Jack Davis

Proposed Title

Reconciliation as Becoming: Educators' Situated Practices in a Colonial Present

Supervisors

Principal Supervisor: Holly Randell-Moon
Co-Supervisor: Ryan Al Natour

Research

Reconciliation first entered policy vocabulary in 1991as a governmental response to calls for a treaty with First Nations peoples. The Hawke government at the time argued that before a treaty could proceed, non-Indigenous Australians must be educated on the issues facing First Nations people. Since then, reconciliation has been linked to education through specific policy levers, such as sections of the Mparntwe Declaration and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures Cross-Curriculum Priority. However, it has been argued that reconciliation acts as a form of settler-colonial control over social justice relating to First Nations people and has failed to educate non-Indigenous Australians, a claim underscored by the Voice to Parliament referendum result.

My research is interested in how national policies relating to reconciliation are prioritised, interpreted, and contested by educators at a local level. Focusing on a Victorian public schools as the state progresses towards treaty, my PhD aims to investigate how educators navigate competing logics of reconciliation, self-determination, and sovereignty and how policy discourses may shape teacher commitments to social justice.

Why I chose Charles Sturt

I began my undergraduate degree in Early Childhood and Primary Education at CSU in 2020. During this time, I developed an interest in barriers within education, particularly in relation to First Nations knowledges and cultures. In 2024, I completed an honours degree exploring how twentieth-century political discourse emerges within contemporary Closing the Gap documents. Following this research, I commenced my PhD at CSU in 2025.

Engagement and Memberships

Member of: Australian Literacy Educators Association (ALEA) & Australian Association for Research in Education.

Student Facilitator for Albury Campus HDR Connected Communities

Publications

‘Unspeaking the empire’: disentangling the colonial legacy of English education in Australia (co-author)

Graphic novels: A holistic approach for teaching literacy and engaging students

Embracing diverse voices and challenging the 'canon' in classroom texts

Beyond the dice: Tabletop roleplaying and opportunities for subject English

Teaching beyond pages: Using 'front lines' to cultivate critical consciousness

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