DrClaire Stonehouse

Dr Claire Stonehouse is a Lecturer in Health Education and Student Wellbeing in the School of Education at Deakin University. Claire leads curriculum design and delivery across the Bachelor of Health and Physical Education, a programme where research-informed teaching directly shapes graduate capability, ensuring Deakin's health and physical education teachers enter the profession ready for the complex, high-stakes realities of contemporary schools. Since joining Deakin, she has combined a deep commitment to evidence-informed teaching with a growing research agenda and sustained school and community partnerships, working to ensure pre-service teachers are equipped with the knowledge, skills and confidence to deliver health education that is inclusive, safe and impactful.

At the core of Claire's practice is a commitment to innovation in the service of equity, ensuring that pre-service teachers, and through them the young people they teach, have access to health education that is safe, inclusive, evidence-informed and meaningful. She embeds Deakin's core values and the Deakin 2030 strategic framework throughout her research, teaching and service, ensuring her contributions are not only impactful today but sustainable into the future. This can be seen through her teaching practice, chapter contributions to text and workbooks, curriculum resource development at both state and international level and development of professional learning opportunities for pre-service teachers, alumni and Department of Education workforce. Her work spans the university, the school sector and the broader community, reflecting a philosophy that great education is always bigger than the classroom.

Dr Claire Stonehouse is a recognised expert in Health Education, with a particular specialisation in Sexuality and Relationships Education (SRE) and Respectful Relationships Education (RRE). Through the Bachelor of Health and Physical Education (BHPE), Claire has built a sustained record of innovative curriculum and relational pedagogy that translates directly into measurable student outcomes. Her teaching practice is grounded in the creation of safe, inclusive and engaging learning environments, and she brings this commitment to every stage of curriculum and assessment design and delivery.

Claire's research agenda is firmly positioned at the intersection of health education, pedagogy and community impact. Her scholarly work advances understanding of how schools and pre-service teacher education programmes can better equip young people with the knowledge, understandings and skills they need. This research is not merely academic in focus, it is designed to generate real-world impact for students, families and communities, reflecting Deakin's strategic vision of Ideas to Impact.

Claire maintains an extensive and genuinely sustained network of school and community partnerships that distinguish her service contributions from one-off engagements. Her ongoing collaborations with schools, community organisations, government departments and health education experts demonstrate a deep commitment to practitioner engagement and informing policy direction. These partnerships simultaneously enrich her research and teaching while strengthening Deakin's reputation as an internationally recognised partner in health education.

Claire is a committed mentor and community-of-practice leader who builds collaborative cultures where colleagues feel genuinely supported and empowered to grow professionally. Her approach combines direct one-to-one mentoring, participation in formal institutional programs and active leadership on priorities that matter at a systemic level. She also contributes to growing Deakin's research community through an increasing commitment to PhD supervision, further extending her mentoring reach and research impact.