Stephen Kelly

Dr Stephen Kelly

Lecturer

School of Education

Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Economics

Dr Stephen Kelly is a lecturer in education, focusing on middle and secondary pedagogy, educational research, literacy education. Stephen is a 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), Professor Michalinos Zembylas (Open University of Cyprus), Dr Samantha Schulz (The University of Adelaide) and Dr 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 educational ethnography, critical policy analysis, and educational action research.

Stephen is interested in supervising higher degree research students in the areas of:
• Leading curriculum for social justice and democracy
• Pedagogy for social justice and democracy
• Human precariousness and sustainable futures
• Teacher and student subjectivity
• Ontologies of diverse cultures in history and place
• Arts and literacy education

Stephen completed his PhD at the Queensland University of Technology in 2015 and his thesis was titled Governing Civil Society: How literacy, education and security were brought together. This work was developed and published by Routledge in their Research in Education series with the title, Governing literate populations: The political uses of literacy and education in securing civil society.

Stephen's research is influenced by post-structuralist approaches to education and has drawn on Foucault studies (although not limited) to pursue interests in the politics, policies, history and philosophy of education. He aims to connect these domains of thought to contemporary educational practice.  Stephen applies these sociological and philosophical  approaches to research curriculum and its connection to the ontologies of diverse cultures, the subjectivities of educators and children, the work of leaders in cultivating school cultures, and arts and literacy education.

  • Journals
    Year Citation
    2023 Rigney, L. I., & Kelly, S. (2023). Reterritorialising pedagogies of listening: bringing into dialogue culturally responsive pedagogies with Reggio Emilia principles. Discourse, 44(1), 147-161.
    DOI Scopus4 WoS3
    2023 Memon, N., Schulz, S., Kelly, S., & Chown, D. (2023). Schools, religion, and affect: unpacking Australian educator discomfort. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 51(3), 266-282.
    DOI
    2022 Kelly, S., & Rigney, L. -I. (2022). Unsettling the reason of time: Indigenist epistemology and the child in the Australian curriculum. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 43(3), 1-19.
    DOI Scopus1 WoS1
    2020 Ndhlovu, F., & Kelly, S. J. (2020). Why ecology of knowledges and multilingual habitus matter in higher degree research student training. Transmodernity, 9(5), 59-82.
    DOI Scopus4
    2017 Kelly, S. (2017). Responding to terror: recruiting a martial body of literate subjects. Critical Discourse Studies, 14(2), 188-205.
    DOI Scopus1 WoS1
    2016 Kelly, S. (2016). Securing dangerous children as literate subjects. Children Australia, 41(3), 214-223.
    DOI Scopus1 WoS1
    2012 Kelly, S. (2012). Implementing the Australian Curriculum: A critical capabilities approach. Curriculum Perspectives, 32(1), 67-72.
    Scopus3

  • Books
    Year Citation
    2018 Kelly, S. (2018). Governing literate populations: The political uses of literacy in securing civil society (1st Edition ed.). London: Routledge.
    DOI Scopus2

  • Book Chapters
    Year Citation
    2022 Kelly, S. (2022). Historicizing an Epistemic Struggle between Anglo-Eurocentrism and an Indigenous Analytic within the Australian Curriculum. In W. Zhao, T. S. Popkewitz, & T. Autio (Eds.), Epistemic Colonialism and the Transfer of Curriculum Knowledge Across Borders Applying a Historical Lens to Contest Unilateral Logics (1st ed.). Routledge.
    2018 Kelly, S. J. (2018). Governing civil society: How literacy, education and security were brought together. In D. Kember, & D. Corbett (Eds.), Structuring the thesis: Matching method, paradigm, theories and findings (1st Edition ed., pp. 301-310). Singapore: Springer.
    DOI
    2017 Kelly, S. (2017). Introduction. In Governing Literate Populations (pp. 1-16). Routledge.
    DOI
    2017 Kelly, S. (2017). Securing literate civil society in the “age of terror”. In Governing Literate Populations (pp. 88-116). Routledge.
    DOI
    2017 Kelly, S. (2017). From sovereign power to governing the self. In Governing Literate Populations (pp. 70-87). Routledge.
    DOI
    2017 Kelly, S. (2017). Governing virtuous citizens. In Governing Literate Populations (pp. 140-157). Routledge.
    DOI
    2017 Kelly, S. (2017). Conclusions. In Governing Literate Populations (pp. 174-192). Routledge.
    DOI
    2017 Kelly, S. (2017). Using genealogy to think about the politics of education. In Governing Literate Populations (pp. 17-36). Routledge.
    DOI
    2017 Kelly, S. (2017). Assembling Foucauldian tools. In Governing Literate Populations (pp. 37-69). Routledge.
    DOI
    2017 Kelly, S. (2017). Policy quilting. In Governing Literate Populations (pp. 117-139). Routledge.
    DOI
    2017 Kelly, S. (2017). Education for the national interest. In Governing Literate Populations (pp. 158-173). Routledge.
    DOI
    2012 Kelly, S. J. (2012). Implementing the Australian Curriculum: A critical capabilities approach. In C. Marsh (Ed.), The Australian Curriculum: Observations of a journey (1st Edition ed., pp. 120-125). Deacon West: ACT: Australian Curriculum Studies Association.

  • Theses
    Year Citation
    2015 Kelly, S. J. (2015). Governing civil society: How literacy, education and security were brought together. (PhD Thesis, Queensland University of Technology).

ARC Discovery Project: Culturally Responsive Schooling: Chief Investigator with  Professor Lester Irabinna Rigney; Professor Robert Hattam; Dr Nadeem Memon; Dr Samantha Schulz; Professor Michalinos Zembylas

Toward an Australian Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (co-investigator in support of chief investigators Professor Irabinna Rigney and Professor Robert Hattam)

Research and Professional Practice

Middle and Secondary Pedagogy (M Teach)

Middle and Senior Secondary Pedagogy (B Teach)

  • Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2023 Co-Supervisor Critical Pedagogy, Epistemic Thinking and Education in Post-truth Era Master of Philosophy Master Part Time Miss Hnin Lae Yee .
    2022 Co-Supervisor An Inquiry into Being in Educational Leadership Experiences: A Critical Phenomenology in the Pakistan Context Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mrs Saadia Adnan
    2021 Co-Supervisor Gender Identity Construction of Chinese Rural Girls Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Wenfei Li
    2019 Co-Supervisor Anti-Radicalisation and Education in Indonesia Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Yuli Astiana

  • Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2020 - 2023 Co-Supervisor Exploring the Predictors of Indonesian Reading Literacy based on PISA Data Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mrs Safitri Yosita Ratri
    2019 - 2022 Co-Supervisor Decolonising the Curriculum: Fostering Sustainability in Higher Education in Zambia Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mutinta Sifelani Musindo

  • Memberships
    Date Role Membership Country
    2017 - ongoing Member Philosophy of Education Society of Australia Australia
    2008 - ongoing Member Australian Association for Research Educators Australia
    2007 - ongoing Member Australian Curriculum Studies Association Australia
    2007 - ongoing Member English Teachers Association Australia

  • Consulting/Advisories
    Date Institution Department Organisation Type Country
    2012 - ongoing Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority Curriculum Business and professional Australia
  • Position: Lecturer
  • Phone: 83134983
  • Email: stephen.kelly@adelaide.edu.au
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: Nexus 10, floor 8
  • Org Unit: School of Education
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