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Stephen Kemmis is Professor of Education and a member of the Research Institute for Professional Practice, Learning and Education at Charles Sturt University (Faculty of Education, Wagga Wagga). He is also co-leader of the ‘Pedagogy, Education and Praxis’ (PEP) international collaboration involving researchers from universities in Europe and Canada. Stephen has held academic positions at the University of Sydney, University of Illinois, University of East Anglia, Deakin University and the University of Ballarat and also worked for several years as an independent consultant. He has published extensively on professional practice, indigenous education, participatory action research and qualitative methods in educational research. His most well-known publication is the highly acclaimed book (with Wilfred Carr) "Becoming Critical: Education, knowledge and action research". In 2001 Stephen was made an Honorary Life Member of the Australian Association for Educational Research (AARE), and in 2009 he was awarded two honorary doctorates for services to international educational research.

Stephen is interested how professional practices are formed and how they are transformed as they unfold in the professional practice of individuals and in the collective social practice of groups – for example, the practices of the education profession. His work focuses on educational practices in schools and universities. He has published extensively on critical participatory action research as an approach to educational research; this interest is now focussed on researching practice traditions ‘from within’. With colleagues in the "Pedagogy, Education & Praxis" (PEP) national and international research groups, he is also developing a theory about what practices are made of (the theory of practice architectures) and a theory about how different practices relate to one another (the theory of ecologies of practices). He is working on projects critically exploring university academics’ academic practices ‘from within’ and, with funding from the Australian Research Council, investigating the ecological relationships between practices of leading, teaching, student learning, professional learning and researching in two school districts in Australia.  

Recent grants  

2010-2012 

ARC Discovery Grant, Leading and learning: Developing ecologies of educational practice, $130,000, Chief Investigator with Christine Edwards-Groves, Ian Hardy and Jane Wilkinson.  

2009

CSU Competitive Grant, Promoting praxis: Teacher learning and leadership for learning, $15 000, with Ian Hardy, Jane Wilkinson, Christine Edwards-Groves.  

Joint project with Australian Research Institute for Education for Sustainability, Macquarie University, Mainstreaming education for sustainability in pre-service teacher education, $15 000, with John Rafferty, Penny Stephens, Andrew Wallace   

2007-2009

ARC Discovery Grant, Sustaining practice: The theory and development of educational practice/praxis in the context of education for sustainability (EfS), $138,000, Chief Investigator  

2008

CSU Competitive Grant, Praxis development in Maths education, $15,000, with Tracey Smith and Peter Grootenboer

Stephen teaches postgraduate students in the subject “Understanding  professional practice” in the Doctor of Education course. Stephen has also supervised numerous Masters and PhD students on topics including praxis in education, education for sustainability, rural education and Indigenous education.

• Research Institute for Professional Practice, Learning and Education (RIPPLE): Acting Director, January-July 2012
  
• Member, RIPPLE and RIPPLE Management Committee    

• Member, Professors’ Forum
  
• Member, Wiradjuri Language and Cultural Heritage Program Committee (coordinating a program of language and cultural heritage projects in a liaison between Charles Sturt University and the Wiradjuri Council of Elders)
  
• Mentor, Leadership Development Program for Women
  
• Member, Centre for Indigenous Studies School Board  

Faculty

• Member, Faculty Board
• Member, Faculty Executive  

School of Education

• Member, School Board
• Member, Research Committee  

Community

• Member, ErinEarth Management Committee (Urban Sustainable Living demonstration site, Presentation Sisters, Wagga Wagga)
  
• Member, Wagga Wagga Education for Sustainability Group, involving members from the School of Education, local schools, TAFE, Wagga City Council and school district offices.

Edited  volumes

• Kemmis, S.  & Smith, T.J. (Eds.) (2008). Enabling praxis: Challenges for education.  Rotterdam: Sense

Chapters in  books

• Kemmis, S.  (2012). Pedagogy, praxis and practice-based higher education. In J. Higgs, R.  Barnett & S. Billett (Eds.). Practice-based education. Rotterdam: Sense.
• Kemmis, S.,  Edwards Groves, C., Wilkinson, J. & Hardy, I. (2012). Ecologies of  practices: Learning practices. In P. Hager, A. Lee & A. Reich (Eds.).  Practice, learning and change. London: Springer.
• Kemmis, S.  & Heikkinen, H.L.T. (2012). Practice architectures and teacher induction.  In H.L.T. Heikkinen, H. Jokinen & P. Tynjälä (Eds.). Peer-group mentoring  (PGM): Peer group mentoring for teachers’ professional development. London: Routledge.
• Kemmis, S.  (2012). Phronēsis, experience and the primacy of praxis. Chapter 11  (pp.147-162) in A. Pitman & A. Kinsella (Eds.). Phronēsis as professional  knowledge: Practical wisdom in the professions. Rotterdam: Sense.
• Kemmis, S.  (2011). Becoming critical at Deakin. Chapter 7 (pp.77-92) in R. Tinning &  K. Sirna (Eds.). Education, social justice and the legacy of Deakin University:  Reflections of the Deakin diaspora. Rotterdam: Sense.
• Kemmis, S.  (2011). A self-reflective practitioner and a new definition of critical  participatory action research. Chapter 2 (pp.11-30) in N. Mockler & J.  Sachs (Eds.). Rethinking educational practice through reflexive research:  Essays in honour of Susan Groundwater-Smith. New York: Springer.
• Kemmis, S.  (2010). What is professional practice? Chapter 8 (pp.139-166) in C. Kanes  (Ed.). Elaborating professionalism: Studies in practice and theory. New York:  Springer.
• Kemmis, S.  & Trede, F. (2010). Practice and developing future practice. Chapter 3  (pp.29-40) in J. Higgs, D. Fish, I. Goulter, S. Loftus S. & F. Trede.  (Eds.). Education for future practice. Rotterdam: Sense.
• Kemmis, S.  (2009). Understanding professional practice: A synoptic framework. Chapter 2  (pp.19-38) in B. Green (Ed.). Understanding and researching professional  practice. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
• Carr, W.  & Kemmis, S. (2009). Educational action research: A critical approach.  Chapter 6 (pp.74-84) in S. Noffke, S. & B. Somekh (Eds.). The Sage handbook  of educational action research. London: Sage
• Kemmis, S.  (2008). Reflections. Chapter 11 (pp.187-208) in M. Mattsson, B. Sandström &  I. Johansson (Eds.). Examining praxis: Assessment and knowledge construction in  teacher education. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
• Kemmis, S.  & Hardy, I. (2008). Reflections. Chapter 16 (pp.245-266) in K. Rönnerman,  E.M. Furu & P. Salo (Eds.). Nurturing praxis: Action research and  school-university partnerships in a Nordic light. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
• Carr, W.,  Kemmis, S., Mattsson, M. & Rönnerman, K. (2008). Reflections. Chapter 11  (pp.203-214) in J. Ax & P. Ponte (Eds.). Critiquing praxis: Conceptual and  empirical trends in the teaching profession. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

Articles in  refereed journals

• Kemmis, S.  (2011). Researching educational praxis: spectator and participant perspectives.  British Educational Research Journal. 
• Kemmis, S.  & Mutton, R. (2011). Education for sustainability (EfS): practice and  practice architectures. Environmental Education Research.
• Kemmis, S.  (2010). Research for praxis: Knowing doing. Pedagogy, Culture and Society,  18(1), 9-27.
• Kemmis, S.  (2010). What is to be done? The place of action research. Educational Action  Research, 18(4), 417-427.
• Kemmis, S.  (2009). Action research: A practice-changing practice. Educational Action  Research Journal, 17(3), 463-474.

Recent evaluation  and consultancy reports

• Kemmis, S.,  Chambers, S., Stephens, P., Rafferty, J. & Wallace, A. (2009).  Mainstreaming Education for Sustainability (EfS) in Charles Sturt University  (CSU) teacher education courses. Joint project with ARIES (Australian Research  Institute for Education for Sustainability), Macquarie University.

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