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Tessa Daffern

Dr Tessa DaffernPosition

Adjunct Associate Professor

Biography

Dr Daffern's personal website.

Dr Tessa Daffern has contributed to education in many capacities for over 20 years: as a classroom teacher in schools, teaching and learning specialist, literacy coordinator, academic and education consultant.

Tessa is a Director and Principal Literacy Education Consultant at Literacy Education Solutions. She is also an Adjunct Associate Professor in Language and Literacy Education at the University of Canberra. Tessa has also previously held academic positions at the University of Wollongong and Charles Sturt University.

Tessa’s research and education consultancies are driven by her passion for English language education and for empowering teachers and undergraduate teacher education students to develop contemporary understandings that can inform their teaching of language and literacy.

Tessa’s research has been recognised both internationally and nationally. She was winner of the UKLA Wiley Research in Literacy Education Award in 2021, and she was the recipient of the Australian Literacy Educators’ Association Doctoral Thesis Award in 2017. Tessa’s PhD examined the teaching and learning of spelling and writing in Australian school contexts and involved almost 1400 students across 17 schools. Tessa’s research has been disseminated through publications in national and international peer reviewed journals and edited books, teaching and assessment manuals and online resources, and at national and international conferences.

Prior to her career in academia, Tessa received a Recognition of Excellence Award by the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn Catholic Education Office for her contributions and achievements, and in 2012 Tessa become one of the first Australian educators to become certified as a Highly Accomplished Teacher.

Current projects:

  • Spelling Intervention Study in the UK, in collaboration with the University of Glasgow
  • Academic Advisor and Curriculum Writer for the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA)
  • Consultant and Key Note Presenter (various literacy associations and education departments across Australia)