Dr Stephen Heimans
Senior Lecturer - Educ.Leadership
School of Education
+61 7 336 56868
Researcher biography
Stephen Heimans is a Senior Lecturer in The School of Education at The University of Queensland. He writes and teaches about education policy/ leadership enactment, education research methodology and schooling in underserved communities. He is interested in the post-critical possibilities of Jacques Rancière's thinking and the philosophy of science of Isabelle Stengers- especially experimental constructivism.
Stephen contributes to the International Teacher Education Research Collective (ITERC), a recently established group collaborating around research on teacher education in several countries including Australia, the UK, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Japan, Hong Kong and Sweden. The Collective is currently exploring three interrelated research themes: how professionalism is 'claimed'; the ethics and politics of teachers' knowledge; and the knowledge base of teacher education. https://twitter.com/_ITERC
Publications
Books
Hardy, Ian, Poed, Shiralee, Gowlett, Christina, Heimans, Stephen, Edwards, Elizabeth, Armour, Danielle, McLay, Katherine, Abdul Hameed, Suraiya, Beencke, Andrew, Lee, Richard, Rueda Balaguera, Laura and Ocriciano, Michelle (2025). Shaping school success: empowering educational leaders. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781032666839
Heimans, Stephen (2020). Disrupting education policy enactment research: characterising, dissensus and ground-up change. New York, NY United States: DIO Press.
Book Chapters
Heimans, Stephen, Hansen, Dion Rüsselbæk and Clarke, Matthew (2024). Towards a New Standard of Dissensus. Teacher Education and Its Discontents. (pp. 176-197) London: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003422358-11
Phelan, Anne M., Magnússon, Gunnlaugur, Heimans, Stephen and Unsworth, Ruth (2024). Teacher education and its discontents: an introduction. Teacher education and its discontents. (pp. 1-14) edited by Gunnlaugur Magnússon, Anne M. Phelan, Stephen Heimans and Ruth Unsworth. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003422358-1
Hardy, Ian, Poed, Shiralee, Gowlett, Christina, Heimans, Stephen, Edwards, Elizabeth J, Armour, Danielle, McLay, Katherine, Hameed, Suraiya Abdul, Beencke, Andrew, Lee, Richard, Balaguera, Laura Rueda and Ocriciano, Michelle (2024). A system-wide approach to enhancing education. Shaping School Success. (pp. 6-31) London: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781032666839-2
Hardy, Ian, Poed, Shiralee, Gowlett, Christina, Heimans, Stephen, Edwards, Elizabeth J., Armour, Danielle, McLay, Katherine, Hameed, Suraiya Abdul, Beencke, Andrew, Lee, Richard, Balaguera, Laura Rueda and Ocriciano, Michelle (2024). Teacher expertise. Shaping school success. (pp. 32-48) edited by Ian Hardy, Shiralee Poed, Christina Gowlett, Stephen Heimans, Elizabeth J. Edwards, Danielle Armour, Katherine McLay, Suraiya Abdul Hameed, Andrew Beencke, Richard Lee, Laura Rueda Balaguera and Michelle Ocriciano. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781032666839-3
Thiele, Catherine, Black, Alison L., Munge, Brendon, Manathunga, Catherine, Heimans, Stephen, Schriever, Vicki, Dwyer, Rachael and Davidow, Shelley (2024). Playing with power and being played: collaborative gameplay as a site of connection and insight. Ludic inquiries into power and pedagogy in higher education. (pp. 187-205) edited by Amelia Walker, Helen Grimmett and Alison L. Black. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003450979-19
Hardy, Ian, Poed, Shiralee, Gowlett, Christina, Heimans, Stephen, Edwards, Elizabeth J., Armour, Danielle, McLay, Katherine, Hameed, Suraiya Abdul, Beencke, Andrew, Lee, Richard, Balaguera, Laura Rueda and Ocriciano, Michelle (2024). Educational leadership. Shaping school success. (pp. 49-66) edited by Ian Hardy, Shiralee Poed, Christina Gowlett, Stephen Heimans, Elizabeth J. Edwards, Danielle Armour, Katherine McLay, Suraiya Abdul Hameed, Andrew Beencke, Richard Lee, Laura Rueda Balaguera and Michelle Ocriciano. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781032666839-4
Hardy, Ian, Poed, Shiralee, Gowlett, Christina, Heimans, Stephen, Edwards, Elizabeth J, Armour, Danielle, McLay, Katherine, Hameed, Suraiya Abdul, Beencke, Andrew, Lee, Richard, Balaguera, Laura Rueda and Ocriciano, Michelle (2024). Conclusion. Shaping school success. (pp. 82-87) edited by Ian Hardy, Shiralee Poed, Christina Gowlett, Stephen Heimans, Elizabeth J. Edwards, Danielle Armour, Katherine McLay, Suraiya Abdul Hameed, Andrew Beencke, Richard Lee, Laura Rueda Balaguera and Michelle Ocriciano. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781032666839-6
Hardy, Ian, Poed, Shiralee, Gowlett, Christina, Heimans, Stephen, Edwards, Elizabeth J, Armour, Danielle, McLay, Katherine, Hameed, Suraiya Abdul, Beencke, Andrew, Lee, Richard, Balaguera, Laura Rueda and Ocriciano, Michelle (2024). Introduction. Shaping school success. (pp. 1-5) edited by Ian Hardy, Shiralee Poed, Christina Gowlett, Stephen Heimans, Elizabeth J. Edwards, Danielle Armour, Katherine McLay, Suraiya Abdul Hameed, Andrew Beencke, Richard Lee, Laura Rueda Balaguera and Michelle Ocriciano. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781032666839-1
Hardy, Ian, Poed, Shiralee, Gowlett, Christina, Heimans, Stephen, Edwards, Elizabeth J., Armour, Danielle, McLay, Katherine, Hameed, Suraiya Abdul, Beencke, Andrew, Lee, Richard, Balaguera, Laura Rueda and Ocriciano, Michelle (2024). Infrastructures for education. Shaping school success. (pp. 67-81) edited by Ian Hardy, Shiralee Poed, Christina Gowlett, Stephen Heimans, Elizabeth J. Edwards, Danielle Armour, Katherine McLay, Suraiya Abdul Hameed, Andrew Beencke, Richard Lee, Laura Rueda Balaguera and Michelle Ocriciano. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781032666839-5
Singh, Parlo, Heck, Deborah, Heimans, Stephen and Ambrosetti, Angelina (2024). Prologue. Decoloniality as a pedagogical imperative in (teacher) education. Decolonising teacher education. (pp. 1-22) edited by Parlo Singh, Deborah Heck, Stephen Heimans and Angelina Ambrosetti. Singapore, Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore. doi: 10.1007/978-981-97-8939-9_1
Kettle, Margaret, Heimans, Stephen and Dargusch, Joanne (2024). Principal leadership as a situated ecology of practices in a diversifying rural school. Sharing leadership stories in rural education: leading rurally across Australia and the United States. (pp. 51-66) edited by Simone White, Jayne Downey and Melyssa Fuqua. Singapore, Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore. doi: 10.1007/978-981-97-8293-2_4
Heimans, Stephen (2015). Taking a 'material turn' in education policy research?. Education Policy and Contemporary Theory: Implications for Research. (pp. 160-170) edited by Kalervo N. Gulson, Matthew Clarke and Eva Bendix Petersen. London, United Kingdom: Taylor and Francis. doi: 10.4324/9781315818429
Boyle, Christopher and Heimans, Stephen (2014). Take action or do nothing: the educational dilemma of the teacher. Equality in education: fairness and inclusion. (pp. 51-57) edited by Hongzhi Zhang, Philip Wing Keung Chan and Christopher Boyle. Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers. doi: 10.1007/978-94-6209-692-9_5
Lingard, Bob, Hardy, Ian and Heimans, Stephen (2012). Deparochializing educational research: three critical, illustrative narratives. Knowledge mobilization and educational research: politics, languages and responsibilities. (pp. 211-236) edited by Tara Fenwick and Lesley Farrell. New York, United States: Routledge.
Journal Articles
Takayama, Keita, Kettle, Margaret, Heimans, Stephen and Biesta, Gert (2025). Publish and perish: academic journal publishing at a crossroad. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 53 (3), 251-256. doi: 10.1080/1359866X.2025.2504807
Biesta, Gert, Takayama, Keita, Heimans, Stephen and Kettle, Margaret (2025). Challenging teacher education: a series of invited papers for the Asia-Pacific journal of teacher education. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 53 (3), 257-258. doi: 10.1080/1359866x.2025.2504806
Thiele, Catherine and Heimans, Stephen (2025). The affective intensities of teacher data relations: problematising data visualisation surfaces. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print), 1-17. doi: 10.1080/01596306.2025.2483186
Biesta, Gert, Takayama, Keita, Kettle, Margaret and Heimans, Stephen (2025). How to say in English what you cannot say in English? Dilemmas of ‘global’ scholarship and small steps forward. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 53 (2), 135-137. doi: 10.1080/1359866x.2025.2469970
Biesta, Gert, Takayama, Keita, Kettle, Margaret and Heimans, Stephen (2025). Challenging teacher education: a series of invited papers for the Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 53 (2), 139-140. doi: 10.1080/1359866x.2025.2472563
Heimans, Stephen, Biesta, Gert, Takayama, Keita and Kettle, Margaret (2025). Educational sense-taking: holding space for education amidst new authoritarianisms. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 53 (1), 1-3. doi: 10.1080/1359866x.2025.2452669
Biesta, Gert, Takayama, Keita, Kettle, Margaret and Heimans, Stephen (2025). Challenging teacher education: a series of invited papers for the Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 53 (1), 4-4. doi: 10.1080/1359866x.2025.2453955
Biesta, Gert, Takayama, Keita, Kettle, Margaret and Heimans, Stephen (2024). Challenging teacher education: a series of invited papers for the Asia-Pacific journal of teacher education. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 52 (5), 518-518. doi: 10.1080/1359866x.2024.2419153
Kettle, Margaret, Heimans, Stephen, Biesta, Gert and Takayama, Keita (2024). Why teacher education? Why not education? The eternal, and infernal, project to form the teacher subject. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 52 (5), 515-517. doi: 10.1080/1359866x.2024.2419282
Takayama, Keita, Kettle, Margaret, Heimans, Stephen and Biesta, Gert (2024). Engaging with ‘China’: a dialogue among APJTE editors. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 52 (4), 389-399. doi: 10.1080/1359866x.2024.2391679
Biesta, Gert, Takayama, Keita, Kettle, Margaret and Heimans, Stephen (2024). How ‘academic’ should academic writing be? Or: why form should follow function. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 52 (2), 121-125. doi: 10.1080/1359866x.2024.2324582
Heimans, Stephen, Biesta, Gert, Takayama, Keita and Kettle, Margaret (2024). School can’t? Thinking about refusal in education. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 52 (1), 1-5. doi: 10.1080/1359866x.2023.2300890
Kettle, Margaret, Heimans, Stephen, Biesta, Gert and Takayama, Keita (2023). Teaching, education, and the politics of English. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 51 (5), 409-412. doi: 10.1080/1359866x.2023.2274687
Takayama, Keita, Kettle, Margaret, Heimans, Stephen and Biesta, Gert (2023). Editorial: excavating ‘meaningful differences’ in Asia-Pacific teacher education research. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 51 (4), 323-327. doi: 10.1080/1359866x.2023.2251218
Biesta, Gert, Takayama, Keita, Kettle, Margaret and Heimans, Stephen (2023). Transforming teacher education or transforming the school: a dangerous dilemma?. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 51 (3), 213-215. doi: 10.1080/1359866x.2023.2207290
Heimans, Stephen, Biesta, Gert, Takayama, Keita and Kettle, Margaret (2023). ChatGPT, subjectification, and the purposes and politics of teacher education and its scholarship. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 51 (2), 105-112. doi: 10.1080/1359866x.2023.2189368
Kettle, Margaret, Heimans, Stephen, Biesta, Gert and Takayama, Keita (2023). In recognition of teachers and teaching. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 51 (1), 1-4. doi: 10.1080/1359866x.2023.2168334
Takayama, Keita, Kettle, Margaret, Heimans, Stephen and Biesta, Gert (2022). Taking “Asia Pacific” seriously: some uncomfortable questions about editing APJTE. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 50 (5), 425-437. doi: 10.1080/1359866x.2022.2138039
Brennan, Marie, Carusi, Tony, Clarke, Matthew, Heck, Deborah, Heimans, Stephen, Reid, Jo-Anne and Singh, Parlo (2022). What has been “missing” or “missed” over the last 50 years in APJTE?. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 50 (3), 233-248. doi: 10.1080/1359866x.2022.2078952
Kettle, Margaret, Heimans, Stephen, Biesta, Gert and Takayama, Keita (2022). Calls to action for teacher education research and practice: voices from the field. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 50 (2), 115-117. doi: 10.1080/1359866x.2022.2048464
Thiele, Catherine, Heimans, Stephen, Manathunga, Catherine, Barry, Suzanne, Cherry-Smith, Benjamin, Farrelly, Kristy, Grogan, Terence, Kemble, Robyn and McIlwain, Lisa (2022). Collective, vulnerable, nascent (post) qualitative inquiry-writing. The Qualitative Report, 27 (5), 1196-1205. doi: 10.46743/2160-3715/2022.5623
Biesta, Gert, Heimans, Stephen, Takayama, Keita and Kettle, Margaret (2022). Taking teacher educators, teachers, and students seriously in research: a statement from the editors of the Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education about the revised aims and scope of the journal. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 1-2. doi: 10.1080/1359866X.2022.2125226
Biesta, Gert, Takayama, Keita, Kettle, Margaret and Heimans, Stephen (2022). Who educates the teacher educator? On research, practice, and politics. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 50 (4), 325-327. doi: 10.1080/1359866X.2022.2104467
Heimans, Stephen, Biesta, Gert, Takayama, Keita and Kettle, Margaret (2022). Thinking about what has been ‘missing’ in the Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education (APJTE) and perhaps the field more generally. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 50 (3), 229-232. doi: 10.1080/1359866X.2022.2079174
Takayama, Keita, Kettle, Margaret, Heimans, Stephen and Biesta, Gert (2022). Celebrating the 50th anniversary of APJTE: a reflection on the past, present and future. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 50 (1), 1-7. doi: 10.1080/1359866x.2022.2022854
Biesta, Gert, Takayama, Keita, Kettle, Margaret and Heimans, Stephen (2021). Teacher education policy: part of the solution or part of the problem?. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 49 (5), 467-470. doi: 10.1080/1359866X.2021.1992926
Heimans, Stephen, Biesta, Gert, Takayama, Keita and Kettle, Margaret (2021). How is teaching seen? raising questions about the part of teachers and their educators in the production of educational (non)sense. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 49 (4), 363-369. doi: 10.1080/1359866x.2021.1974152
Kwok, Henry, Singh, Parlo and Heimans, Stephen (2021). The regime of ‘post-truth’: COVID-19 and the politics of knowledge. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 44 (1), 1-15. doi: 10.1080/01596306.2021.1965544
Heimans, Stephen, Singh, Parlo and Kwok, Henry (2021). Pedagogic rights, public education and democracy. European Educational Research Journal, 21 (1), 1-12. doi: 10.1177/14749041211011920
Singh, Parlo, Hoyte, Frances, Heimans, Stephen and Exley, Beryl (2021). Teacher quality and teacher education: a critical policy analysis of international and Australian policies. The Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 46 (4), 1-15. doi: 10.14221/ajte.2021v46n4.1
Munge, Brendon, Black, Alison L., Heck, Deborah, Manathunga, Catherine, Davidow, Shelley, Thiele, Catherine, Dwyer, Rachael, Heimans, Stephen and Schriever, Vicki (2021). Thinking (now) out of place? Scripting and performing collective dissent inside the corporatized university. Cultural Studies - Critical Methodologies, 21 (5), 413-423. doi: 10.1177/15327086211029365
Kettle, Margaret, Heimans, Stephen, Biesta, Gert and Takayama, Keita (2021). Examining teacher education research methodology: practices, priorities and politics. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 49 (3), 245-248. doi: 10.1080/1359866X.2021.1928955
Takayama, Keita, Kettle, Margaret, Heimans, Stephen and Biesta, Gert (2021). Thinking about cross-border experience in teacher education during the global pandemic. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 49 (2), 143-147. doi: 10.1080/1359866X.2021.1892325
Biesta, Gert, Takayama, Keita, Kettle, Margaret and Heimans, Stephen (2020). Teacher education between principle, politics, and practice: a statement from the new editors of the Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 48 (5), 455-459. doi: 10.1080/1359866x.2020.1818485
Biesta, Gert, Takayama, Keita, Kettle, Margaret and Heimans, Stephen (2020). Call for papers: a new agenda for teacher education research. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 48 (5), 460-462. doi: 10.1080/1359866x.2020.1818484
Heimans, Stephen, Kettle, Margaret, Biesta, Gert, Takayama, Keita, Singh, Parlo, Rowan, Leonie and Allen, Jeanne (2020). Editorial: editorial team transition. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 48 (4), 335-337. doi: 10.1080/1359866X.2020.1794572
Kwok, Henry, Heimans, Stephen and Singh, Parlo (2020). Is the 2019 Water Revolution a lesson of emancipatory education? A Rancièrean invitation. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 53 (1), 1-11. doi: 10.1080/00131857.2020.1744132
Heimans, Stephen and Biesta, Gert (2020). Rediscovering the beauty and risk of education research and teaching: an interview with Gert Biesta by Stephen Heimans. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 48 (2), 101-111. doi: 10.1080/1359866X.2020.1731422
Heimans, Stephen and Singh, Parlo (2020). Schooling and poverty: re-thinking impact, research and social justice. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 48 (1), 1-14. doi: 10.1080/1359866x.2019.1700907
Heimans, Stephen, Singh, Parlo and Barnes, Andrew (2020). Researching educational disadvantage: concepts emerging from working in/with an Australian school. Improving Schools, 24 (2), 1-11. doi: 10.1177/1365480220938892
Singh, Parlo and Heimans, Stephen (2019). Cartographies of scholarship: Stephen Heimans talks to Parlo Singh about teaching, research, and the intellectual terrain of feminist scholarship with/after Bernstein. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 47 (5), 460-471. doi: 10.1080/1359866x.2019.1661960
Heimans, Stephen and Singh, Parlo (2018). Putting the steam back into critique?‘Gathering’ for critical–dissensual collaborations in education policy research. Policy Futures in Education, 16 (2), 185-201. doi: 10.1177/1478210317736209
Singh, Parlo, Heimans, Stephen, Rowan, Leonie and Allen, Jeanne (2017). Some reflections about the political epistemologies of teacher education research. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 45 (5), 435-438. doi: 10.1080/1359866X.2017.1377916
Heimans, Stephen, Singh, Parlo and Glasswell, Kathryn (2017). Doing education policy enactment research in a minor key. Discourse, 38 (2), 185-196. doi: 10.1080/01596306.2015.1074428
Heimans, Stephen and Singh, Parlo (2016). Re-presenting, performing critical/post-critical research realities. Research in Education, 96 (1), 93-109. doi: 10.1177/0034523716664606
Heimans, Stephen (2016). Fieldwork in philosophy, emancipation and researcher dis-position: A post-qualitative research exemplar. Qualitative Research Journal, 16 (1), 2-12. doi: 10.1108/QRJ-08-2014-0035
Singh, Parlo, Heimans, Stephen and Glasswell, Kathryn (2014). Policy enactment, context and performativity: ontological politics and researching Australian National Partnership policies. Journal of Education Policy, 29 (6), 826-844. doi: 10.1080/02680939.2014.891763
Heimans, Stephen (2014). Education policy enactment research: disrupting continuities. Discourse, 35 (2), 307-316. doi: 10.1080/01596306.2013.832566
Heimans, Stephen (2012). Coming to matter in practice: Enacting education policy. Discourse, 33 (2), 313-326. doi: 10.1080/01596306.2012.666083
Heimans, Stephen (2012). Educational policy, practice, and power. Educational Policy, 26 (3), 369-393. doi: 10.1177/0895904810397338
Hardy, Ian, Heimans, Stephen and Lingard, Bob (2011). Journal Rankings: Positioning the field of educational research and educational academics. Power and Education, 3 (1), 4-17. doi: 10.2304/power.2011.3.1.5
Heimans,Stephen (2011). Contesting the Neo-liberal lash-up: Policy paradoxes and possibilities. Social Alternatives, 30 (4), 15-19.
Heimans, Stephen (2010). The education debate. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 31 (3), 393-395. doi: 10.1080/01596301003787025
Department Technical Report
Hardy, Ian, Poed, Shiralee, Gowlett, Christina, Heimans, Stephen, Edwards, Elizabeth, Armour, Danielle, McLay, Kate, Hameed, Suraiya, Beencke, Andrew, Lee, Richard, Rueda, Laura and dos Santos Ocriciano, Michelle (2022). Shaping school success: Commissioned report for the Department of Education and Training, Queensland. School of Education, University of Queensland.
Thesis
Heimans, Stephen (2013). Characterising - (an) Education Policy. PhD Thesis, School of Education, The University of Queensland.