Senior Research Fellow, Australian Catholic University
Kevin Donnelly, PhD, is a Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Catholic University. He received his doctorate in education, as well as an M.Ed, a B.A., and a Dip.Ed., from La Trobe University. His post-graduate research centred on evaluating various approaches to developing and implementing school curricula. Dr. Donnelly has undertaken projects commissioned by state and commonwealth governments as well as the New Zealand Business Roundtable benchmarking curriculum. His work focuses on developing a methodology to identify the characteristics of best-practice curriculum and pedagogy as implemented by leading education systems and measured by international tests such as TIMSS, PIRLS, and PISA. Dr. Donnelly taught for 18 years in government and non-government schools and was a member of state and national curriculum bodies, including the Victorian Board of Studies and the Discovering Democracy Programme. In 2014, he co-chaired the Review of the Australian National Curriculum. Dr. Donnelly often writes for Australia’s print and electronic media and appears regularly on state and national radio and television. His books include Why Our Schools are Failing, Dumbing Down, Australia’s Education Revolution, Educating Your Child: It’s Not Rocket Science, Taming the Black Dog, and The Culture of Freedom. In 2016, Dr Donnelly was made a Member of the Order of Australia within the General Division for services to education.