Associate Professor Carmen Mills
Associate Professor
School of Education
+61 7 336 56632
Research Interests: Social justice; Schooling in disadvantaged communities; Sociology of education
Researcher biography
Dr Carmen Mills is an Associate Professor in Teaching, Learning and Classroom Pedagogy in the School of Education at The University of Queensland, where she is the Director of Teaching and Learning. Her research interests are informed broadly by the sociology of education. She has an international reputation for significant research contributions in the areas of social justice in education, schooling in disadvantaged communities and teacher education for the development of socially just dispositions. As a socially critical researcher, informed by the work of Pierre Bourdieu and others, she is concerned to explore questions related to whose interests are served by the social arrangements evident in educational contexts and how these arrangements might be structured more equitably. She is experienced in undertaking empirical research with others from a range of disciplinary backgrounds, bringing her particular experience in interviewing and observation, her empirical interest in equity and social justice, as well as her understanding of Bourdieuian theoretical concepts, to these research teams.
Publications
Book
Mills, Carmen and Gale, Trevor (2010). Schooling in disadvantaged communities: Playing the game from the back of the field. Dordrecht , The Netherlands: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-90-481-3344-4
Book Chapters
Carmen Mills (2021). Implications of the My School website for disadvantaged communities: A Bourdieuian analysis. Marxism, Neoliberalism, and Intelligent Capitalism: An Educational Philosophy and Theory Reader . (pp. 124-137) edited by Liz Jackson and Michael Peters. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003231967-9
Gale, Trevor, Cross, Russell and Mills, Carmen (2020). Researching teacher practice: Social justice dispositions revealed in activity. Practice methodologies in education research. (pp. 48-62) edited by Julianne Lynch, Julie Rowlands, Trevor Gale and Stephen Parker. Abingdon, Oxon United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780429202063-3
Cross, Russell, Mills, Carmen and Gale, Trevor (2019). Thinking with Bourdieu about teachers’ pedagogies and their dispositions for social justice: unthinkingness in aspiration formation. International perspectives on theorizing aspiration: applying Bourdieu’s tools. (pp. 130-142) edited by Garth Stahl, Derron Wallace, Ciaran Burke and Steven Threadgold. London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury.
Ballantyne, Julie and Mills, Carmen (2015). The intersection of music teacher education and social justice: where are we now?. The Oxford handbook of social justice in music education. (pp. 644-657) edited by Cathy Benedict, Patrick Schmidt, Gary Spruce and Paul Woodford. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199356157.013.70
Mohamed, Mimi, Moni, Karen and Mills, Carmen (2015). Professional identity and English language teaching in a discipline-specific context. Current issues in second/foreign language teaching and teacher development: research and practice. (pp. 85-103) edited by Christina Gitsaki and Thomai Alexiou. Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Mills, Carmen and Gale, Trevor (2010). Student Achievement in Context. Student Achievement in Context. (pp. 29-41) NEW YORK: SPRINGER. doi: 10.1007/978-90-481-3344-4_3
Mills, Carmen and Gale, Trevor (2010). Competencies That Count. Competencies That Count. (pp. 73-87) NEW YORK: SPRINGER. doi: 10.1007/978-90-481-3344-4_6
Mills, Carmen and Gale, Trevor (2010). Where Are the Good Teachers When You Need Them?. Where Are the Good Teachers When You Need Them?. (pp. 43-53) NEW YORK: SPRINGER. doi: 10.1007/978-90-481-3344-4_4
Mills, Carmen and Gale, Trevor (2010). What Should Effective Schooling Look Like?. What Should Effective Schooling Look Like?. (pp. 55-72) NEW YORK: SPRINGER. doi: 10.1007/978-90-481-3344-4_5
Mills, Carmen and Gale, Trevor (2010). Locating the Research. Locating the Research. (pp. 1-+) NEW YORK: SPRINGER. doi: 10.1007/978-90-481-3344-4_1
Mills, Carmen and Gale, Trevor (2010). Coming to Terms with Social Inequalities in Education. Coming to Terms with Social Inequalities in Education. (pp. 13-27) NEW YORK: SPRINGER. doi: 10.1007/978-90-481-3344-4_2
Mills, C. and Gale, T. (2004). Doing research with teachers, parents and students: The ethics and politics of collaborative research. Strategic uncertainties: Ethics, politics and risk in contemporary educational research. (pp. 89-101) edited by Phyllida Coombes, Mike Danaher and Patrick Alan Danaher. Flaxton, Qld: Post Pressed.
Mills, Carmen and Gale, Trevor (2001). Recognitive justice: renewed commitment to socially just schooling. Researching in contemporary educational environments. (pp. 64-83) edited by Bruce Allen Knight and Leonie Rowan. Flaxton, QLD, Australia: Post Pressed.
Journal Articles
McDowall, Ailie, Mills, Carmen, Cawte, Katie and Miller, Jodie (2021). Data use as the heart of data literacy: an exploration of pre-service teachers’ data literacy practices in a teaching performance assessment. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 49 (5), 487-502. doi: 10.1080/1359866x.2020.1777529
Mills, Carmen, Gale, Trevor, Parker, Stephen, Smith, Catherine and Cross, Russell (2019). Activist dispositions for social justice in advantaged and disadvantaged contexts of schooling. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 40 (5), 614-630. doi: 10.1080/01425692.2019.1582322
Gale, Trevor, Mills, Carmen and Cross, Russell (2017). Socially inclusive teaching: belief, design, action as pedagogic work. Journal of Teacher Education, 68 (3), 345-356. doi: 10.1177/0022487116685754
Mills, Carmen, Molla, Tebeje, Gale, Trevor, Cross, Russell, Parker, Stephen and Smith, Catherine (2017). Metaphor as a methodological tool: identifying teachers' social justice dispositions across diverse secondary school settings. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 38 (6), 856-871. doi: 10.1080/01425692.2016.1182009
Mills, Carmen and Ballantyne, Julie (2016). Social justice and teacher education: a systematic review of empirical work in the field. Journal of Teacher Education, 67 (4), 263-276. doi: 10.1177/0022487116660152
Mills, Carmen (2015). Implications of the My School website for disadvantaged communities: a Bourdieuian analysis. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 47 (2), 146-158. doi: 10.1080/00131857.2013.793927
Mills, Carmen (2013). Developing pedagogies in pre-service teachers to cater for diversity: Challenges and ways forward in initial teacher education. International Journal of Pedagogies and Learning, 8 (3), 219-228. doi: 10.5172/ijpl.2013.8.3.219
Mills, Carmen (2013). A Bourdieuian analysis of teachers' changing dispositions towards social justice: the limitations of practicum placements in pre-service teacher education. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 41 (1), 41-54. doi: 10.1080/1359866X.2012.753985
Gale, Trevor and Mills, Carmen (2013). Creating spaces in higher education for marginalised Australians: Principles for socially inclusive pedagogies. Enhanced Learning in the Social Sciences, 5 (2), 7-19. doi: 10.11120/elss.2013.00008
Mills, Carmen and Keddie, Amanda (2012). 'Fixing' student deficit in contexts of diversity: another cautionary tale for pre-service teacher education. International Journal of Pedagogies and Learning, 7 (1), 9-19. doi: 10.5172/ijpl.2012.7.1.9
Mills, Carmen (2012). When ‘picking the right people’ is not enough: a Bourdieuian analysis of social justice and dispositional change in pre-service teachers. International Journal of Educational Research, 53, 269-277. doi: 10.1016/j.ijer.2012.04.001
Mills, Carmen and Gale, Trevor (2011). Re-asserting the place of context in explaining student (under-)achievement. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 32 (2), 239-256. doi: 10.1080/01425692.2011.547309
Mills, Carmen and Ballantyne, Julie (2010). Pre-service teachers' dispositions towards diversity: Arguing for a developmental hierarchy of change. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26 (3), 447-454. doi: 10.1016/j.tate.2009.05.012
Mills, Carmen (2009). Making sense of pre-service teachers' dispositions towards social justice: Can teacher education make a difference?. Critical Studies in Education, 50 (3), 277-288. doi: 10.1080/17508480903156862
Mills, Carmen (2008). Review of: Grenfell, M. (2007). ‘Pierre Bourdieu: Education and Training’. London: Continuum. Teachers College Record. Teachers College Record
Ballantyne, Julie and Mills, Carmen (2008). Promoting socially just and inclusive music teacher education: Exploring perceptions of early-career teachers. Research Studies in Music Education, 30 (1), 77-91. doi: 10.1177/1321103X08089891
Mills, C. (2008). Reproduction and transformation of inequalities in schooling: The transformative potential of the theoretical constructs of Bourdieu. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 29 (1), 79-89. doi: 10.1080/01425690701737481
Keddie, Amanda, Mills, Carmen and Mills, Martin (2008). Struggles to subvert the gendered field: Issues of masculinity, rurality and class. Pedagogy, Culture and Society, 16 (2), 193-205. doi: 10.1080/14681360802142161
Mills, Carmen (2008). Opportunity and resignation within marginalised students: Towards a theorisation of the reproductive and transformative habitus. Critical Studies in Education, 49 (2), 99-111. doi: 10.1080/17508480802040191
Mills, C. (2008). Making a difference: moving beyond the superficial treatment of diversity. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 36 (4), 261-275. doi: 10.1080/13598660802375925
Mills, C. (2008). "I don't have much of an ethnic background": Exploring changes in dispositions towards diversity in pre-service teachers. International Journal of Pedagogies and Learning, 4 (3), 49-58. doi: 10.5172/ijpl.4.3.49
Danaher, Patrick Alan, Mills, Carmen, White, Robert, D., O'Neill, Shirley and Son, Jeong-Bae (2007). Editors’ introduction to special theme issue: Meanings emerging in practice (Part 2). International Journal of Pedagogies and Learning, 3 (2), 1-3.
Mills, Carmen (2007). Transforming the capital that counts: Making a difference for students with cultural capital in the 'wrong' currency. Curriculum Perspectives, 27 (3), 11-14.
Mills, Carmen and Gale, Trevor (2007). Researching social inequalities in education: towards a Bourdieuian methodology. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 20 (4), 433-447. doi: 10.1080/09518390601176523
Mills, C. (2007). Transforming the capital that counts: Making a difference for students with cultural capital in the wrong currency. Curriculum Perspectives, 27 (3), 11-21.
Mills, C. and Gale, T. (2004). Parent participation in disadvantaged schools: moving beyond attributions of blame. Australian Journal of Education, 48 (3), 268-281. doi: 10.1177/000494410404800305
Mills, Carmen and Gale, Trevor (2004). "I'm your new teacher": The impact of teacher mobility on educational opportunities for marginalised students. Melbourne studies in education, 45 (2), 67-82.
Mills, Carmen and Gale, Trevor (2003). Transient Teachers: Mixed Messages of Schooling in Regional Australia. Journal of research in rural education, 18 (3), 145-151.
Mills, Carmen (2003). Review of Gale, T. and Densmore, K. (2000)'Just Schooling: Explorations in the cultural politics of teaching. Melbourne Studies in Education, 44 (2), 125-126.
Mills, Carmen and Gale, Trevor (2002). Schooling and the (re)production of social inequalities: What can and should we be doing?. Melbourne studies in education, 43 (1), 107-128. doi: 10.1080/17508480209556395
Mills, Carmen (2000). Review of: Gale, T. and Densmore, K. (2000)'Just Schooling: Explorations in the cultural politics of teaching. Idiom 23, 15 (1), 120-212.
Conference Paper
Mills, Carmen (2008). Developing socially just dispositions in pre-service and beginning teachers: Findings from the first year. Australian Association for Research in Education Conference, Brisbane, Australia, 30 November - 4 December 2008.
Research Report
Rubin, Mark, Burke, Penny Jane, Bennett, Anna, Evans, Olivia, O'Shea, Sarah, Allen, Kristen, Parker, Jean, Denson, Nida, Douglas, Heather, Gendi, Monica, Hardacre, Stephanie, Howley, Peter, Macquen, Suzanne, Mills, Carmen, Naylor, Ryan and Raciti, Maria (2022). Success from the perspective of the successful: Low SES students, success and completion in higher education. Canberra, ACT, Australia: The Australian Government’s Department of Education, Skills and Employment’s Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Programme National Priorities Pool.