Rate My Professor Paul Gardner

Dr. Paul Gardner is a Senior Lecturer in Primary English in the School of Education at Curtin University, where he engages in teaching and research focused on literacy education. He earned his PhD by publication, which explored writer identity and compositional processes, along with an MA, Diploma RSA, and Certificate in Education. Gardner's career includes his current position as Senior Lecturer, following a role as Lecturer in the same School of Education from March 2016 to March 2019. Previously, he held positions as Associate Professor at the University of Bedfordshire in the United Kingdom, serving in the Department of Education Studies from November 2012 to July 2014 and in the Department of Initial Teacher Training and Education from May 2004 to November 2012.

Gardner's research specializations include student teachers as writers, writer agency and choice-making, embodied grammar conferencing for writing, translingualism in multilingual primary schools, ekphrastic poetry and compositional processes, pedagogy of writing, early literacy through a Vygotskian approach, and the influence of natural spaces on children's poetic writing. He is the United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA) Ambassador for Australia and serves as an Editorial Board Member for the journal Literacy. Additionally, he is a lead academic in the Centre of Excellence for the Explicit Teaching of Literacy at Curtin University. His key publications encompass peer-reviewed articles such as 'Student teachers as writers: using an “immersive” approach in ITE to build positive writers' (Literacy, 2023), 'Explicit embodiment of narrative worlds: a case study of student-teacher concept-led grammar conferencing for writing' (Language Awareness, 2023), 'Ready to write? Investigating the writing experiences of pre-service teachers and their readiness to teach writing' (Issues in Educational Research, 2022), 'Writing and writer identity: the poor relation and the search for voice in “personal literacy”' (Literacy, 2018), and 'Green writing: the influence of natural spaces on primary students’ poetic writing in the UK and Australia' (Literacy, 2017). He has also authored books including Creative English Creative Curriculum (2010), Strategies and Resources for Teaching and Learning in Inclusive Schools (2002), Teaching and Learning in Multicultural Classrooms (2001), and The Art of Storytelling for Teachers and Pupils (2000). Gardner's contributions advance creative and inclusive literacy pedagogies in primary education.