Brendan Hyde

Since 2002 my academic career has focused on generating new insights and informing new directions in how spirituality and spiritual wellbeing can be nurtured in education through a   targeted program of research and publication. As part of this agenda, I have been a co-editor of International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, and I am currently the Chair of the International Association for Children’s Spirituality, which seeks to promote and support research and practice in relation to children’s spirituality within education and wider contexts of children’s care and wellbeing. With colleagues at interstate universities, I have developed a framework for young children’s spiritual capabilities for use by educators and other professionals who work with children.

Following my appointment to Deakin University, I am developing a national reputation in researching out-of-field teaching in Religious Education (RE), exploring the complexities of this phenomenon from both education and accrediting bodies’ perspectives, and have attracted funding from the National Catholic Education Commission to research this area. I have also focussed on ways to enhance initial teacher education, strengthening programs and placement opportunities in rural areas to deliver effective beginning teachers, and, with my colleagues here at Deakin University have attracted funding from the Victorian Department of Education to further this agenda.

I am also developing an international reputation in researching and applying the concept of affordance theory to Christian and spiritual education, attracting Category 2 and 3 funding to explore how built and constructed environments in early childhood contexts can enhance the Christian and spiritual education of young children.

From a methodological perspective, I have expertise in phenomenology and have effectively utilized this over many years now to inquire into the lived experiences of both teachers and students in schools and early childhood settings.

Research Groups
Transforming Professional Lives, Learning and Leadership (School of Education,
Deakin University)

Innovating Initial Teacher Education (School of Education, Deakin University)