Associate ProfessorTrace Ollis

Tracey's teaching interests are focused on critical pedagogy and teaching and
learning for social justice. My teaching philosophy stems from adult learning
and critical pedagogy. I am a research-informed and also research- informing
educator building capacity in students to respond to the complexities and
uncertainties of the future. I am interested in how students develop their
knowledge and expertise. I draw on Jarvis (2010) theory of learning and the
whole person in the critical pedagogy tradition of adult learning. I
acknowledge that students are cognitive, emotional and physical beings and
that learning should not just engage the cognitive aspects of ourselves but
the whole person, mind, body and emotions in learning. I am also particularly
interested in how we engage students to change their learner biographies,
particularly students who are struggling academically and may have a chequered
history of learning in formal schooling. Differentiated and applied learning
pedagogies linked to real-world contexts are used in my teaching. I view
students as co-creators of the curriculum and have them engage in worthwhile
knowledge by leading the development of the necessary capabilities which they
need to flourish as adult learners. My teaching is focussed on research
training of postgraduate students in the SOE research pathways, mentoring and
supervision of my own PhD students and providing professional learning for HDR
students in the Faculty of Arts and Education.

Expertise Summary
adult learning; adult education; Adult community education; Informal,
incidental and non-formal learning; Second chance learning; Vocational Education & Training