Dr Kevin Smith

https://profiles.cardiff.ac.uk/staff/smithk26 I am a Reader in Education, with a particular focus on reconceptualist approaches to curriculum and pedagogy. These approaches seek to challenge and expand traditional views of curriculum by considering it as a dynamic, complex, and socially constructed process rather than a static, content-driven framework. Drawing on critical, poststructuralist, and post-human philosophies, my research examines how curriculum can be transformed to meet the changing needs individuals and society. I am particularly interested in how curriculum can disrupt dominant power structures and promote social justice and inclusion. A core element of my research is the currere method, a phenomenological, autobiographical method that invites participants to reflect on their lived educational experiences in developing cogent statements of curricular understanding. This approach, alongside narrative methods, critical discourse analysis, and participatory action research, allows me to investigate the complexities of curriculum and pedagogy set against the backdrop of the lived experiences of teachers and learners. My research extends to the cultural politics of education, the impact of place on learning, themes of embodiment, enplacement and reflection in teaching, curriculum and research, and also the philosophical dimensions of pedagogy. It also encompasses the ways in which curriculum reforms can engage with issues such as climate change, identity, and decolonisation, and transformative engagements with the other-than-human world. While I have a keen interest and focus on Wales, I have also taught and conducted research in Tonga, Fiji, Tuvalu, Solomon Islands, New Zealand, Brazil, the United States and the UK. Outside of my academic pursuits, I am an avid long-distance walker, enjoying hiking, camping, and spending time by the sea—activities that inform my thinking about place and experience.