Dr Michelle Jeffries

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Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Faculty of CI, Education & Social Justice

Doctor of Philosophy (Queensland University of Technology)

Michelle's is a postdoctoral research fellow in the School of Teacher Education and Leadership at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. Her predominant area of research is in the area of gender and sexuality diversity in education. Her current research explores the experiences of gender and sexuality diverse (GSD) teachers in regional, rural and remote Australia. Michelle's doctoral study explored the enablements and constraints experienced by GSD parents within the context of their child/ren’s primary school/s. She received a Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Executive Dean's Commendation for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis for this work. Her research interests also include exploring public discourses about queer-related issues across traditional and social media. Michelle is currently a co-convenor of the Gender, Sexualities and Cultural Studies SIG (Australian Association of Research in Education). She is an associate editor of Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice.

Awards, Scholarships, and Prizes

  • Executive Dean's Commendation for Outstanding Thesis Award, Queensland University of Technology, CIESJ. Awarded May, 2022.
  • QUT Nomination for AARE Ray Debus Award, 2021.
  • Outstanding Contribution to Research in the Faculty by an HDR Student, Queensland University of Technology. Awarded July, 2018.
  • Western Sydney University: Summer Institute of the Antipodes Bursary. Awarded November, 2016.
  • AARE Alison Lee 'Theory in Educational Research' Scholarship: Awarded October, 2016
  • Australian Postgraduate Award Scholarship: Awarded 2016-2019
  • QUT Student of Excellence Top Up Scholarship: Awarded 2016-2019
  • Master of Education High Achievement Award and Bursary: Awarded December, 2010

Publications:  See publication tab further below.

Conference Papers

  • Callaghan, T., Esterhuizen, A., Higham, L., & Jeffries, M. (2023, January 4). Gender rows: How transphobia is enacted and resisted in Catholic schools of Canada and Australia. Presentation conducted for the Hawaii International Conference on Education (HICE) 2023 Annual Meeting at the Hilton Waikiki. Honolulu, HI.
  • Jeffries, M. (2023, November 30). ‘Mum/Dad’ and ‘Parent One/Parent Two’: Exploring binary productions of ‘family’ in schools. Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) Annual Conference, Adelaide, Australia (November 27 - 1 December, 2022).
  • Jeffries, M., Wood s, A., O'Gorman, L. (2023, November 28). Navigating Mother's Day and Father's Day in Schools: Experiences and perspectives of gender and sexuality diverse parents. Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) Annual Conference, Adelaide, Australia (November 27 - 1 December, 2022).
  • Jeffries, M. (2023, May 11). LGBTQ+ families and schools: Diversity, recognition and belonging. Clariden Global Student and Teachers Mental Health Wellbeing & “Suicide Prevention” Conference (Virtual Conference held due to COVID)  (May 11-12, 2021).
  • Callaghan, T., Esterhuizen, A., Higham, L., & Jeffries, M. (2020). Gender rows: How transphobia is enacted and resisted in Catholic Schools of Canada and Australia (Roundtable sesion). American Educational Research Association (AERA) Conference, San Francisco, http:/tinyurl.com/wakxpm9 (2020).(Conference cancelled)
  • Jeffries, M. (2019). Eperiences of gender and sexuality diverse parents in primary schools. Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) Annual Conference, Sydney, Australia (December 2-5, 2019)
  • Callaghan, T., Higham, L., Jeffries, M., & Esterhuizen, A. (2019). Freedom from sex discrimination or religious freedom to discriminate? Conflicting rights in Australian and Canadian Catholic schools. Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) Annual Conference, Sydney, Australia (December 2-5, 2019)
  • Callaghan, T., Jeffries, M., & Higham, L.(2019)."Washroom wars" and "gender rows": An international comparison of transphobia in Catholic schools. GEA Annual Conference, Portsmouth (25-27 June, 2019).
  • Jeffries, M. (2018) Examining media discourses of ‘indoctrination’: Public perceptions of the intended screening of Gayby Baby in schools; Digital Diversity symposium. Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) Annual Conference, Sydney, Australia (December 3-6, 2018)
  • Jeffries, M. (2017) Exploring public discourses in the same-sex marriage 'debate'. Presented at Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) Annual Conference, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia (26 Nov-30 Nov, 2017)
  • Jeffries, M. (2017). School-family relationships: Experiences of same-sex attracted parents in primary schools.  Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY) Parent Engagement Conference, Melbourne, Victoria (June 6-8, 2017)
  • Jeffries, M. (2016). Waging a war on ‘difference’: A critical analysis of media and public commentary relating to the inclusion of sexuality-diverse families in the school curriculum. Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) Annual Conference, Melbourne, Victoria (27 Nov-Dec 1, 2016)

Education

  • Doctor of Philosophy: Completed March 2021
  • Master of Education (Early Childhood Teaching). Completed December 2010.
  • Bachelor of Education (Primary). Completed December 2001.