Matthew Campbell
I have been engaged with cultural-historical psychology since my early days as an education student. My undergraduate study occurred at a time of transition in Australian universities from the dominant Piagetian views of cognition to Vygotskian perspectives. At this time I was drawn to the work of Vygotsky and utilized much of his theoretical positions in my own teaching practice. After a number of years teaching I moved into an educational design role at Charles Sturt University where I also began my current PhD work using socio-cultural theory to explore the learning of beginning police officers. Utilizing the knowledge that I am developing from my PhD and past experience in teaching, I am now privileged to be teaching within a School of Education at the Australian Catholic University, Sydney, where I am introducing a new generation to the works of Vygotsky, and broader concepts of cultural-historical psychology.
My interest in attending this summer university is to firstly enhance my knowledge and understanding of cultural-historical psychology, in particular its relationship to my current studies around learning in workplaces, and secondly to expand my personal cultural knowledge through interaction and discussion with likeminded people, from across the globe, with different social backgrounds. It is anticipated that this opportunity will afford me the time and space as I near the end of my own doctoral journey to reflect on my learning thus far, and consider avenues for future development of my ideas. The summer university is timely in my own journey as I will bring to it a confident knowledge of the field, but still with the eagerness and freshness of a new scholar.
It is a rare opportunity that I have, being located in Australia, to meet first hand and engage with great European minds, and I believe that the summer university will present an amazing opportunity which will allow me to better contribute to the ongoing promotion of cultural-historical psychology.