Dr Kate Naidu

Senior Lecturer
B.Arts (Asian Studies), DipEducation, M.International Social Development

Email: kate.naidu@nd.edu.au

  • Biography

    Dr Kate Naidu is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education (Sydney Campus). Starting her teaching journey in secondary classrooms, Kate is trained in teaching Indonesian, and English as an Additional Language/ Dialect. After many years teaching in Sydney schools, she made the return to further study.

    Kate’s postgraduate studies were completed at the University of New South Wales (Master of International Social Development) and Western Sydney University (Master of Research and PhD). Based at the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University, her research initially focused on the teaching of ‘culture’ and ‘intercultural understanding’ in Indonesian language teaching. This led to an interest in how intercultural capacities might be developed through study abroad, which became the object of her doctoral studies. Her doctoral thesis is titled ‘Embodying intercultural capacities: An examination of the pedagogic functions of in-country education’.

    Kate taught at Western Sydney University and Macquarie University, before joining the School of Education at UNDA in 2024. Her teaching and research interests include: interculturality; cultural and linguistic diversity; study abroad; social justice; multiliteracies; and sociology.

  • Teaching areas

    • Diversity
    • Culture and Language
    • Interculturality
    • Pedagogy
    • Multiliteracies
    • Research skills

  • Research expertise and supervision

    • Intercultural capacities
    • Cultural and linguistic diversity
    • Study abroad/immersion programs
    • Bourdieu

  • Book chapters

    • Naidu, K. (2023). Toward reflexivity: Critical reflections on “Race” and “Whiteness” in the context of study abroad. In Handbook of Critical Whiteness: Deconstructing Dominant Discourses Across Disciplines (pp. 1-16). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore.

  • Journal articles and proceedings

    • Naidu, K. (2023). ‘You just get used to waiting’: Exploring the temporal dimensions of in-country educational experiences. Time & Society, 32(2), 169-189.
    • Naidu, K. (2020). Attending to ‘culture’in intercultural language learning: A study of Indonesian language teachers in Australia. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 41(4), 653-665.

  • Conference papers

    • October 2016 “Attending to ‘culture’ in ‘intercultural understanding’: A study of Indonesian language teacher in Australian schools” ASILE (Australian Society of Indonesian Language Educators) Conference Flinders University, Adelaide
    • May 2016 “Understanding the opportunities and challenges of an intercultural approach to teaching Indonesian” The NSW Cross-Sectoral Indonesian Conference 2016 Co-hosted by The Association of Independent Schools and NSW Education, Sydney
    • June 2018 “Student mobility in ‘the middle’: In-country educational experiences in Indonesia” Workshop - Mobile lives ‘in-between’: Rethinking transnationalisms ‘of the middle’ Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University
    • Sept 2018 “Understanding the ‘in-country’ experience in developing literacy and intercultural capacities: A work in progress” ASILE (Australian Society of Indonesian Language Educators) Conference, University of Melbourne
    • Nov 2019  “On the Accumulation of Homeliness: Practices and Mobilities” Institute for Culture and Society Seminar,
      Western Sydney University
    • Nov 2019 “On the Accumulation of Homeliness: Practices of (dis)comfort and the in-country education experience” The Australian Sociological Association Conference, Western Sydney University
    • Sept 2022 “Conceptualising ‘culture’ in Indonesian in-country educational programs” ANU Indonesia Institute Postgraduate Workshop, Australian National University