Visiting Scholars to the School of Education

PROFESSOR CLAUDIO HERALDO DIAZ LARENAS

Home University:  University of Concepción, Chile

Hosted by Associate Professor Roberto Parada

Research interests:  EFL teacher education; professional knowledge construction, Language assessment practices, cognitive and affective dimensions of learning

Dr Claudio Díaz is a Professor at the University of Concepción, Chile, where he has spent nearly three decades training pre-service and in-service English teachers. He holds a PhD in Education and a Master of Arts in Linguistics and has taught extensively in ESL/EFL methodology and language assessment at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Dr Díaz has supervised over 50 theses and led key academic programs, including the PhD in Education and the Master’s in English Teaching, Learning and Assessment. He also coordinates the Language Committee of Chile’s National Accreditation Office.

His research focuses on how EFL preservice teachers construct professional knowledge and navigate the cognitive and affective dimensions of language assessment. Currently on sabbatical, Dr Díaz is visiting WSU to exchange ideas on the complexities of teacher education. His publications are available at ResearchGate.

VISITING FELLOWS GROUP FROM GHANA

March-April 2025

Hosted by: Dr William Nketsia

DFAT funded project: "Strengthening National Reforms in Teacher Training and Inclusive Education Leadership (Ghana)."

Ivy Danquah Perdison, Augustina Naami, Akutah Bertha Azaare, Ruth Quaye, Felix Mawuena, Isaac Attia, Emmanuel Djan, Daniel Amanfi Ntiakoh-Ayipah, Wisdom Kwadwo Mprah, Mavis Ansu Amponsah.

This initiative brought 10 Ghanaian teacher educators to the School of Education for a month-long fellowship in March 2025 to enhance their capacity to train teachers who can effectively support inclusive education in Ghana.

A key outcome of this project will be revitalising Ghana’s teacher education curriculum to ensure that inclusive education principles are embedded in training programs. This will contribute to improving teacher quality, enhancing student experiences in teacher education programs, and strengthening professional development opportunities for in-service teachers.

By building the capacity of teacher educators, this initiative will have a long-lasting impact on the education system in Ghana, ensuring that children with disabilities and other marginalised students receive the quality education they deserve.

CAROLA ARAVENA ROJAS

March 2025

Home University: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Chile

Hosted by: Associate Professor Christine Woodrow

Research interest: culturally inclusive education, family and community engagement, Funds of Knowledge, early childhood education

Carola Aravena Rojas is an Early Childhood Educator and Head of Program for Early Childhood Education at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, where she also lectures in teacher education. She holds a Master of Education and is currently undertaking a PhD in Psychology with a focus on culturally responsive pedagogy.

Her research explores how early childhood education can better engage families and communities in contexts of social exclusion. She has led curriculum innovation at her university, including the development of a Cultural Contextual Curriculum strand, and has supervised undergraduate theses on Funds of Knowledge.

During her visit, Carola will share her work on community-based teacher education and present on Family and Community Funds of Knowledge: Methodological challenges to providing culturally inclusive early childhood education, while also exploring opportunities for collaborative research.

DR ISABEL BANOS-GONZALEZ

November 2024

Home University: University of Murcia, Spain

Hosted by: Dr Annette Sartor

Research interest: environmental education, competencies for socio-environmental problems, sustainability education, system thinking

Dr Isabel Banos-Gonzalez is a Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at the University of Murcia, Spain. Beginning as a Biology teacher for secondary school students, after completing her PhD in Ecology she began teaching future teachers. Her main teaching and research areas are in environmental and sustainability education.

During Isabel’s visit, they will consider how to integrate sustainability into future teacher training and explore the possibility of a joint research project on the implementation of systems thinking in school curriculum.  In addition, they will participate in the AARE 2024 Conference, presenting on “ How future science secondary teachers promote systems thinking in their educational proposal”, and “Sustainability education competencies of future secondary school teachers”.

The collaboration is an important step in bringing together like-minded researchers, who believe in the importance of advancing education that is relevant to the current Anthropogenic age.

DR AND PASLEY

XIN CHEN (VIVI)

March 2024 to March 2025

Home University: Yanbian University, China

Hosted by: Professor Jinghe Han

Research interests: TESOL, Bilingual education, Cross culture communication.

For nearly two decades, Xin Chen has been teaching college English and enhancing the language skills of non-English majors at Yanbian University in China. Additionally, she worked as a Chinese Language and Culture Lecturer during a three-year tenure at Emory University in the United States.

Her ongoing research project is An Empirical Study on the Effective Combination of Foreign Language Courses and Virtual Simulation Experiments - A case of University English Intercultural Communication Course , which is trying to seek a new curriculum design of this program of study and an interdisciplinary research of psychology and linguistics. The project is supported by the Higher Education Research Institution of Jilin Province in China and CSC.

During Xin Chen's visit to Australia, her plan is to focus on furthering her research agenda, seeking to broaden perspectives and gain inspiration from academics at Western Sydney University.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR JIANGENG NING

Home University: Yuncheng University China

Hosted by: Professor Jinghe HanResearch interests:  

Philosophy of language, Semantics, Pragmatics.

Associate Professor Jiangeng Ning commenced his teaching career in 2004 at Yuncheng University, specialising in English Reading and Intercultural Communication courses.

In 2021 he commenced his PhD at Guangdong University of Foreign Affairs with his research centred around Second Language Acquisition As his interest turned towards to the philosophy of language, semantics and pragmatics, he was drawn to the research work of Western Sydney University’s Professor Jinghe Han.

His two most recent research projects are:

• Study on evaluation and cultivation of learning quality of senior class children from the perspective of two-way connection between kindergarten and primary school. Funded by Shanxi Office for Education Sciences Planning (Shanxi Province, China)
• Research on the cultivation mode of students' learning motivation in newly established undergraduate colleges. Funded by Yuncheng University (Yuncheng, China)

Whilst at Western Sydney University, Associate Professor Jiangeng Ning plans to improve the methodology and research frame of the meaning study, and explore the meaning and reference of proper names in the natural language.

DR DANIELA SOFIA JADUE ROA

March 2024

Home University: Universidad de O’Higgins. Rancagua. Chile

Hosted by: Associate Professor Christine Woodrow (SoE and TeACH)

Research interests:  Early childhood play and learning, children’s agency, participatory and visual methods.

Dr Jadue is an assistant professor at the Universidad de O'Higgins, and holds an adjunct appointment with Western Sydney University. She specialises in curriculum and educational environment design, early childhood play and learning, and educational policy. She leads Early Childhood undergraduate teacher at the Universidad de O’Higgins through accreditation processes and advancing UOH's national and international research networks. She is adjunct at the University of Western Sydney's School of Education. Her research focuses on children's transitions between early childhood and primary education in Chile, and employs visual narrative methodologies for participatory research, emphasizing children's play, voices, rights, and agency.

During Daniela’s visit to Australia, she worked with Associate Professor Christine Woodrow and Professor Rebekah Grace with TeEACH on a range of research-related activities. She presented a workshop for academics and HDR students entitled ‘Visual Participatory Research Methods: Enhancing children’s agency in transition to school’.

JOHN R. SCHAEFER

August 2023 to May 2024

Home University: Harvard University

Hosted by: Professor Tonia Gray

Research interests:  History of science, environmental history, digital humanities.

Hailing from Michigan, John Schaefer received his Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University in History and Science. His postgraduate research in Digital Humanities at the University of Cambridge examined the use of machine learning models in citizen science and humanities projects at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. John is particularly interested in the interdisciplinary application of plants as teaching tools at cultural heritage institutions, as well as increasing public engagement with both scientific archives and living plant collections through the digital humanities.

As a U.S. Fulbright Scholar at Western Sydney University, he is reconstructing British imperial plant collecting networks using nineteenth-century Australian herbaria data. Through digital storytelling and social network analysis, this research aims to better understand the significance of marginalized historical actors in the colonial exchange of plants and botanical knowledge in Victorian-era Australia.