Survey for academyEX alumni launched

August 23, 2024

If you are one of the academyEX educator alumni, you would have received an invite to fill out this anonymous survey to participate in my research exploring educators' support needs in gender inclusion in Aotearoa New Zealand.

We will run an online event based on the identified support needs, so your authentic responses and reflections will have an impact!

Research update

The UNLEARN podcast has four episodes out and is available now also on Apple Podcasts

January 16, 2025

I am thrilled to share that the UNLEARN podcast now has four episodes available, and you can listen to them on Apple Podcasts too ! Reaching this milestone has been a journey of passion and learning—and yes, jumping through a few hoops to get the podcast onto Apple Podcasts, but it’s worth it to make it easier for educators like you to tune in. A quick recap of the episodes so far: Episode 1: Who am I, and why do I want to support teachers in gender inclusion? This episode introduces the UNLEARN podcast and my personal journey—why I am passionate about gender inclusion in education and how I hope to inspire teachers to create inclusive classrooms. Episode 2: How Can Our Common Values Help Us Unlearn and Embrace Gender Diversity? In this episode, I explore how shared values and mental models can guide us in challenging biases and fostering a more inclusive mindset, offering practical examples for educators. Episode 3: How Can Gender Statistics Challenge and Inspire Teachers? with Sylvia...

From master’s project to continued research: My ethics got approved!

June 19, 2025

I am thrilled to share that my next research project, titled Cis Paralysis and the Power of Unlearning: Rethinking Gender in Education , has officially received ethics approval from the academyEX Research, Enterprise and Ethics Working Group. This marks the next step in continuing the work I started during my Master of Change and Organisational Resilience. This project builds upon my earlier focus on how educators can develop more gender-inclusive mental models. This time, I am going deeper, exploring how cisnormativity shows up in education and how reflective and relational tools, such as the UNLEARN podcast, might support educators in unlearning limiting assumptions and engaging more meaningfully with gender diversity. Why does this next step matter? During my masters, I heard from many educators who wanted to support rainbow students but felt paralysed by fear of getting it wrong. This hesitation, which I refer to as cis-paralysis, is worth investigating. My goal is to better under...

My Design Principles for Supporting Gender Inclusion in Education: Insights from Practice-Based Research

April 11, 2025

When I first began exploring how to better support educators in developing gender-inclusive mental models, I knew that creating resources alone wouldn’t be enough. The way support was designed and the values and assumptions embedded in it would matter just as much as the content. Through a practice-based, design-driven research journey, I came to understand that meaningful change in education needs tools that are not only informative but also relational and reflective. Rather than offering a one-size-fits-all solution, these design principles I have been working with create a flexible foundation. My goal has been to provide guidance rooted in real-world needs while leaving space for adaptation. In this project, developing design principles helped ensure that the tools I created, such as the UNLEARN podcast episodes, remained aligned with the diverse realities of educators and gender-diverse students across Aotearoa New Zealand. Here are my Design Principles 1. Flexible, Low-...