I am a primary school assistant principal and sessional lecturer in the Department of Education, Faculty of Health, Arts and Design at Swinburne University of Technology. My research interests are diverse and include the fields of Australian children’s literature and literacies in primary years education, STEM education and inclusive and differentiated curriculum. I have taught children at all levels, pre-school to secondary, as well as the specialist areas of physical education, art and information technology in various educational settings. I am currently teaching 'Ready to Teach' for 4th year pre-service teachers and mentoring graduate teachers in my current school.
My PhD research examined the establishment of distinctive Australian environs in the fairy tales, philosophical essays and children’s songs of Olga Ernst (1888–1972). Applying a new historicist methodology to deconstruct the sociological and historical orientation of Ernst’s texts the interplay between social, political and cultural forces and her construct of national identity through landscape in her stories was demonstrated. The close analysis of Ernst’s works allowed a focus on the fashioning of her stories to reflect the cultural context of her early life, and a later shaping through education to create an Australian identity grounded in the environment.
I have presented aspects of my doctoral research findings at the AFTS Conferences in 2015, 2016 and 2018 and pre-completion findings at Kassel University, Germany in 2010. In November 2018 I will be presenting my research at the Sussex Folklore Society Centre
at the University of Chichester, UK.
rfloyd@swin.edu.au
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