Grant Rodwell
Apart from supervising PhD students at the University of Tasmania and the University of Adelaide, Grant is involved with Australian Research Council-funded research, principally in the area of school educational policy, at the University of Tasmania. He also makes a prolific contribution to research through the publication of scholarly monographs and internationally peer reviewed journal articles.
Subjects: Education
Biography
Born in the New South Wales High Country, Grant began his working life as a timber cutter. He has been a school principal and university academic. Fascinated by history, particularly in an educational policy context, he has taken five PhDs from Australian universities, in areas as diverse as history, education and English literature. Either the author or co-author of ten internationally published scholarly non-fiction works, he also has published six novels. He is now retired, but working as an adjunct academic in two Australian universities, and living with his beloved wife, Julie, in Tasmania’s West Tamar.A highly effective and well-regarded motivational speaker, Grant’s enduring passion is working in schools and universities with academics, student teachers, teachers and school communities in disseminating his cutting-edge research, particularly in respect to political influences on educational policy. His research is supported by over 60 internationally published and peer-reviewed journal articles, the most recent being research on dog-whistling journalism and politics for school educational policy, and another on Australia’s Building Education Revolution. Grant strongly welcomes academics, student teachers, teachers and school communities to invite him to speak to their group.
Education
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2009 PhD (Tas); 2013 PhD (A’laide); 2017 PhD (Tas)
1988 PhD (Tas); 1998 PhD (N'castle).
Areas of Research / Professional Expertise
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Educational policy
Politics of educational policy
History Curriculum
History of Education
Personal Interests
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Living in proximity to some of Australia’s most magnificent trout-fishing streams and lakes, it is not surprising where he spends any of his spare time away from his research and family.
Websites
Books
Articles
A National History Curriculum, Racism, a Moral Panic and Risk Society Theory
Published: Jul 02, 2017 by Issues in Educational Research
Authors: Rodwell, G.
Subjects:
Education
With a proposed Australian national history curriculum, many Australians began to question what historical content would be taught in the nation’s schools and colleges. While pressure for a national history curriculum had been building for many years, the final impetus came from a moral panic that gripped Australian society during late 2005, possibly reinforced by risk society imperatives.
‘A Bridge too Far?’ The Politics of Tasmanian School Retention Rates
Published: Jul 02, 2016 by Issues in Educational Research
Authors: Rodwell, G.
Subjects:
Education
During period 2011-2014, there was an increase in public discourse in Tasmania concerning post-secondary school retention rates. Perhaps, this is not surprising because the state has lingered for years in this regard with the poorest in the Commonwealth. Directed at highlighting an historical review and analysis applied to an educational policy topic, this paper features a research technique and topic which have received very little attention in the research literature.
Ministerial Councils and Australian School Education: cooperative federalism
Published: Jul 02, 2016 by Education Research and Perspectives
Authors: Rodwell, G.
Subjects:
Education
During period 1919-39 through rather passive and uncontroversial means under the banner of cooperative federalism the Commonwealth instituted some major and long-lasting school educational policy. During this period it was generally acknowledged that the Commonwealth should eschew involvement in school education, yet, the politics of the time, with the additional imperatives of the dominant zeitgeist, drove Commonwealth involvement in school education through ministerial councils.
Re-examining the Curriculum Development Centre: coordinative federalism and King
Published: Jul 02, 2016 by Education Research and Perspectives
Authors: Rodwell, G.
Subjects:
Education
During period 1975 through to 1987 the Commonwealth ventured into curriculum development, hitherto an activity for states and territories. Kingdon’s Agendas is a useful lens in examining the historical circumstances bringing this educational policy into being, principally because it requires an examination of the political circumstances of the time, in this case including the politics of the administration of the CDC.
politics of national school educational policy
Published: Jul 02, 2016 by Discourse Journal of Educational Research
Authors: Rodwell, G.
Subjects:
Education
With the advent of the Australian National Curriculum and risk society, moral panics associated with school education moved to a higher level. With the Safe Schools moral panic, the Australian school curriculum reached new levels of politicisation, at the same time providing fresh insights into the interplay of school education curriculum, moral panic theory and risk society theory.
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