DrCameron Van der Smee

Dr Cameron Van der Smee is a Lecturer in Health and Physical Education and the Course Director of the Bachelor of Health and Physical Education (BHPE) program. Cameron is an established leader in the field of education with multiple decades of experience, teaching across primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education. His role includes ongoing planning, development and strengthening of the program, with a specific emphasis on student support and pastoral care. Accordingly, the BHPE program continues to perform as the number one Health and Physical Education program in the market.

Cameron is an internationally recognised researcher in primary health and physical education. He has had one article cited in the top 1% of citation percentiles and eight in the top 10% citation percentiles. His research focuses on embodiment and engagement in early primary education physical activity spaces (PE and the playground). From this work, he developed a theoretical framework called the Physical Activity Habitus, derived from Bourdieu’s work, to understand physical activity engagement, which has been applied across a range of international research. He is currently completing a world-first long-term examination of primary PE physical activity engagement (from year one through year six), which will provide much-needed insight into secondary PE disengagement. He also engages in a variety of research work beyond this examining transition, student voice, reflective practice, student partnership, affective assessment and accreditation. He also has developed a reputation as a highly sought-after reviewer for academic journals (six Q1 publications) and book proposals (Routledge).

As an educator, his teaching focuses on curriculum, pedagogy and assessment in health and physical education, often applied through student-centred pedagogies. To support student learning of these important concepts, he has developed a range of innovative teaching approaches that have been applied at the unit and course level, and beyond. Accordingly, Cameron has been invited to present on these approaches both nationally (AARE Conference, AEA Teachers Conference) and internationally (Guest Lecture at the University of Sargodha, Pakistan). His approach to teaching has been recognised through a Vice-Chancellor's Award for Teaching and Learning (Federation University, 2022) and acknowledgment as a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2025).

Cameron is an experienced supervisor at the Master’s and PhD level and welcomes enquiries about supervision in healthy and physical education, wellbeing, physical activity engagement and teacher education.