Rate My Professor Tom Griffiths

Associate Professor Tom Griffiths serves as Honorary Associate Professor in the School of Education within the College of Human and Social Futures at the University of Newcastle. His academic background includes a PhD from the University of Newcastle completed in 1998 titled 'A history of secondary school education in revolutionary Cuba, 1959-1991: A world-systems approach,' a Graduate Certificate in TESOL from the University of Technology Sydney, and a Bachelor of Education (Honours) from the University of Newcastle, for which he received the University Medal in 1994. Prior to his academic career, Griffiths worked as a secondary school teacher specializing in English and History. He joined the University of Newcastle as a Research Associate/Assistant in 2000, became a Lecturer in 2004, and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2009. Additional appointments include Director of International in the School of Education since 2012, Deputy Head of School for Research Development from 2008 to 2011, Elected Academic Staff Member on the University Council since 2010, President of the Australian and New Zealand Comparative and International Education Society from 2013 to 2015, and Vice President of the National Tertiary Education Union Newcastle Branch since 2007. He has also served on the University Human Research Ethics Committee, as Faculty Research Ethics Advisor, School Equity Officer, and International Student Officer.

As program leader of the Comparative and International Education Group at the University of Newcastle (CIEGUN), Griffiths' research specializations center on comparative and international education through a world-systems analysis framework. His interests encompass education and social change, Latin America, pedagogy, Wallerstein's theories, world-systems analysis, and socialism, with fluent Spanish proficiency. Key research trajectories include developing world-systems analysis for comparative education and studying socialist education projects in Cuba and Venezuela. Notable awards include the Vice Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence in 2007, recognizing his stimulation of students to consider education's relationship to social justice. Key publications feature books such as 'Logics of Socialist Education: Engaging with Crisis, Insecurity and Uncertainty' (2013, with Z. Millei), 'Mass Education, Global Capital, and the World: The Theoretical Lenses of Istvan Meszaros and Immanuel Wallerstein' (2013, with R. Imre), 'Re-Theorizing Discipline in Education: Problems, Politics, and Possibilities' (2010, with Z. Millei and R.J. Parkes), and 'Education in/for Socialism: Historical, Current and Future Perspectives' (2016, with Z. Millei). Significant articles include 'Education to transform the world: limits and possibilities in and against the SDGs and ESD' (2021), 'Schooling for twenty-first-century socialism: Venezuela's Bolivarian project' (2010), and 'Fifty years of socialist education in revolutionary Cuba: A world-systems perspective' (2009). Griffiths has edited special issues for Globalisation, Societies and Education (2013) and the Journal of Critical Education Policy Studies (2015), and delivered keynote lectures such as 'Education under and for socialism: What hope progress?' in 2018.