Tanya Davies

Tanya worked as an English and Outdoor Education teacher in high schools in Victoria and internationally before making a move into Higher Education. Currently, Tanya is a lecturer in curriculum and pedagogy with expertise in the field of teachers as intercultural workers, sociology of education and the ethical dimensions of teachers' work. Tanya's PhD focused on the relational spaces of schools and how situated relationships with cultural difference shape opportunities for intercultural work differently in different school settings. Tanya's work has evolved to examine the relational responsibilities of teachers when working with culturally and linguistically diverse learners. In particular, Tanya has an interest in the tension between schools and schooling as a mechanism for nation building and schools as spaces of identity production and social transformation. This is of particular importance as our understanding of the diversity in our society complexifies and as teachers are required to respond to this diversity through their everyday practices, while also operating within the requirements of an education system driven by standardisation. Through her work, Tanya aims to prepare pre-service teachers' capabilities to work responsively with and for learners from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds.