Research Interests: Educational Policy; Educational Practice; Globalization

Researcher biography

Dr Hardy researches and teaches in the areas of educational policy and politics, particularly in relation to institutionalized educational settings (schools; universities), at the School of Education, University of Queensland. He is also increasingly involved in policy studies relating to international and comparative education in schooling, higher education and vocational education. Dr Hardy's teaching at Undergraduate, Masters and PhD levels, and his service to the research, professional and wider community is informed by research into the relationship between education and society, particularly broader policy and political discourses, and educators' responses to the socio-political contexts in which their work is undertaken. Dr Hardy is currently undertaking national (Queensland) and international (England, Singapore, Bangladesh) work into the nature of teacher and other educator and policy officer's engagement with data in schools and schooling systems and settings. Dr Hardy is continuing to work on research undertaken during his recent Future Fellowship (2014-2018); this includes in relation to how policy support for the Australian Curriculum influenced teacher learning in diverse schooling settings in Queensland, within a broader global policy context. This work has also involved exploring how concurrent policy reform in Scandinavian (Finland and Sweden) and North American (Ontario and Connecticut) contexts has constituted and influenced practice in these settings. This research builds upon earlier work (2012-2014; ARC-DECRA) which focused upon teacher learning practices in Queensland under globalised policy conditions. Dr Hardy also researches the nature of academic work under current conditions in Australian and international university settings.

Current and future research focuses upon continued work on the nature and effects of data as currently constituted in educational (particularly schooling) settings in different national and international contexts (including in the Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America). Current and future research also includes work in relation to the nature and effects of Artificial Intelligence in educational settings, including how this influences educators' work and learning in schooling and other (formal and informal) educational settings. Current and future work also includes research into enhancing East-West relations, particularly as this pertains to international students studying in higher education settings in Australia and east-Asia.

Since 2004, Dr Hardy has also been a member of the Pedagogy, Education and Praxis international research consortium, involving researchers from Australia (University of Queensland, Griffith University, Charles Sturt University, Monash), UK (University of Sheffield), Sweden (University of Gothenburg), Norway (University of Tromso), and Finland (Abo Akademi). This group is primarily engaged in researching and theorising professional practice, including the politics of teachers' learning, throughout the teaching career in primary, secondary, tertiary and other adult education settings.

Dr Hardy worked previously at Charles Sturt University (Wagga Wagga, Australia; 2004-2010), commenced at The University of Queensland in 2010, and has occupied his current continuing substantive position as Associate Professor at the School of Education since 2019.

Featured projects Duration
How do teachers learn to enact the Australian Curriculum?
ARC Future Fellowship
20152018

Areas of research