Paul Gardner

Dr. Paul Gardner is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at Curtin University, with a focus on literacy education, writing pedagogy, and social justice. He holds positions in the Faculty of Humanities and serves on the Board of Directors for the Primary English Teachers Association of Australia (PETAA). His research emphasizes writer identity, critical literacy, and multicultural education, with a commitment to addressing educational inequities. Gardner has extensive experience in teacher training, having previously held roles at institutions such as the University of Bedfordshire and De Montfort University.

Education: Doctor of Philosophy (University of Bedfordshire, UK), Master of Arts in Education (Open University, UK), and multiple teaching certifications including the RSA Teaching English in Multicultural Schools. His doctoral work explored writer identity and compositional processes, themes that continue to influence his research.

• Research Interests: Writer identity, critical literacy, social justice, children's literature, and embodied grammar.
• Key Projects: Centre for Excellence in the Explicit Teaching of Literacy (WA Government-funded), 'Student Teachers as Writers' project, and investigations into linguistic racism and EAL/D pedagogy.
• Awards: 2018 Curtin Faculty Teaching and Research Engagement Awards, multiple curriculum innovation awards in the UK.
• Publications: Over 30 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and research reports on literacy education, including works in Literacy, Cambridge Journal of Education, and English in Education.

Gardner’s work often combines autoethnographic methodologies with advocacy for marginalized voices in education. He supervises PhD students exploring writing, autoethnography, and visual literacy, and leads initiatives to improve literacy outcomes in low socioeconomic status communities.