The October discussion was held on 15th October, 4pm-5.30pm. Panel Discussion: ‘Mapping the move to explicit teaching in Australasia’. The abstract and presenter bios of the discussion are outlined below.
Discussion: Mapping the move to explicit teaching in Australasia: A panel discussion – Jill Blackmore, Jodie Hunter, Joanne O’Mara, Christine Preston
In Australia, as in New Zealand, we have seen a narrowing of curriculum advocacy around explicit teaching, citing an evidence base that is hotly contested, and a ‘science of learning’ that is similarly controversial in its scope and claims. These moves in policy formulation have come from governments of different political shades and are accompanied by a history of attacks in the media on the teaching profession, and challenges to the status of teacher education institutions. This panel discussion aims to shed light on this phenomenon, and explore appropriate responses, mapping what is happening in mathematics, science and language education, the broader policy background, and the implications for teachers and schools.
The panel:
Jill Blackmore, Deakin Distinguished Professor in Education at Deakin University, will provide a brief history of the what works, evidence based policy and practice push and how this determines what counts as evidence finishing with a focus on AERO, Grattan dominance in policy.
Jodie Hunter, Professor at Massey University with an interest in Pasifika Education. She will talk about the implications of the moves to explicit teaching for Mathematics Education in New Zealand.
Joanne O’Mara, Professor of Education at Deakin University will talk about the debate around reading, and the situation with regard to the imposition of a phonics agenda.
Christine Preston, Associate Professor of Science Education at the University of Sydney will discuss the issue from the perspective of Science Education.
Further details:
Jill Blackmore AM PhD FASSA is Deakin Distinguished Professor in Education, Faculty of Arts and Education, Deakin University, Australia, and current President of the Australian Association of University Professors, and former President of AARE and editor of AER. She researches from a feminist perspective, education policy and governance; international and intercultural education; leadership and organisational change; spatial redesign and innovative pedagogies; and teachers’ and academics’ work, health and wellbeing. Recent Australian Research Council projects have been on school autonomy reform; international students in Australian schools. Current projects are ARC Linkage (2024-8) Attracting and Retaining a Culturally Diverse Teacher Workforce and ARC Discovery The Geopolitics of Transnational Student Mobility, and federal Department of Education project: Best Practices Supporting International Students. Recent publications include Disrupting Leadership in the Entrepreneurial University: Disengagement and Diversity (2023, Bloomsbury) and Mackay, A. Thomson, P & Blackmore. J. (eds) 2024 Resistance and Educational Leaders (London: Routledge)
Jodie Hunter is a Professor at Massey University and teaches in the area of Mathematics Education and Pasifika Education. She has previously worked in the area of mathematics education at Plymouth University, UK in the Centre for Innovation in Mathematics Teaching and Learning. Her research interests include effective mathematics teaching and culturally responsive teaching for Pasifika learners.
Joanne O’Mara is a Professor of Education at Deakin University whose research program focuses on issues central to secondary subject English teaching and teachers’ work. She investigates young people’s creation and usage of texts; innovative pedagogy, curriculum design and teaching practices; the policies and conditions of teachers’ work. She has a particular interest in the areas of new literacies studies and the arts and is passionate about her ongoing series of research projects in the areas of reading, creative writing, drama education pedagogy and practices, digital games, emergent literacies and new textual practices.
Christine Preston is an Associate Professor of Science Education at the University of Sydney. She has a unique teaching background having taught science in NSW schools at both the secondary and primary level. She has experience as a science teacher education lecturer in early childhood, primary and secondary science. Since 2004 Christine has continued to teach kindergarten science in a Sydney school to maintain current field experience. Her current research interests are: primary children’s interpretation of scientific diagrams, teaching and learning science using toys, early childhood science, effective science education practices for preservice and inservice teachers and use of representations in science education.
Posted Aug 10, 2026
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