Emeritus Professor Steve Wilson

Steve Wilson is an Adjunct Professor at UWS, having previously served as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic Planning) and Dean and Head of the School of Education. He retired at the end of 2013 after a 24 career at UWS. He began his career in education as a teacher, teaching for 15 years in state secondary schools in various parts of country NSW and in Sydney's south-west. Steve joined UWS Nepean in 1990, lecturing in pedagogy, curriculum development and school-based cultural change. He received his PhD in Education from UWS in 1998 (in the area of student participation in secondary schools), and in the same year assumed the role of Head of the new School of Lifelong Learning and Educational Change at UWS Nepean (1998-2000). He became Head of the School of Social Ecology and Lifelong Learning at UWS (2001-05), and then Dean of the newly-formed School of Education a position he served in from 2005-12. As Dean, Steve served on the Boards of a number of regional non government organisations, co-Chaired Committees of Cooperation with the Directors of the Western and South-Western Sydney regions of the NSW Department of Education and Training, and represented UWS on a variety of external education boards and committees. He was the foundation President of the NSW Council of Deans of Education and former Secretary and President of the NSW Teacher Education Council. He also sat on the Board of the Australian Council of Deans of Education and on the Initial Teacher Education Committee (ITEC) of the NSW Institute of Teachers. He was Director of the UWS Centre for Educational Research in its establishment years. He is strongly committed to the engagement of the university in the strategic development of education in Greater Western Sydney around 21st century learning, and was appointed a Fellow of the Australian College of Educators in 2010 in recognition of his leadership in university engagement in education.

Steve is passionate about equity in education, education in the service of people of low socio-economic status, and about the relevance and responsiveness of universities and schools to their communities and the general wellbeing. He has published more than 70 academic papers and has led or been a part of numerous research teams and projects examining how to achieve empowering outcomes for people of all ages through engaging and transformative curricula, teaching practices, and educational cultures. 

This information has been contributed by Emeritus Professor Wilson.