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Executive Dean
Faculty of Education and Arts
Areas of expertise: teacher education; teachers' knowledge; the teaching of literature for justice and sustainability; literacy education; school leadership and literacy; English teaching; text selection; the teaching of Australian literature; teacher professional learning;
Phone: +61 438 597 927
Email: [email protected]
Location: ACU Melbourne Campus
HDR Supervisor accreditation status: HDR Supervisor (Full)
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-6963-2474
Larissa McLean Davies is an internationally recognised academic leader and strategist in teacher education, known for delivering large scale, high impact research that shapes education policy, system design, and professional practice. Her work brings together government agencies, education departments, universities, and not-for-profit organisations to translate rigorous research into sustained system level change for teachers and students.
Her research leadership advances a whole of career vision for teacher education, addressing how teachers' knowledge is developed, validated, and expanded across diverse institutional, geographical, and social contexts. Since 2016, Larissa has secured more than $6.5 million in competitive research funding, including substantive Category 1, 2, and 3 grants, leading complex, multidisciplinary teams examining policy, system reform, program quality, and professional learning at scale. This work has resulted in over 60 refereed publications in leading international journals and field defining books, alongside national recognition for research engagement and public value.
Larissa's scholarship has a strong focus on literacy and English education. As co convenor of the Literary Education Lab, she leads interdisciplinary research spanning education, literary studies, and the digital and environmental humanities, with a distinct emphasis on justice and sustainability. She led the largest ARC Discovery Grant in English Education to date and now directs international research with Indigenous colleagues and global partners to reconceptualise English teachers' knowledge in settler societies.
A highly experienced executive leader, Larissa has held senior faculty roles since 2011, including Associate Dean positions responsible for teacher education research and learning and teaching. She led the development of the University of Melbourne's world recognised Clinical Model of Teacher Education, contributing to the Graduate School's sustained top 10 global QS ranking. She continues to provide strategic leadership through advisory roles, governance contributions, and long term industry partnerships focused on meaningful, systemwide improvement in education.
Professor Larissa McLean Davies is currently Executive Dean of Arts and Education at the Australian Catholic University, where she provides strategic and academic leadership across a large, interdisciplinary portfolio spanning education, arts, and humanities. In this role, she is responsible for advancing academic quality, research excellence, and external engagement, while strengthening partnerships with government, industry, and community organisations. Her leadership focuses on aligning teaching, research, and impact to address complex social and educational challenges at national and international levels.
Books
2025 Critical Conversations in Teacher Education, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83608-908-720251003
2023 Literary knowing and the making of English teachers. Routledge (co-authored book from ARC DP 160101084).
2011 Teaching Australian literature: From classroom conversations to national imaginings. Kent Town, Australia: Wakefield Press.
Book Chapters
2026 Unsettling critical literacy: Indigenous climate fiction and relational reading practices. In H. Janks, B. Comber, & V. Vasquez (Eds.), A research agenda for critical literacies. Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035341504
2026 Indigenising Teacher Education and Professional Learning Partnerships: Principles, Positionality, and Proximities. In Handbook of Teacher Education and Development: Professional Learning for Educational Change, Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035341504.00021
2025 Teacher education as a site for critical conversations on continuity of learning practices. In Critical Conversations in Teacher Education Contemporary Australian Perspectives. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83608-908-720251028
Journal articles
2026 Religion and Worldviews Education: Curriculum and Pedagogical Approaches in Victorian Schools. https://doi.org/10.1080/15507394.2025.2560765
2025 Colonial taxonomies: a critical examination of the boundaries of non-fiction in school English. https://doi.org/10.1080/04250494.2025.2588263
2025 Unsettling subject English in the twenty-first century. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.4124
2025 Reading climate: subject English beyond the colonial. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2024.2397518
2024 'Need to Know They're Doing the Right Thing': Exploring Secondary English Teacher Approaches to Indigenous Climate Fiction. https://doi.org/10.1080/20512856.2024.2427571
2022 Power of country: Indigenous relationality and reading Indigenous climate fiction in Australia. https://doi.org/10.1080/03626784.2022.2041978
2022 Disrupting intertextual power networks: challenging literature in schools. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2021.1910929
2021 Teacher-researchers: a pilot project for unsettling the secondary Australian literary canon. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2020.1735313
Conferences
2025 Reading with Consent: Teaching Literature for Gender Justice. Proceedings of the 2025 AERA Annual Meeting. https://doi.org/10.3102/2183464
2025 Renewing and Improving Schools: Exploring a Continuity of Learning Framework from Birth to 18 Years. Proceedings of the 2025 AERA Annual Meeting. https://doi.org/10.3102/2191892
Reading Climate: Indigenous Literatures, School English and Sustainability
ARC Linkage Grant [$100k]
Funding period: 2024 - 2026 ACTIVE
Investigating literary knowledge in the making of English teachers
ARC Discovery Grant [$806,577]
Funding period: 2016-2024 COMPLETED
Continuity of Learning Birth to Year 12
Northern Territory Department of Education
Funding period: 2021-2023 [$733,643] COMPLETED
Transitions from Birth to Year 12
Queensland Department of Education
Funding period: 2024-2025 [>$450k] COMPLETED
Secondary Literacy Toolkit
Victorian Department of Education and Training
Funding period: 2019-2023 [$990,000] COMPLETED
Worldviews and Religions in Victorian Schools
Faith Communities Council of Victoria
Funding period 2023 -2026 [$35k] ACTIVE
Consent Literacies Toolkit (partnership with the Stella Prize)
Funding period: 2020-2021 [$50k] COMPLETED
Investigating the value of Professional Learning. The Victorian Academy of Teaching and School Leadership. [$50k]. COMPLETED
Integrating Literacy in the Secondary Years.Ballarat Archdiocese
Funding period: 2021-2024 [$139,030] COMPLETED
F-2 Early Literacy Model. Department of Education and Training (Victoria) Funding Period: 2021-2022 [$407,158]. COMPLETED
2021 Award for Engagement - Public Value
University of Melbourne
2021 Award for Teaching and Learning with Impact on the Community
Melbourne Graduate School Education, University of Melbourne
2018 Award of MGSE competitive funding for a three-year Post-Doctoral Fellowship including research support funding
University of Melbourne
2017 Curriculum Innovation Award for leading redesign and implementation of the Master of Teaching
Melbourne Graduate School Education, University of Melbourne
2016 Outstanding Paper Award - Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence
Emerald Publishing
2016 Mid-Career Research Excellence Award
Melbourne Graduate School Education, University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne - Leadership and Service
2026 Honorary Professorial Fellow. Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne
2025-present - Board Member, Munarra Centre for Regional Excellence (elected)
2024-present - Invited Member, Australian Place Partnerships Executive Steering Committee
2024-present - Invited Member, Academic Working Group on People and Community
2024 - External Reviewer, Triennial Academic Reviews (Levels D and E) Faculty of Fine Arts and Music
2024 - Invited External Panel Member, Senior Academic Recruitment. Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences
2024 - Invited Presenter, Aspiring and Academic Leadership Programs
2022-2023 - Professorial Delegate, Teaching and Learning Quality Assurance Committee (TALQAC)
2021-2023 - Steering Committee Member, Research Unit in Enlightenment, Romanticism, and Contemporary Culture (invited). Invited conference speaker (2023)
2018-2019 - Invited Faculty of Education Representative, Melbourne School of Academic and Professional Continuing Education (MSPACE)
2016-2018 - Invited Member, Academic Programs Committee (APC)
International Academic Leadership
2025 - Co-Chair, International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement (ICSEI) Conference
2025 - Board Member, International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement (University of Melbourne representative)
2024 - Elected Board Member, International Council on Education for Teaching (ICET). Host of ICET Conference, Melbourne (2026)
2024 - Elected Chair, International Association for Research in L1 Education. First Chair from the southern hemisphere. Chair, International Federation for the Teaching of English (IFTE) Conference
2024-2025 - Board Member, International Association for Research in L1 Education
2023 - Chair, Australian Literary Studies Gold Medal for Literature
2021-present - Global South Lead, MESH Guides, Educational Future Collaboration Charity (invited)
2021-present - Advisory Board Member, International Federation for the Teaching of English (invited)
2020-present - Elected Member, London Review of Education International Advisory Board
2020-present - International Advisory Board Member, Journal of Education for Teaching (JET) (invited)
2019-present - Co-founder, Literary Education Lab (LEL)
2017 - Co-convenor, Association for the Study of Australian Literature International Conference
Australian Education Appointments and Leadership
2025-present - Council Member, Victorian Institute of Teaching (elected)
2024-present - Chair, Assessment for Graduate Teaching (AfGT) National Consortium (elected)
2021 - Critical Friend (funded), Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority Review of the Australian Curriculum: English
2021 - Featured Academic, ORBIS Education Thought Leaders Series
2018-2019 - Deputy President, Victorian Council of Deans of Education (elected)
2018-2019 - Executive Member, Australian Association for the Teaching of English (elected)
Professional Association
Association for the Study of Australian Literature (ASAL)
Professional Association
Victorian Council of Deans of Education
Professional Association
Australian Association for the Teaching of English
Professional Association
Victorian Association for the Teaching of English (VATE)
Professional Association
Victorian Institute of Teaching Accreditation Committee
Professional Association
MESH Guides
Professional Association
Australia India Institute
Professor Larissa McLean Davies is a regular reviewer for the following journals: Journal of Education for Teaching; Australian Educational Researcher; Discourse; English in Education; English Teaching Practice and Critique; Australian Literary Studies; L1 Education Studies in Language and Literature; and English in Australia. Additionally, Larissa is a member of the Scientific (Review) committee for the International Association for Research in L1 Education.
2021 - present Deputy Editor for the Q1 international Journal of Education for Teaching (funded)
2020 - The London Review of Education International Advisory Board - member (elected)
2020 - International Advisory Board for the Journal of Education for Teaching (JET) (invited)
2024 Literary Education and the role of reading for social change. Talking Teaching Podcast
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mgse-talking-teaching/episodes/Literary-Education-and-the-role-of-reading-for-social-change-e2fmtml/a-aav5ia
Reconciliation and Education: Past-Present-Future forum, Canberra, hosted by Reconciliation Australia's Narragunnawali team and the University of Melbourne's Ngarrngga project.
2022 The Teacher Crisis - Real or Imagined. Talking Teaching Podcast. https://education.unimelb.edu.au/talking-teaching#season-6
2022 Reading with Consent panel, Wheeler Centre, Melbourne, Australia https://www.wheelercentre.com/events-tickets/past-seasons/past-season-2022/reading-with-consent
2022 Reading Climate: Indigenous literatures, school English and Sustainable Futures Symposium. Literary Education Lab, https://literaryeducationlab.org/projects/reading-climate/
2021 Decolonising the English curriculum. Talking Teaching Podcast https://education.unimelb.edu.au/talking-teaching/episodes/talking-teaching-season-4/Decolonising-the-English-curriculum
2020 Reading Australian CliFi in secondary schools (with Dr Sarah Truman), Melbourne Sustainability Society Network https://sustainable.unimelb.edu.au/home/news-events/past-events/reading-cli-fi
2020 Navigating our future, Boisbouvier Oration, Melbourne Writers Festival*
2020 The stories we are not telling: Why Australian literature can't gain traction in schools (and what needs to be done about it), Australia Centre Seminar Series*
2019 Australian literature in schools, Garret Podcasthttps://literaryknowledge.com.au/the-garret- podcast/
2019 Australian literature in schools, Talking Teaching Podcast with Maxine McKewhttps://education.unimelb.edu.au/talking-teaching
2017 How can we fix Australia's education problems? Publix seminar held in conjunction with the launch of Educating Australia (2017), Bentley and Savage Eds Melbourne
2017 Raising the status of the teaching profession - Labor's national schools forum, Melbourne
2016 Clinical teaching - addressing the challenges of education, UNESCO Education Summit on Digital Professional Learning, London, House of Lords *
Public commentaries
McLean Davies, L., & Watterston, J. (2022). Australia's teacher shortage won't be solved until we treat teaching as a profession, not a trade. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/australias-teacher-shortage-wont-be-solved-until-we-treat-teaching-as-a-profession-not-a-trade-188441
McLean Davies, L., & Gelder, K. (2020). ABC Big Ideas, 'Navigating our future through literature' https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/is-australian-literature-too-white/12618810
McLean Davies, L., Truman, S., and Buzacott, L. (2020). The enduring 'Cultural Cringe' about teaching Australian literature, Pursuit: https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/the-enduring-cultural-cringe-about-teaching-australian-literature
McLean Davies, L., Truman, S., Buzacott, L., & Gannaway, J. (2019). 5 Australian books that can help young people understand their place in the world, The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/5-australian-books-that-can-help-young-people-understand-their-place-in- the-world-127712
McLean Davies, L. (2019). Old white men dominate school English booklists: It's time more Australian schools taught Australian books, The Conversation https://theconversation.com/old-white-men-dominate-school-english-booklists-its-time-more-australian-schools-taught-australian-books-127110