Samantha Schulz

Dr Samantha Schulz

Senior Lecturer

School of Education

Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Economics

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.


Associate Professor Samantha Schulz (she/her) is a sociologist of education committed to educational, social, environmental and animal justice. Sam’s research includes:
- First Nations Education
- Race critical theorising
- Affect studies
- Culturally responsive schooling
- Gender and sexuality justice

Sam has research and teaching experience across a diversity of social contexts, including Kenya, India, China, and the South Australian Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands. Sam has received multiple awards for higher education teaching and research excellence. She is co-convenor of the Pedagogies for Justice Research Group that sits across UniSA and The University of Adelaide, member of the Centre for Research in Educational and Social Inclusion (CRESI), and the Fay Gale Centre for Research on Gender. Sam is Program Director for the Master of Teaching, and co-editor of the Routledge 'Local Global Issues in Education' Series.

Sam is chief investigator on the ARC Discovery Project 'Culturally Responsive Schooling' (DP220100651, 2022-24) with co-chief investigators Professor Lester Irabinna Rigney (UniSA, project lead), Professor Robert Hattam (UniSA), Dr Abigail Diplock (UniSA), Ms Mikayla King (UniSA), Professor Michalinos Zembylas (Open University of Cyprus), and Associate Professor Nadeem Memon (UniSA - Centre for Islamic Thought and Education, CITE). The project explores how the affective environments of schools attend to the diverse cultural, academic and emotional needs of their communities in the process of becoming culturally responsive, bringing together methods from ethnography, critical policy analysis, and educational action research. Sam’s broader research includes examinations of race and whiteness, and critical explorations of gender and gendered violence.

Sam is presently leading The University of Adelaide project, 'Teaching in an era of digital influence (and influencers)'. See initial findings in The Conversation articles:

Make me a sandwich: Our survey's disturbing picture of how some boys treat their teachers

'Not my boy': When teachers are harassed by students, some schools and parents fail to help

2022-2024: ARC Discovery Project 'Culturally Responsive Schooling' (DP220100651)

2022-2023: Re-Imagining Catholic Education for First Nations Sovereignty (University of Adelaide HREC Approval H-2022-085)

2023-2023: Indigenising and Culturally Diversifying Pedagogy and Curriculum, L&T Innovation Grant (H-2023-37315)

2022-2024: Aboriginal Students’ Lived Experiences: Australians Together Research Project (2202-065)

Sociology of Education

Critical and Culturally Responsive Pedagogies

Issues in Contemporary Education

Qualitative/Decolonial Research Methods

  • Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2024 Principal Supervisor Working Relationally with First Nations and Low SES Students to Co-Produce Alternative Schooling that Works: Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and Autoethnography. Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Kyall John Forster
  • Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2021 - 2023 Principal Supervisor Female university students from rural China, a discursive-affective ethnography of gendered subjectivity formation Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Wenfei Li
  • Position: Senior Lecturer
  • Phone: 83139309
  • Email: samantha.schulz@adelaide.edu.au
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: Nexus 10, floor 8
  • Org Unit: School of Education

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