DrGary Levy

I have been at Deakin since 2012, initially working as a research assistant on a few existing projects and then as a casual lecturer/tutor/assessor. I was appointed Lecturer in Education (Education-Focused Academic) early in 2025.

In 2011 I completed my doctoral study at La Trobe University, a funded project looking at the applications of mobile phone technology as a pedagogical support. This topic held limited interest for me but the training as a researcher was important. My key findings were about the fundamental importance of (human) relationships in teaching and learning (with or without mobile technologies)-hardly revolutionary. Gaining the PhD, however, became a means to other ends.

Prior to the doctoral study, I worked for 5 years as a primary school teacher at Preshil, Melbourne’s (perhaps Australia’s?) oldest progressive school. I loved that environment and many of the people in it, and felt many affinities with the school’s philosophy and modes. I took up that position after completing my Bach. Teaching (Primary)/BA at Deakin (Philosophy) in the early 2000s. There wasn’t much coverage  of progressive or alternative approaches to education back then, and I’m not sure if there’s much more now (unfortunately). I learnt much ‘on the job’ at Preshil, so to speak, and was fortunate to have a couple of dedicated and inspiring mentors (who were both also in leadership positions).

For my foundational studies, I trained and worked as a teacher of the Alexander Technique. This remains core for me. Alexander Technique is a homegrown ‘bodymind’ [sic] discipline, well over 100 years old now, that has learning, and often unlearning, at its heart. It can be taught both one-on-one, and in groups. It can help people -experientially and practically- become more aware of their habitual ways of both thinking and moving, and to consider the possibilities-and possible benefits- of thinking and moving differently, or otherwise. This can take time, and require people to change, which can also make the work challenging. The rewards come often enough to those who find the time and discipline.

John Dewey was an enthusiastic private pupil of FM Alexander early last century. Dewey wrote insightfully about Alexander’s work and its importance for education, but he did so only sparingly. Nevertheless, what Dewey wrote provides a useful bridge for educators interested in Alexander’s work, and Alexander teachers interested in the work as pedagogy (as opposed to therapy). Dewey also makes it clear that the actual, hands-on component of Alexander’s teaching was crucial for the learning. This remains the case today, in my view, even though more Alexander teachers are also teaching online (and thus, without the direct use of the hands).

Since the early 2000s, I have sought to generate more interest in the Alexander Technique as a form of ‘embodied learning’ amongst educational researchers, teachers, school leaders, teachers of teachers (in universities), and students (in both primary and secondary years of schooling). I have  presentated at conferences, facilitated workshops, written a few pieces, committed to pursuing this primary passion as a research interest. 

Over the years, I have also presented and written on a variety of topics that reflect, no doubt, my eclectic interests. One recent paper was a discursive piece on the failed Voice referendum; others have been on the Music and Death nexus; others, still, on qualitative and post-qualitative research methodologies.