Rate My Professor Peter Willis

Peter Willis is a Senior Lecturer in Adult, Vocational and Workplace Learning at the University of South Australia, now affiliated with Adelaide University following the institutional merger. He teaches adult education theory and practice, as well as qualitative research methods, with a focus on phenomenological and expressive approaches to understanding lived experiences in educational settings. Willis has been active in the field of adult education research, contributing to the exploration of social sustainability, transformative learning, and community education within vocational contexts.

Willis has edited several influential volumes in adult education. Notable among them is Qualitative Research Practice in Adult Education (1996, David Lovell Publishing), which compiles studies on qualitative methodologies applied to adult learning. He co-edited Rethinking Work and Learning: Adult and Vocational Education for Socially Sustainable Communities (2008) with Roger Harris and Stephen McKenzie, addressing social sustainability perspectives in adult and vocational education. In the same series, he authored the chapter 'An Ecology for the Fourth Pillar: Imaginal Learning for Social Sustainability.' Additionally, Willis co-edited Pedagogies of the Imagination: Mythopoetic Curriculum in Educational Practice (2008) with Timothy Leonard, examining mythopoetic elements in curriculum design. His journal publications include 'Scheherazade's secret: the power of stories and the desire to be known' (2011, Journal of Transformative Education), 'A hidden wholeness: The journey toward an undivided life' (2015), 'From the Things Themselves to a Feeling of Understanding: Finding Different Voices in Phenomenological Research,' and 'The Scholarly and Pathic Cavalier: Max van Manen's Phenomenology of Practice' (2016). Other works encompass 'Exploring complementarity in on- and off-job training for apprenticeships' (2003) and 'Expressive approaches to qualitative adult education research' (2001). Willis's contributions have shaped qualitative and pathic research practices in Australian adult education.