education.

Adjunct Senior Lecturer Angela Turner

Angela Turner's research is positioned under the umbrella of Design and Technologies education, specifically food education, sustainability and food innovation research (regional foods and food education research). She is a world-class leader in Design and Technology education. She has provided ongoing research excellence to the field, building specialist research in Food Technology education through publications in double blind peer reviewed journals, book chapters and conference papers. Angela has also designed and collaborated on a variety of funded research projects. She has contributed to the scholarship of teaching at PhD, Masters and Honours level and is available to supervise Honours and higher degree research students (Masters and PhD). Angela’s research is interested in the multifaceted relationship between human agency, technology choice, ecology as a material resource, and sustainable preferred futures. Her specialist research area is defined through Technacy Genre Theory (TGT). Angela's research output informs the program of teaching she is responsible for as these are equal fields of inquiry that feed off each other — how we conceptualise technological and scientific knowledge as it relates to food in education settings from teacher education through to higher education and industry based professional development. Angela's program of research bases itself from her PhD. A significant outcome of the research quantitatively validated the underpinning proposition of three key elements consistent in any technological or scientific activity: Human agency, tools, materials and the environment. TGT has proven to be useful in determining the demarcation between the Humanities and Sciences disciplines in advancing assessment practice and planning efficiencies for interdisciplinary teaching. The research opens up the possibility of developing innovative new models of STEM learning and assessment strategies across school curriculum as well as within an array of interdisciplinary professional fields. Angela’s current research involves design-led innovation across rural and remote school communities. Core to this includes cross-cultural food ontological framings on food science and technology, food engineering and mathematics (STEM) that support innovative interdisciplinary teaching, learning, assessment and sustainable practice.

Adjunct Associate Professor David Turner

David Turner is QASSP’s Director of Professional Learning. He has enjoyed a diverse career in school leadership working in small rural schools through to large complex urban schools. David has taught in Victoria and in British Columbia, Canada and also spent over three years working in the tertiary sector as Head of Campus and Head of School. He has worked as a member research team on projects related to initial teacher education, teaching staff capability through coaching, mentoring and feedback and blended learning. David holds a Diploma of Teaching, Bachelor of Education, Master of Business Administration, Master of Leadership and Management in Education and Doctor of Education degrees.

Adjunct Associate Professor Judith Wilks

Coming from a Geography background Judith worked for many years as an Environmental Planner. She has also taught in a range of Geography, Sociology and Environmental Planning courses at the University of Melbourne, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and the University of New England. Judith has also taught a wide range of social science-based subjects Years 7–12 in NSW high schools in the state and Catholic education systems. In 2007 she won the NSW Premier’s Energy Australia Environmental Education Teacher Scholarship to travel to Italy and the UK to study leading practice in UNICEF’s Creating Child Friendly Cities initiatives. Judith has been awarded numerous awards including the "Geoff Connolly Memorial Award for an Outstanding Contribution to the Geography Bulletin of the NSW Geography Teachers Association" for an HSC Geography Case Study on Mangrove Ecosystems.  

Adjunct Associate Professor Tony Yeigh

Tony Yeigh is an Adjunct Associate Professor (School of Education) with a PhD in Educational Psychology. He has received various awards for his teaching and research, including a $10,000 DEST award for his PhD research design, 2018 Teacher of the Year Award, and a 2020 Emerald Literati award for outstanding research paper. Skilled in intercultural communication, multi-modal research design, project supervision, and applied pedagogy, he is a strong education professional whose research interests include Blended Learning, School Improvement, School Leadership, Initial Teacher Education, Educational Mindfulness and "wicked" problem solving.

Adjunct Associate Professor David Zyngier

David has worked in school education for 15 years and as an education academic for 18 years. He was awarded an Australian Research Council Grant to research Democracy in Education and led an Australian Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade project to assist in the development of a national educational framework in Thailand. His research focuses on teacher pedagogies that engage all students, but particularly how these can improve outcomes for students from communities of disadvantage by focusing on issues of social justice and social inclusion. He works within a critical orientation to pedagogy that is distinguishable by its commitment to social justice (with interests in who benefits and who does not by particular social arrangements) investigating how school education can improve student outcomes for all.

Adjunct Lecturer Dr Moya Costello

Moya arrived at SCU for her semester in 2008 and ended her continuing position late in 2017. Currently, she is an adjunct lecturer. Moya is a writer and has worked as an editor. Semester-long writing subjects were taught by Moya at the University of Canberra (a subject she wrote) online, the University of Adelaide (a subject she wrote), and Flinders University. Single seminars were given by Moya at the universities of Western Sydney and South Australia. She has taught writing at TAFE and to community groups.