The LLE research group brings together diverse fields of expertise to examine learning and education as a life-wide process across schooling, work, family and community.
Life-wide Learning and Education Research Group
Our research
Our research investigates teaching and learning in schools and post-secondary education (VET and higher education); career-long professional learning; and learning in families, communities and social movements. We have strong existing relationships with our research partners and our track record demonstrates impactful outcomes for multiple stakeholders.Our research group is distinctive for its focus on life-wide and life-spanning perspectives. We research how learning and education can produce positive change for young people, professionals, organisations and society, through both individual and collective practices.
Across a diversity of settings and approaches, we share a curiosity about how learning and education can be strengthened and mobilised for positive change. We are committed to improving learning and also enhancing people’s access to education and its benefits to individuals and society. We don’t just study the nature of learning and investigate critical questions about dominant ideologies and the politics of education, and how education can expand what is possible.
We pursue these goals through close collaboration with industry and communities, and through the rich expertise we bring to the study of learning, education and change. We have expertise in a range of methodological approaches to address questions about pedagogy, curriculum theory and design, technology support learning, innovation, languages, literacies, special and inclusive education, equity and diversity, leadership, professional and everyday practices, social movements, agency, responsibility and policy.
News updates
Talking Teachers podcast
As Australia’s teacher shortage continues to impact the learning and lives of young people in schools across the nation, a new podcast series by LLE members Jane Hunter and Don Carter promises to unpack the challenges and offer clear solutions to this pressing issue. Talking Teachers explores the root causes of the teacher shortage crisis and offers innovative approaches to address it.
Research Seminars
Prof Margaret Somerville (Western Sydney University) and Dr Sarah Powell (Macquarie University) will present: "Becoming-with fire and rainforest: Emergent curriculum and pedagogies for planetary wellbeing" Thursday 20 April, 1100-1200 AEST. Register for Somerville & Powell seminar here
Our members
Core members
- Dr Tracy Barber
- Dr Katherine Bates
- Dr Don Carter
- Mohan Dhall
- Fiona Dobrijevich
- Dr Neil England
- Dr Germana Erkert
- Dr Rick Flowers
- George Harb
- Dr Keith Heggart
- Associate Professor Christina Ho
- Professor Nick Hopwood
- Associate Professor Jane Hunter
- Professor Matthew Kearney
- Dr Lauren Knussen
- Dr Pauline Kohlhoff
- Dr Mun-Yee Lai
- Dr Sue Lane
- Dr Amanda Lizier
- Dr Damian Maher
- Associate Professor Gregory Martin
- Dr Beate Mueller
- Dr Tracey-Ann Palmer
- Associate Professor Ann Reich
- Dr Donna Rooney
- Dr Katrina Thorpe
- Dr Keiko Yasukawa
- Dr Joanne Yoo
- Dr Kirsty Young
Associate members
- Dr Ros Appleby
- Professor Peter Aubusson
- Emeritus Professor David Boud
- Associate Professor John Buchanan
- Dr Raviro Chineka
- Professor Paul Hager
- Akiko Hiratsuka
- Emeritus Professor Alastair Pennycook
- Dr Kimberley Pressick-Kilborn
- Dr Marie Quinn
- Emeritus Professor Rosemary Johnston
- Adjunct Professor Sandy Schuck
- Dr Mark Tutton
Current projects
LLE researchers investigate the learning experiences of children and adolescents across a broad range of formal and informal education contexts, both in Australia and internationally.
Learning for work and in professions
LLE researchers examine workplace learning in its various forms and a variety of professions, including the corporate, education and healthcare sectors.
Learning with families and communities
LLE researchers investigate learning and change across diverse family networks and community groups.
Highlights
Books
Activist Citizenship Education: A Framework for Creating Justice Citizen by Keith Heggart
Evocative Qualitative Inquiry: Writing and Research Through Embodiment and the Poetic by Joanne Yoo
High Possibility STEM Classrooms: Integrated STEM Learning in Research and Practice by Jane Hunter
Awards
- UTS Teaching and Teacher Education – Top research institute in the field (Australian Research Magazine, 2021)
- UTS Education Top 100 in the world (Times Higher Education Subject Rankings, 2021)
Higher Degree Research
Prospective research student projects
Specific areas where the LLE Research Group is seeking high-quality HDR students are listed below.
|
Research area |
Contact |
|
Adult education policy and pedagogy, lifelong learning, numeracy and mathematics learning, adult literacy, workplace learning |
|
|
Cultural diversity and inequality in education, selective schools, Asian migrants and education |
|
|
Inclusive education practice and policy, special education pedagogy, transition to work for young people with disability, technology and disability |
|
|
Links between agency and learning, especially in professional and family contexts, and through cultural-historical activity theory or the theory of practice architectures |
|
|
Technology-enhanced learning and STEM |
Current HDR projects
|
A critical discourse analysis of the under-representation of people with Trisomy 21 (down Syndrome) in Australian post-secondary education contexts |
Fievel Tong |
|
Embedding Indigenous Perspectives: Early career teacher experience |
Leonie Seaton |
|
Innovation in STEM Education |
Rosemary Di Mattia |
|
Investigating native speakerism |
Ka Hang Wong |
|
Languages and technology: the relationship between conceptualisation, motivation, and value proposition in selecting secondary school learning pathways |
Colin Klupiec. |
|
Pedagogical practices: triggering and sustaining students' interest and engagement in Bhutanese school science lessons |
Bijoy Rai |
|
Reconceptualising workplace learning: a sociomaterial study of electrical contractors’ practice in the solar photovoltaic industry |
Anne Nguyen |
|
Shadow spaces: exploring informal learning in organisations through communication, collaboration, conflict and resistance |
Benjamin Carkagis |
|
Supporting primary school teachers in mobile enhanced classrooms |
Nicole Holgersson |
|
Teacher learning from students: An exploratory study from physics teachers |
Isaac Coffie |
|
The application of behaviour analytic instructional procedures to language learning |
John Wooderson |
| ‘The Floor’ in Tasmanian Child and Family Centres – Joint Emerging Practice | Yvonne Young |
|
The impact of policy reforms on organisational culture and organisational learning in out of home care sector |
Justine Lee |
|
The professional learning of experienced career-stage primary teachers in NSW schools: A Practice Architecture Approach. |
Julie Watson |
Find out more about undertaking Higher Degree Research in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS)
Collaborate with us
Current research partners
Industry partners
Collaborative, co-designed research with industry partners is a priority for the LLE research group.
Current industry partners include:
- Association of Independent Schools
- NSW Department of Education
- Onemda
- South Eastern Sydney Local Health District
- Sydney Children’s Hospital
- Technical and Further Education (TAFE) NSW
University partners
In addition to our partnerships with universities across Australia, our current international partner universities include:
- Hull University (UK)
- Lancaster University (UK)
- Linköping University (Sweden)
- Oxford University (UK)
- Stellenbosch University (South Africa)
- Stirling University (UK)
- Tampere University (Finland)
UTS partners
The LLE Research Group collaborates with academics across diverse fields of expertise at UTS, including:
- Centre for Research in Education in Digital Age (CREDS)
- Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion
- Disability Research Network
If you are interested in working with us, email lleresearch@uts.edu.au or contact one of our researchers directly.
Contact us
Email: LLEresearch@uts.edu.au
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14024336/
